Cannot get Epson 7900 to work!!!!

[drew]

OK, I am having a never ending mid-life crisis and computer things that won't work I have hardly any patience for, but......
I bought an Epson 7900 to replace my two 7800s. The idea was to set it up on my network. I installed all the latest utilities for it and tried to get it running off two desktop machines running Vista. Both can see it on my network on a static IP address and report the status of the cartridges and so on, but will it print a test page or run a nozzle check, no.... So I tried the supplier and they referred me to Epson. They said everything was fine, but said there was no reason why the printer shouldn't work, so I went back to the supplier who suggested installing it via USB. Not quite the idea, but I have tried tonight and all I get is 'printer package cannot be installed'. I have been printing inkjets for years, but I cannot remember ever having such an intensely frustrating experience with a printer. What am I doing wrong and sorry to anyone who may have already provided answers to someone else?

[drew]

Quick update. Restarted the desktop machine with the printer connected via USB and the printer was installed. It has just printed out a nozzle check, so all is well after all. Anyone know what I am doing wrong on the network front?

[GeraldB]

I recently went through the network problem with a 7900 on win7 64 bit. In the end I called Epson tech support and they talked me through it. First you need to download the latest versions of the EpsonNet, Remote panel, firmware and drivers. Another little gotcha is that you need to have paper loaded to do a firmware upgrade. Perhaps do that all using USB then go for getting the network connection working. The driver installation process is not documented anywhere and I've forgotten the exact steps that the tech support took me through. So I suggest call them once the software and firmware is up to date. The catch was actually in the driver installation, it would always get stuck and you need to choose some manual setting and select LPT1, install the driver then change it to the network address later. Quite convoluted.
Good luck.

[cybis]

I'm having a similar issue with a 7900 and Windows 7 64 bit. I'm fairly sure everything is configured ok. Especially since, like you, the drivers sees the printer through the network and reports ink levels. Printer Firmware, network firmware and driver are up to date. Epson support has no idea what causes the problem and couln't help.
In my case the problem started when one of the startup ink carts was reporting low (LED flashing, not steady). I have had to use a USB connection ever since. I will try printing through the network again when all the 'startups' carts are replaced and will report back.