Colours have all changed.

[Colin]

My R2400 printer which I have had for about four years has always ginen me perfect prints. My screen is profiled but the printer is not profiled. When I turned it on to-day to make a print the colours all came out with a strong magenta cast. I did a nozzle check all OK. I then printed out Vincent's test print and the colours came out as follows:-

Red. - very dark.
Green.- Cyan.
Blue.- very dark
Magenta.- Dark purple.
Yellow.- almost white.
Black, grey and white. - Look normal.
Skin tone.- Magenta.
Settings I have not changed are:- Colour management, Document { profile untagged RGB } Printer manages colours. and Perceptual.
Can anyone tell me what has gone wrong.
Colin.

[The Crofter]

Personally I never use "Printer manages colours" however it works for some. I would try a print using "Photoshop manages colours" to see what happens. I doubt it is a hardware issue as too many things changed at once and your nozzle check was ok. Something that caught me out a while back is my print settings kept the profile for my laser which I did no notice. Very concerned when the 3800 produced crap print !.

[Kevgermany]

Sounds as if you're double profiling - applying a profile in PS and letting the printer add one as well.

I think Pat's on the right track. What are your printer settings in PS?

[bez]

Unless you’re using third party inks I agree with the others – probably a Photoshop or Epson setting that has changed somewhere. As Pat says, to print Vincent's test (untagged RGB, like a profile target) Photoshop should manage the colours, with only your paper profile set in the Epson dialogue, and colour management Off.

The printer itself doesn't need to be calibrated or 'profiled' as this is all controlled by a) The ink colours, as manufactured, b) The PS and Epson profiles you choose.

[Colin]

Great news, for me anyhow, I have found the faults { Two }. First i checked colour settings in my CS4 and found the setting had changed from Adobe RGB 1998 to SRGB, I have no idea how this has happened. Secondly I checked the nozzle check print out done yesterday and noticed that the yellow had not printed out at all but the other colours were OK. Don't know how I missed this. So I did a head clean and the yellow was back. I then printed out the test print again and the result was perfect.
I am now happy again, Thanks everybody for your imput, it was those ideas that got me thinking to solve the problem.
Colin.

[bez]

Glad you sorted it - PS does sometimes lose its colour settings, but I've never discovered why – does it ever crash?
Good idea to save your preferences as a preset, and occasionally check they're still there!

The blocked yellow would explain a lot (but not everything) .. LLK is the hardest nozzle-check to see, but for my failing eyesight yellow also needs a loupe to make sure there aren't any small gaps

[Colin]

Bez,
My CS4 has never crashed so far so why the change from RGB to SRGB remains a mystery. I always view a nozzle check with a magnifying glass as I do with my prints like you, a lot of body parts are not what they used to be. I totally missed the yellow on the nozzle check as I looked at it the wife was shouting "your dinner is ready NOW " So I will blame her for that I only discovered it later so it was definitely not my fault but the wife's, that is my excuse anyhow.
I have since printed out an A3+ print and every thing was fine.
Colin

[The Crofter]

I did a nozzle check all OK

Specsavers eh...

In hindsight there were many clues in the list of colours