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grapeape · Aug 21, 2000, 10:16 PM

Anyone have any idea of why my printer will not stay selected in the chooser? I am moderately familiar with my iMac and OS9,because I like to tinker alot. This one, however I cannot figure out. The printer icon shows up, but i have to select it everytime I want t o print something. Even if I am still in the same app!
AAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHHH! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

wlonh · Aug 21, 2000, 10:30 PM

try deleting your AppleTalk prefs and restart and rebuild desktop

use TechTool 1.2.1 freeware available HERE to rebuild desktop

grapeape · Aug 22, 2000, 12:04 AM

Well, it was a good suggestion, but no luck. I am still getting the dialog box that tells me there is not a valid printer chosen. Any more ideas? Thanks for the post!

Damien · Aug 22, 2000, 12:27 AM

This is either A) an Appletalk connection issue or B) a printer software corruption issue or C) some sort of conflict.

A) Do you have another computer on your network you can use to test your AppleTalk/ethernet connection? Turn on filesharing (then turn it off when you're done, blech) and see if you can log into the other computer and keep the volume mounted for extended periods of time. I.E. the connection isn't being dropped.

B) Try reintalling your system software as a custom install from your installer CD. It might be that you have a blown printer lib file. This is not as likely, though, since you *are* able to print. My money is on the connection.

C) You didn't specify what kind of printer you have, or whether it's USB, ethernet? Some printers (and particularly their software drivers, USB extensions) have serious conflicts with other software. We need to know this to troubleshoot. Info! Specs!

If you call your mechanic and leave the message: "I have this red car with four wheels and it makes a funny noise but I don't know where it's coming from. I put unleaded gas in it. What do you think is wrong?" Your mechanic isn't going to have any idea how to start diagnosing what's wrong.

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Damien Barrett
http://www.mrbarrett.com

Cipher13 · Aug 22, 2000, 07:59 AM

More info needed. Printer, iMac model etc...
Try unplugging then replugging the USB. Reinstall drivers, restart etc... Those things often fix printer problems.

Cipher13

grapeape · Aug 22, 2000, 11:12 AM

OK Ok sorry

She is an iMac 333mhz, 256 mb physical ram, vm is off. OS 9.0.4 . It is at home and not networked. Printer is an epson 2500pro connected via usb. I have tried deleting the epson software and re-installing, to no avail. I have also noticed that the epson software is not recognizing the outlook express program for scan to e-mail capability, not that one has anything to do with the other. This is a recent problem, as I have had this printer working fine before. Thanks guys!

wlonh · Aug 22, 2000, 11:19 AM

search the forum for keyword 'Epson' and username 'Adam Silver'

disable the junk that Adam Silver recommends that the Epson software installer puts on your Mac... and i know it is posted here on these fora, he posted it many times until he tired of doing so...

and i richly understand why he tired of it

grapeape · Aug 22, 2000, 12:08 PM

Well, crap. Somebody get this freaking gremlin out of my mac! I tried deleting the epson drivers, re-installing os9 etc, etc. I am still fishing. Thanks again for the suggestions, but nothing has worked so far. I guess I'll keep trying. Anyone else know of anything in the meantime?I guess I can try a clean install of the OS and try starting all over again. What a pain in the .................

roders · Aug 25, 2000, 05:43 PM

I've heard of people having to keep on manually re-selecting a printer in the Chooser because a battery was going/had gone flat in there Mac's (this Bat also keeps the time /date & a few other system prefs) but the printer only had to be re-selected each time the computer was switched on & off again, not while your working (as system stats should be held in Ram at this time I guess).
BTW my clock keeps on slipping a couple of minutes every few day's on my iMac, does this mean that the same battery is going flat?

mac freak · Aug 26, 2000, 02:31 PM

It's been my experience that the Epson drivers simply suck . I have had endless problems with my Stylus Color 600. Try going to Epson's site and downloading new driver versions... couldn't hurt.

oscar · Aug 26, 2000, 05:35 PM

Try holding command option when you open the chooser. You'll hear a system alert sound when you do this. I believe it clears the choosers cached information.

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-See Yea!

grapeape · Sep 6, 2000, 04:47 PM

Many thanks to all who gave advice. After trying every solution offered, I was a little irritated. as none of them seemed to work. So, after a few sessions with the extensions manager, I came across the culprit. The faxSTF extension for the included fax software was the guilty party. Whew! Finally, a printing printer

grapeape · Sep 6, 2000, 04:49 PM

Many thanks to all who gave advice. After trying every solution offered, I was a little irritated. as none of them seemed to work. So, after a few sessions with the extensions manager, I came across the culprit. The faxSTF extension for the included fax software was the guilty party. Whew! Finally, a printing printer