Mac Pro won't print from Photoshop, unusual dialog box

[Eric Brody]

When trying to print a photo in Photoshop CC 2017, I get the following dialog...

“There was an error opening your printer. Printing functions will not be available until you have selected a printer and reopened any documents.” There is no way to do as the dialog box asks. I have closed the document, gone into the system preferences, selected a printer, and then tried to no avail.

I am using a Mac Pro, running OSX Sierra 10.12.2, and an Epson 3880 with driver 9.33. I am able to print from the Mac Pro with Lightroom, but not with Photoshop.

I unplugged the printer from the Mac Pro and connected it to my MacBook Pro and I am able to print from Photoshop with the Macbook Pro, same OS, same printer, same everything.

I have done the following… uninstalled Creative Cloud desktop, Photoshop and Lightroom and reinstalled them, rebooted the Mac Pro, uninstalled and reinstalled all the printers and reset the printing system. I have unplugged the printer and disconnected and reconnected it.

I tried booting the Mac Pro from last night’s backup. I ran Photoshop from the back up drive and it was willing to print ??

I am at my wits end. Until this morning, all was well as it has been for years with this set up.

Google was unhelpful; often this forum is more helpful than Adobe.

Any help would be most appreciated

[Mark D Segal]

A quick visit to the Epson website would suggest that the driver available for download may not be compatible with Sierra, as they do not list downloads for that printer beyond system 10.10.x, nor would it list anything for my detected system which is 10.11.x. You are on 10.12.x. Perhaps this is the problem.

[Eric Brody]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I had the problem with the old driver, 6.6 I believe, and because of something I found on Google (maybe not so smart), I went to the Epson website and it recommended 9.33 for all Mac OS's after 10.4, including 10.12x.
https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Professional-Imaging-Printers/Epson-Stylus-Pro-Series/Epson-Stylus-Pro-3880/s/SPT_CA61201-VM?review-filter=macOS+10.12.x
I appreciate all the help you provide for the members of this forum.
Eric

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Eric,

That means the driver should be OK - strange that the link I found going through what looks like a similar URL path wouldn't provide for it. Perhaps delete the printer by going into the Apple menu System Preferences, Printers and Scanners, then re-adding it. Sometimes this helps. When you re-add it, make sure to NOT select the Airprint driver - select the Series driver, if the 3880 options are similar to others we've seen.

[Eric Brody]

Thanks Mark, I did delete and reinstall the printer. I'm pretty sure I selected the Series driver. I really think it's a Photoshop CC 2017 problem, but I could of course be wrong. That's why I'm puzzled & frustrated that uninstalling and reinstalling Creative Cloud desktop and both Photoshop and Lightroom did not seem to solve it. That plus the fact that I could print from my MacBook Pro laptop with the same everything, is part of the frustration. Everything is new, Photoshop, Creative Cloud desktop, and the printer driver and printer installation. I'll keep trying.
Eric

[Mark D Segal]

We know from experience that it's not impossible to be a Photoshop new update problem. However, I was trying to see if working over the easy obvious stuff it would be resolved, but you've done that already so.........do you think you could have a connection problem (hardware issue) between the MacPro and the printer? I assume it is a USB 2 connection. Can you try another USB outlet? Are you connecting the printer DIRECTLY into a computer-resident USB outlet (i.e. NOT a hub or extender)? This could make a difference. If you open the Printers and Scanners Preference in the Mac System Preferences menu does it show the printer with a little green light saying "Idle"? This would be an indication of connectivity.

[John Chardine]

It's a long-shot but one other thing to try is to reset the printer system. In the Printers and Scanners System Pref. right click anywhere in the printer list box on the left hand side and select the "Reset printing system" popup. You will have to re-add your printers after you have done this.

[elolaugesen]

Macpro have external hard drives.  HAve you tried to connect your macpro hard drive to the macbookpro. Then boot from the external drive?  and run the test? 

Cheers
If it works it will point to PS2017 and Macpro hardware and software interfaces.
You know it all works on the macbookpro already now you are just trying the same test with the other os from the macpro.

[Eric Brody]

Solved, I hope. Thanks to all who offered advice. This morning I uninstalled and reinstalled Photoshop CC2017... again, to no avail. I tried booting the Mac Pro SSD in safe mode, also to no avail. It continued work appropriately when booted from the backup hard drive (thank heavens for backups).

Finally, I got my courage and overwrote the SSD in the Mac Pro with the backup, using Carbon Copy Cloner, and, lo and behold, it now appears to be working from the SSD in the Mac Pro!

My only thought is that there was a “bad sector” or something like that, on the SSD and Photoshop kept writing to that. When it got all shifted around, with the backup, all is well. Any computer experts who'd like to weigh in on this would be welcome.

I’m still nervous, but cautiously optimistic that it is fixed.

Happy New Year to all.

[bassman51]

Most likely a bad configuration or preferences setting that was damaged somehow, and is obscure so you would never think to reset it.   The restore was fortunately from a backup prior to the damage. 

[Mark D Segal]

Congrats for getting it resolved. That must be a relief - at least in respect of that operation. If your SSD has issues, probably best to get it replaced.

All the best for 2017 to you too.

[elolaugesen]

Eric.   Did you reformat the SSD device before the restore With Carbon Copy Cloner?  If it is a bad block on the drive you will most likely run in to it again.  This is what I do to my hard drives and solid state devices if I have issues. Reformat will normally test blocks and leave them out if any issues are encountered.

If you did not reformat? 
            1. then back up the master drive twice on different backup devices, 
            2. Test the Backup (ie boot from external backup) 
            3. Reformat master drive and restore...


cheers Elo
(why back up twice...   I learned many years ago not to trust disc drives......)  I always have three external drives and rotate the backups.  every week I then boot from the newest of the backups to make sure it works.......

[Eric Brody]

Hi Elo,
Thanks for your comment I have not reformatted the SSD. I had an email conversation with Lloyd Chambers, who is very knowledgeable and who has helped me before, (I'm a subscriber and have used his consulting service to help choose my Mac Pro setup). He is of the opinion that "SSD's have a tremendous amount of error correction; a bad block is not in the cards." So that's where I left it. Seemed logical to me as well until I conversed with Lloyd. I'll see what the future brings. Maybe it was the last of the bad karma from 2016, annus horribilus.

[Eric Brody]

I've been thinking some more about Elo's comment and, I believe Carbon Copy Cloner erases the target drive when restoring, so I may have "formatted" the SSD anyway, not totally clear on this. Expert opinions welcome. Thanks to all, again.

[Mark D Segal]

I've been thinking some more about Elo's comment and, I believe Carbon Copy Cloner erases the target drive when restoring, so I may have "formatted" the SSD anyway, not totally clear on this. Expert opinions welcome. Thanks to all, again.

Perhaps check the CCC manual - if I remember correctly you need to format the drive before populating it.

[elolaugesen]

thanks.  I know and understand that SSD's work quite differently than the old disc drives.  However the software we use to run/backup our systems have not really changed that much when it comes to managing our data.   
I use Super Duper for backup all the time (read the instructions again) and when restoring it does not reformat the new drive automatically. and will only erase the new drive as an option.
 
Shirt Pocket (developer of Super Duper) suggest
"The very first thing to try is to simply restart your
Macintosh, and give the backup another shot. Often, that’s all that’s
necessary. But if it doesn’t work, you should run Disk Utility to repair the
source and destination volumes. If one is your boot volume, that’s not
always easy, because you can’t repair the volume you started your
Macintosh from."           there are several pages in the document  on ways to recover and things you can do.
 
The reason for multiple backups is that if it is an error in the files itself.  Then it may be on the backup too,  then you are in trouble unless you have multiple backups.
I have yearly backups of my own Mac going back a couple of years. and an old mac from 2003 (still runs)with older data.    In 2012 my 2008 macbook pro just died and damaged the disc(tried recovery).  Without backups I would have been up the creek.
If you do production work.   Back up files regularly. 
cheers elo