ET-8500 refusing to print anything

[Plethon]

My ET-8500 is refusing to print anything. I am using the current driver on a MacBookPro. I've set the IP address for the printer and using the ET-8500 Series setting in Kind (not AirPrint). I've tried deleting and reinstalling, but no joy. When I send a job to print a blue line whizzes backwards and forwards in the print screen in System Settings, then it stops and says no jobs waiting. I've tried ChatGPT, but with no success.

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong.

 

[itsab1989]

This is not meant as an offense but the first thing that comes to my mind when reading this is my mother. Sometimes her MacBook connects to another Wifi, she does not notice and the printer does not print. But I guess that is not the issue here.

You said you have said the IP address for the printer. I assume this means you have followed the instructions to install it and the installation process worked? Right?

What could it be? My Wifi router has an an option to allow Wifi devices to communicate with each other. If that is disabled things don’t work.

Although I have an 8550 myself I am not really sure whether it has USB or not. But I think it does. Have you tried printing via USB?

Just my first thoughts. Maybe I have a few more ideas later

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @Plethon
It would help to have a little more information so suggestions from forum members can be better targeted
Which version of MacBook Pro?
Which Mac OS?
Has this printer worked without issues for you before?
Does the printer print with maintenance functions, e.g.:
- Printer nozzle test
- Print head cleaning
- Print head alignment
- Paper Guide cleaning

Also, does the printer print an image if you insert a USB stick with a photo and print it?

That was just to verify that the printer firmware is working, to isolate that this is a communication issue only.

After the above, I also agree with @itsab1989 on trying to print via USB.

It's great that you used online resources to solve this problem, yet the next recommended steps may totally overlap with your ChatGPT list. Can you share what you have already tried on the ChatGPT list to save time in giving your suggestions?

I don't have an 8500 yet, a P900, and have had some problems initially in getting it to work in a stable fashion with my MacBook Pro M1 2021, so I can relate to the frustrations.
John Wheeler

 

[pharmacist]

The reason I prefer to have an UTP connected printers in my network: this is the most stable connection, so all devices wired and wireless can equally connect to them via the router.

 

[Epatcola]

My ET-8500 is refusing to print anything. I am using the current driver on a MacBookPro. I've set the IP address for the printer and using the ET-8500 Series setting in Kind (not AirPrint)

The printer has a web interface. I would try opening that in a browser to confirm the network connection is functional and the printer IP address is what you think it is.

If you can access the web interface that indicates the problem is driver related.

 

[Plethon]

This is not meant as an offense but the first thing that comes to my mind when reading this is my mother. Sometimes her MacBook connects to another Wifi, she does not notice and the printer does not print. But I guess that is not the issue here.

You said you have said the IP address for the printer. I assume this means you have followed the instructions to install it and the installation process worked? Right?

What could it be? My Wifi router has an an option to allow Wifi devices to communicate with each other. If that is disabled things don’t work.

Although I have an 8550 myself I am not really sure whether it has USB or not. But I think it does. Have you tried printing via USB?

Just my first thoughts. Maybe I have a few more ideas later

Yes it's connected to my own WiFi network and I followed the instructions to install it using the printer's IP address and it installed correctly. Thanks for suggesting using USB, but I don't want to print using this method. It was working perfectly fine, but now it isn't and I can't work out why.

 

[Plethon]

Hi @Plethon
It would help to have a little more information so suggestions from forum members can be better targeted
Which version of MacBook Pro?
Which Mac OS?
Has this printer worked without issues for you before?
Does the printer print with maintenance functions, e.g.:
- Printer nozzle test
- Print head cleaning
- Print head alignment
- Paper Guide cleaning

Also, does the printer print an image if you insert a USB stick with a photo and print it?

That was just to verify that the printer firmware is working, to isolate that this is a communication issue only.

After the above, I also agree with @itsab1989 on trying to print via USB.

It's great that you used online resources to solve this problem, yet the next recommended steps may totally overlap with your ChatGPT list. Can you share what you have already tried on the ChatGPT list to save time in giving your suggestions?

I don't have an 8500 yet, a P900, and have had some problems initially in getting it to work in a stable fashion with my MacBook Pro M1 2021, so I can relate to the frustrations.
John Wheeler

Hi John, It's the M4 MacBook Pro working on the Tahoe 26.4.1 OS. The printer was working just fine before. It all changed when I tried to print a 32pp PDF document. Now it won't print with any other maintenance functions either. I don't want to use USB really as it used to work perfectly fine.

ChatGPT suggested:
1. Completely remove the printer from macOS
2. Restart everything properly
Then restart in this order: Router / Printer / MacBook
3. Reinstall using Epson drivers — not AirPrint

Still doesn't work.

 

[itsab1989]

This is really hard… On the printers display there is a wifi indicator. Does this look like it is connected?
Did you recently install or update any software on your Mac? Maybe a firewall?
Have you connected a new wifi device? Maybe something was messed up and another device uses the same ip address as the printer and the router does not know where to send the print job.


Edit: I know you already asked AI but maybe here is something you have not tried yet:

Symptom analysis

The key clue from the thread: the maintenance functions (nozzle check, head cleaning) also fail to print. That shifts the probability significantly away from Mac, driver and network toward the printer itself, because a nozzle check can be triggered directly from the printer’s control panel without any involvement of the Mac.

The behaviour “blue bar runs, queue empties, nothing prints” fits this picture: macOS/CUPS receives an IPP acknowledgement from the printer, the job disappears from the queue, but the printer does not actually execute it. The trigger was a 32-page PDF. That strongly suggests a stuck internal job or an error state inside the printer, not a driver problem.

Diagnostic plan, ordered by informativeness and effort

1. Inspect the printer display thoroughly. Error messages, ink warning, paper status, maintenance box (“Waste Ink Pad” or “Service Required”). ET models silently refuse to print anything, including maintenance functions, when the waste ink tank is full.
2. Trigger a nozzle check directly from the printer menu (Setup → Maintenance → Nozzle Check). This bypasses the Mac entirely. The result is the most important branch point:
• prints: fault is on the Mac/network side, continue with step 5
• does not print: fault is in the printer, continue with step 3
3. Hard power-cycle. Turn the printer off, unplug the power cable for 60 seconds, plug it back in. Clears internal state locks and remnants of stuck jobs in the printer’s memory. Frequently effective after aborted large print jobs.
4. Open the printer’s web interface in a browser at http://<IP>. Shows status, ink levels, stored jobs, error log. If reachable, the network is fine. Delete any stuck stored jobs there.
5. Verify the IP address at the printer (print a network status report or read it on the display). DHCP may have assigned a new IP while macOS is still using the old one. Medium-term: set a DHCP reservation in the router or assign a static IP.
6. Check the CUPS log on the Mac. Terminal: tail -f /private/var/log/cups/error_log, then send a print job. Filter aborts, IPP timeouts and PDF render errors will surface here.
7. Fully reset the printing system. System Settings → Printers & Scanners → right-click the printer list → “Reset printing system”. This also clears corrupted spool remnants from the failed 32-page PDF that a simple “remove printer” leaves behind. Then re-add the printer.
8. Reinstall the driver. Tahoe 26.x is relatively new. Download the current ET-8500 driver directly from epson.com, not via the macOS auto-suggest mechanism. Remove cleanly with the Epson Uninstaller beforehand.
9. Diagnostic workaround via AirPrint/IPP Everywhere. Add the printer additionally as AirPrint and send a test print. If it prints, the fault lies with the Epson driver. If it still does not print, the fault is on the printer or network side. Not a permanent solution because of reduced colour control, but a clean way to isolate the layer.
10. Check the macOS firewall. Ports 631 (IPP), 9100 (RAW), 5353 (mDNS/Bonjour) must be open for outgoing traffic.

Most likely causes, weighted

• ~40 % printer hung in an error state after the aborted PDF. Fix: power-cycle, possibly a reset from the printer menu.
• ~20 % waste ink tank full. Fix: reset utility (e.g. WIC Reset) or service.
• ~15 % corrupted spool/CUPS queue on the Mac. Fix: reset the printing system.
• ~10 % IP change via DHCP. Fix: static IP or DHCP reservation.
• ~10 % driver incompatibility with Tahoe 26.4.1. Fix: reinstall or AirPrint test.
• ~5 % hardware fault (print head, sensors).

Methodological note

Plethon refuses the USB test because it does not solve the actual problem. That is logically correct but gives up a quick way to separate the failure domains network/driver/printer. The nozzle check directly from the printer’s control panel (step 2) fully replaces that diagnostic and is therefore the single most important step.

Uncertainty

The weighting is based on the described symptoms without sight of the printer display, logs, or web interface. Plethon’s statement that “maintenance functions also no longer work” may refer to the maintenance functions exposed in the driver, not to the printer-panel nozzle check. That does not change the diagnostic logic, but step 2 must explicitly be carried out at the printer panel, not via Epson Software Updater or printer utilities on the Mac.

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi John, It's the M4 MacBook Pro working on the Tahoe 26.4.1 OS. The printer was working just fine before. It all changed when I tried to print a 32pp PDF document. Now it won't print with any other maintenance functions either. I don't want to use USB really as it used to work perfectly fine.

ChatGPT suggested:
1. Completely remove the printer from macOS
2. Restart everything properly
Then restart in this order: Router / Printer / MacBook
3. Reinstall using Epson drivers — not AirPrint

Still doesn't work.

One additional question. Did you launch any of these maintenance tests from the printer panel itself? That will separate if the problem is in the printer or in the path to the printer. So any of the tests, such as

• Nozzle Check
• Head Cleaning
• Print Head Alignment
• Status Sheet

That would help separate where to look next

Note: printing PDFs can cause issues different from those with other documents. Having the printer do the rasterization has been a source or problems rather than having the PDF rasterized before sending to the printer so printing a PDF with problems is another clue.