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yohei72 · May 19, 2007, 06:45 PM

After junking my iMac and its OS 9, I recently bought a gently used Mac Mini PowerPC G4 running OS X.4. I finally decided to dust off my lovely Epson Stylus Color 777i inkjet printer, which I hadn't used in a while but need now for some projects.

I had thought I would be able to use this same printer, but it appears I can't. At the Epson site, it looks like they have stopped making Mac drivers for this printer beyond OS 9.

There are OS X drivers for some of the later Stylus models, however.

I'm non tech savvy enough that I'm not sure if one of those later drivers will work with the 777i. Anyone?

Or is there some other workaround? This printer has been a reliable workhorse for six years and hadn't shown any signs of slowing down the last time I used it. I'd hate to just get rid of it for this reason.

And if I have to, does anyone have any recommendations for what to replace it with on a fairly modest budget?

Thanks, everyone!

OreoCookie · May 19, 2007, 07:44 PM

Epson does make print drivers for OS X -- for pretty much all newer models.
The driver for the Stylus 777 is included in the base installation. If you have deselected the Epson drivers during installation, you can install them separately from the install DVD.

So yes, it's compatible and in most situations, you don't need to install anything …

yohei72 · May 20, 2007, 03:11 PM

Thanks for the swift response, Oreo. I should clarify that I'm probably in the bottom 10% on this forum in terms of subject knowledge. So a fair amount of even that short message (as well as the linked page) is Greek to me... but is the upshot that I have the necessary Epson driver already by virtue of having 10.4 installed, and I can just go to it?

(I would simply check myself by attempting to print... except for the Catch 22 that one of my ink cartridges is out, and I would have to drop the money on a new one to do the test, which I'm reluctant to do without knowing if I can still use the printer... and around and around...)

indigoimac · May 20, 2007, 04:04 PM

Let me tell you right off the bat that your 777i WILL work, natively and without any issue, so go out and buy the cartridge before doing anything else.

Once you have done that, hook it up, plug the USB cable in and turn it on, go to System Preferences and go to "Print and Fax" click the little "+" sign under the left box and add your printer...you're pretty much good to go.

Now, what if it doesn't show up in the list... Well depending on how the last person who had your computer installed OSX they may or may not have installed the entire Epson printer driver suite that is included on the OSX disk...if they didn't we'll deal with it, but first try the above.

OreoCookie · May 20, 2007, 11:14 PM

You will be able to install the printer even though you have run out of ink. You won't be able to print, though, for obvious reasons

yohei72 · May 27, 2007, 08:29 PM

Well, how about that! After a busy week, I finally got around to picking up a new black ink cartridge this weekend and installing it, and the printer software works just fine.

The new cartridge doesn't, though. At first it printed blank pages. I ran the print head cleaning routine and got it to print, but with big blank streaks through the lines that render the print unreadable. I've cleaned the print head four more times with no improvement. I've read the troubleshooting suggestions in the printer manual, and none of them seem relevant.

Meanwhile, the color cartridge that's been sitting idle in there for months prints more or less fine.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what other problems might be going on with the black cartridge before I take it back in the hope that I just got a faulty cartridge? I can't say that sounds like a very convincing hypothesis, though.

Thanks for your help so far, everyone.

OreoCookie · May 27, 2007, 08:55 PM

That sounds as if the ink in your black print head has dried. If you can't clean it, the print head is broken. Unfortunately Epson (unlike Canon and HP) does not allow users to change the print head, so your printer is probably beyond repair. (Epson might be willing to change the print head if you pay for them, but it'd be cheaper to buy a new printer.)

If you need help deciding on a new printer, you know where to ask.

yohei72 · May 27, 2007, 09:00 PM

Uh, ok, spoke too soon. After a little more experimenting and test pages, it looks like now the black cartridge works fine (it appears to help if you choose "Black" under the Printer Setting - heh - and highest print quality setting).

And the color one doesn't. It seems to print only shades of red, no matter what color I make the type in the Word document. My first thought is, naturally, that some of the colors in the cartridge are low/depleted.

But with my old iMac and my old MS Word, the Print dialog box looked very, very different. I'm finding my way with this new version. You used to be able to click on a button that would show you exactly how much of each color of ink was left - I can't find anything like that now. Anyone?

OreoCookie · May 27, 2007, 09:14 PM

Open the Print Center and double click your Epson printer. On the right-hand side, there should be a button `Consumables'. After clicking into it, you should see how much ink is left.

However, the same I have said for the black print head holds for your color print head.

yohei72 · May 28, 2007, 10:14 AM

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland said. Well, I found the ink level check, but I strongly suspect it's not giving me accurate information. It tells me that black, cyan, magenta and yellow are all at the exact same level (about halfway full), which would seem kind of unlikely even if I hadn't just installed the black cartridge yesterday and printed fewer than twenty pages with it. <shrug>

I ran the nozzle check twice (you know, where it prints the pattern of thin lines) and it prints none of the cyan lines and only a tiny bit of a yellow line (in the same spot both times). Yet another cleaning improved nothing. Is this sounding more like damaged color print heads than depleted ink?

Sherman Homan · May 28, 2007, 10:29 AM

The software cleaning routine won't fix dried ink in the print head, which I would guess is the problem. Rubbing alcohol and a Qtip and get in there!

OreoCookie · May 28, 2007, 10:58 AM

When measuring ink levels there are sometimes just three different states: full, almost empty and empty. I'm not sure whether that's the case with your printer, but it indicates that you should have enough ink to print. Try cleaning the print head by hand. If that doesn't work, you need a new printer.

ideal · Jun 23, 2007, 08:47 AM

Can someone Help?

I'm trying to install an Epson stylus color 777/777i printer on to my Mac running OS X 10.2.8. Every time i run the DVD to install the driver it wants to go to OS9 and then says that the Print center is running "Quit the print center" i try but it won't let me. So that seems to be a dead end. I do have the print drivers on another disk (someone gave me) i can install, but i'm not sure i know how. Also don't have the USD cable yet, not sure if that has anything to do with the install. Any suggestions would be great, thanks

Sherman Homan · Jun 23, 2007, 08:56 AM

ideal, you will have better luck starting a new thread than resurrecting an old one. But, that said, it sounds like you are using a very old installer. Just go to epson.com and download the 777 driver for 10.2. Theoretically, you don't need the USB connection to do the install.

ideal · Jun 23, 2007, 09:04 AM

Thanks,
Where (what folder) do i put the driver in? I guess i can try the one i have on disk