h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mac has started being choosy about printing in colour. I suspect a software problem as pictures print fine in colour from preview or iphoto and previously it has been OK.
It's when I use Appleworks or textedit and have some coloured text or graphics, I can't predict what will come out in the right colour (usually not much) & what will just be black.

Any thoughts?

Hi Teasswill

Could you provide some more detail please such as: -

What Mac and what OS?
Which version of AppleWorks?
What printer
Have you tried any rescue stategies like re-installing printer drivers, AppleWorks, repairing permissions, trashing preference files for AppleWorks, the printer etc.?

Have you run Maintenance scripts lately? Onyx is a useful bit of software for tidying things up and sorting some problems - http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html .

Let us all know and I'm sure we can help!

turvy

It's a G5, OS X 10.4.11

Epson Stylus C60

Appleworks 6.2.9

I haven't tried doing anything yet! Appleworks was pre-installed but it's not the only programme that's a problem. My Mac found a driver for the printer, I don't have anything separate to reinstall.

Thanks Teasswill

Please tell me if I'm telling you what you know already!

OS X has built-in drivers for many printers but it is sometimes worth getting the drivers for the printer from the maker. This link should take you to the selection page for the latest drivers for the C60 - http://esupport.epson-europe.com/ProductHome.aspx .

If you want to repair permissions you need to put your OS X install disk in and restart from it (hold the C key down during startup). Then you can launch Disk Utility from the menus and check your hard drive.

Besides Onyx there is a piece of software called Preferential Treatment that can find problems with Prefs files. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22790

turvy

I've downloaded a new driver & reinstalled the printer - no difference.

Can you explain permissions & prefs files?

OK here goes...

Permissions are settings for all the files on your Mac that tell the computer what you and others including the System can do with each file (such as read from and write to... (this is about the limit of my knowledge)). Sometimes permissions get set wrong and it can affect the way the computer and peripherals like printers behave. To get an idea of what the heck I'm on about select an Appleworks document and Get Info. At the bottom of the info window there is a Sharing and Permissions section (you may have to click the triangle next to the word 'Sharing...' to expand that bit). This will list all the users of the computer and what they are allowed to do with the document. Don't worry about some of the users that may appear, they are set by the system.

To repair permissions you need to insert your OS 10.4 install disk and then restart the computer whilst holding down the letter 'c' on the keyboard. This forces the Mac to start up from the install disk. Once it has started up you may be asked to select your language. If you are then do so and you will come to the Installer. Don't install but instead go up to the menu bar and select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Once this has launched you will get a window with all the attached drives down the left hand side. Select your hard drive and then choose the Repair Permissions button. It may take some time but just leave it to do it's stuff. Once this is complete quit Disk Utility and then Quit the Installer. You should be asked if you want to restart.

Onyx will do this for you without having to start up from the Install disk.

Preferences.
Sometimes throwing away preference files can solve a problem.

Go to your Home folder (the house icon) and look in the Library folder. In there you will find a Preferences folder. Inside that are all the preference files and folders for all the software on your Mac.

You should have an AppleWorks folder in there and one of the files inside this is AppleWorks Preferences. Move this to the Trash.

Go back to the Library folder and look for a file called com.apple.appleworks.plist . Move this to the Trash.

Look for a plist file for your printer. It may start com.epson or there may be an Epson folder and it will be inside this. Move this plist file to the Trash.

Don't empty the Trash but restart the computer. Then run AppleWorks and try and print something that was a problem. This should rewrite the plist files in the Library.

Try printing a test page with the printer utilities to check ink supplies and ink delivery. The problem may be there.

I hope all this makes sense...
Let me know.

turvy

One minor correction - you don't have to start up from the CD to repair permissions. You can just start up "Disk Utility" (it's in the "Utilities" folder inside your "Applications" folder). You do need to start up from a CD to repair the *disk*.

There are also a couple of things you can check within the "print" dialog box. Open up a document that's giving you a problem, and click "File --> Print...". But before you click the "print" button, check the "Presets" (just under your printer name) to make sure it is not set to something odd - mine says "Standard".

Next you should have the menu that says "Copies & Pages". Click that and change it to "ColorSync". Make sure the "Quartz Filter" settings there are not converting to Sepia tones or something strange. That should be set to "none".

Look through the rest of your printer settings to see if anything else catches your eye. I don't have an Epson printer so I don't know exactly what settings you have, but my Canon printer has a menu for "Color Options" where you can drag sliders to make things more or less red, blue, green, etc. And the "Quality & Media" menu has more settings that could effect color output. You'll probably find something similar related to your printer's capabilities.

Phew. At last one of the great minds of the Orchard settles under an apple tree to dispense wisdom.

turvy

Right, I've done all that, seems no different.

What I have noticed is that print preview also shows the wrong colours.

Print Preview is wrong too? And you're sure that the "Quartz Filters" are set to "none"?

I have one more guess - go to "File --> Page Setup" and check to see that the page is formatted for either "any printer" or yours specifically. Try changing it from one to the other to see if that matters.

And, um, you're not wearing tinted eyeglasses by any chance are you? Perhaps if you take them off...

It seems there's something called "Colorsync Utility" in your Applications/Utilities folder. I've never used it and I don't know what it does, but it does have a "repair" button on the Profile First Aid screen, and you can at least check the "Devices" screen to make sure your printer has a profile that makes sense. And while you're there, click on "Filters" to make sure there isn't a filter called "none" - maybe someone is playing a prank on you and duplicated the "sepia tone" filter, renaming it "none" so you would think it *wasn't* chosen.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Alas, no improvement. I rather think Appleworks itself is the culprit.
Perhaps I'm just going to have to use different software for any fancy documents in future *sigh*.

Have you tried NeoOffice. It's free. http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php

turvy

I've had nothing but trouble with my Epson C68 and Leopard. Leopard seems to negate the ink levels, even with the newest Epson software.

btw, you may want to try this freeware, MacJanitor:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5856

It seems to help.

I've tried a trial version of iwork & that prints perfectly. Time to switch software methinks!