What in the world is my printer doing??

[vandakeg]

I have an Epson r200 that I've been using for awhile now. Up until now, I have been very pleased with the prints. Just recently I have been having problems with the quality of prints I've been getting. It seems that about 5 out of 6 prints are absolutely horrible, but one will be perfect.

No settings have been changed, the ink has been changed and then changed back, but the same problem is still occuring.

I have included a couple pictures (one of a bad print, and then one of a good print several tries later.) Keep in mind, NOTHING has been changed from one print to the next. It just seems to be the luck of the draw.





I'm thinking about returning the printer, as there's really no reason I can think of for the printer to be doing this.

[tgpo]

If you can return it then do it. Show them your prints and ask for a new one or your money back to buy another one.

[thecoalman]

The top one looks like it went through a "paint" filter on a image editing program.

Have you tried cleaning the heads? Usually you can go to start>printers> and right click your printer and select properties. You should find the maintenance interface there.

[vandakeg]

Thanks for the replies guys. You're exactly right Coalman, it looks exactly like it went through some sort of filter. However, after examining two 'bad' prints of the same picture, the imperfections aren't exactly the same.

I tried updating the driver, but that didn't help.

The only way I'd be able to return it is if it was still covered under warranty, but I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time with that, considering I used third party ink. I can't imagine the ink is the problem, as I am on my 5th set of it, and just recently started having problems, especially considering I can still occasionally get a great looking print.

I'm starting to think it's a lost cause.