Epson X900 and matte black ink

[williamrohr]

Had a frustrating episode yesterday that I have not read about but want to spare others the wasted time should it happen to them.  I have both a Epson 7900 and 9900 and print to them from multiple computers on a network.  Yesterday, I suddenly could not print to the 7900 from both a MacPro running 10.6.4 and one running 10.5.8 both of which have the latest Epson drivers.  Printing directly from Photoshop CS4, or through either ColorBurst or Onynx RIPs just hung.  I could, however print to the 9900.  After reloading drivers and other software, THE PROBLEM turned out to be that that I had printed using MATTE black and forgot to switch back to PHOTO black which was required for the latest print.  Interesting that nothing gave an indication of the problem (even though they normally warn of paper size or type miss-match, etc).  So if your X900 printer hangs when going from one job to the next .... check the BLACK INK setting. 

[dgberg]

William,
I think it just did what it was designed to do. If the ink is not matched it just will not print,not sure you would call it hung up. You should have the ink mismatch notice in the printer window. Did you have that?

[Bob Smith]

And I believe you can set (on the printer) a preference so that it auto switches when it gets a job requiring a different black ink.  The default is to pause and kick up a notice on the printer itself announcing the mismatch and asking if you want to switch.

Bob Smith