ALPS 5000 Hello, I have an ALPS 5000 printer. Installed on Windows XP and seems to respond ok to the computer. But I can't get a complete print job done. The print outs come out blue. The error that comes out is CARTRIDGE CHANGER ERROR. Is there anything I can do for this?

Can you provide more details about the problem? Will the printer print a self test page? What OS, computer, and cable connection are you using? The ALPS printers were designed to work with Windows 95 using a serial port internal to the motherboard. There is a driver that supports a USB port and Windows XP available. XP will automatically install the MS driver using the plug and play feature. The MS driver is useless and it shouldn't be used, but XP will default to it. Don't delete this driver, but rename. There are no native drivers for Windows 7 or higher.

Hi,

For the ALPS printers, make sure you are using Windows XP SP2 or older. There are no Win 7 drivers and there can be problems with a Win XP SP3. Join the Yahoo ALPS group. In the files section they have a full description of the problem along with a work around. It usually is a conflict with the bi-directional communication and the LPT port. The LPT port needs to be motherboard based - not an add-on card.

I hope this works.

There are WinXP drivers for the MD-4000. You can find them in the files section in the Yahoo ALPS Group. There are some conflicts with the Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and the ALPS printers. It is best to connect to a computer running SP2 and has a parallel port. The ALPS group also has the Twain for the Scanner. The MD-4000 does require a carrier to scan things.

To print white, you need to use the spot color option in the printer properties. The object to be printed must be all black. It seems counter to what you might think, but the spot color mode will print the solid black areas as the selected spot color.

Your ALPS MD-5000 MUST be set to print in DYE-SUB. mode.... Is there a Memory upgrade plugged into the slot next to the Printer Port? If not, then it's not an option......

these printers are flaky. There is a reason why the mainstream never picked ALPS up. The image quality stinks and the printer break down constantly. Koolaid drinkers in search of the grail love them.

I found a private indivdual that had an original installation CD with windows xp software  and drivers

Cartridge Changer Errors are series. Did printer work before you installed XP?

This is a symptom of the following:

You are running XP, and have installed SP3 and, you are using the microsoft driver bundled with XP.

The solution:

The m$ driver will have created a printer with "(MS)" as a suffix. Leave this intact, as it will cause major trouble on every reboot if you delete it.
Download the appropriate driver from the Files section in the Alps YahooGroup found at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Alps/
With your printer unplugged, install the downloaded driver
Shut down your computer and hook up the printer
Reboot
XP will detect the printer, and create a new printer in Control Panel without the "(MS)" suffix
Make the new printer your default printer.

The reason why you do not delete the printer with the "(MS)" suffix, is because every time you reboot, XP will ignore the fact that you have the correct Alps driver loaded, and will create a new printer using the m$ drivers, and set it to default. Of course, the m$ Alps driver is fundamentally broken

First of all, Alps MD inks do not "Dry up". They are dry to start with!

It sounds like you may be running XP, with the Microsoft driver for this printer installed. You need to load the Alps driver, which you can get by joining the alps or alpsdecal group at http://groups.yahoo.com. You can find the driver in the files section of one of the groups.