Resolved Epson printer "Filter" Failed

[martinchivers]

I have 4 printers, 2 of them are Epson. Neither work now, as of a couple of days ago. I initially put that down to latest OS High Sierra. But dont think its that, I think its a virus or malware. Ive installed Sophos and Malwarebites (too late!). Both come up with no reported problems. My main concern it the pro-4880. That was running via USB, but also tried network now. Ive removed the printers in settings and even done a complete wipe of the printers. It will run a head test, but thats about it. The little A4 printer was reporting the same fail, but now simply fails to print. Ive got the latest driver (its quite old though!) I rang Epson, they think its a type of virus, but quoted £169 to help me fix it, which I simply cannot afford. I'm not even convinced that they would be able to help me.

Ive run out of ideas! Any help much appreciated. Martin
[doublepost=1511436385][/doublepost]NOT RESOLVED! set that by mistake!

 

[elf69]

any error lights on printer itself?

is head test via printer direct or Mac?

 

[ribbo1939]

I sympathise as I have an Epson SP RX510 which I admit, is some years old now, but recently I have been having connection problems when trying to print. I keep getting a message that the printer is not connected. I believe it has something to do with a usb3 hub to which its connected. By withdrawing the plug and re-inserting seems to clear the problem. I also have an Epson Artisan 730 connected via the same hub - don't really have the connection problems. Not sure what the problem is . Using iMac 27" 10.13.1 (high sierra)

 

[BrianBaughn]

How much “Googling” have you done on this? There seems to be a lot of info out there and I didn’t see any mention of malware.

 

[martinchivers]

hi guys - sorry for late response! I thought id get an email notification if there was a response (but there wasn't).

to answer in order......The head test was sent from the Mac. Not via the panel on the printer. There are no error lights or message on the panel itself.

Ive tried sending via USB and also Network to. NO LUCK!

I did google it, but to be honest, that didn't come up with any answers at all.

 

[elf69]

there are many with same issue as yourself across the web.

I am a printer engineer at our work, I have however not come across this error in the past.

I have been looking into the matter myself since reading your first post.

 

[martinchivers]

elf69,...thank you very much. Ill be interested to find out your findings! Much appreciated. I have JUST got the little epson to print. But still no luck at all with the big boy 4880.

 

[martinchivers]

Ive run disk utility and also the diagnostic tool (the one where you do on booting) this morning. No reports of faults at all. just tested the printer again, and still nothing. same error message. All I can think is that the driver for the 4880, isn't working with the latest OS.

 

[martinchivers]

I'm currently re-running SOPHOS. Its detected 3 threats. But can "only be removed manually". I cannot find them in finder

They are.....

/Outlook for Mac Archive_08.01.18.olm (and the same, 27.04.15 and 29.05.15)

ive googled (how to remove) these and also checked on the Sophos site. No luck at all.

 

[martinchivers]

running Sophos again, has come up with a slight variation. ..../Users/martinchivers/Documents/...ect. the "Users" folder is hidden, isn't it? How can I find it, to have a go at deleting these 4 viruses?

I found users. Martinchivers but there is no "Documents folder at all. There IS in "guest" but can't access that folder, the folder logo has a red dot. what does that signify?

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

For mine if you use AV software be prepared for all this.