Plotter making random solid color stripes.

[MyCoalescence]

Let me give details.

Im using and EpsonGS6000 plotter and it came with ColorBurst RIP.(routing information protocol) ColorBurst is from everything Ive seen and read and discussed with other professionals trash as far a RIP goes. So That could be 90% of my problem.

But here is the problem:

Randomly transposing the the color palette for several inches the entire width of the piece and then it could go back to normal or keep changing color palettes every few inches. When I reprint the images it will have no problem. Its been like the 1/1000 chance glitch that is being terrible.

Details:

At my work Ive been using this machine + RIP for 1 year. I use it daily and have seen this happen about 4 times. I have seen it on flat color vector graphics and just now on images. It will take the colors for a few inches and reassign the colors to something else seemingly randomly. All lines are still in the same spot. I printed out 15 graphics that are narrow but 5-10feet long so I watches it print some then had other things to do. When I came back to my horror it did this...agian... ruining 1/2 of them. I did notice this time that the computers speakers when this was starting to happen were making a beeeeeeeep.......beeeeeeeeep.......beeeeep sound but I didnt think much of it and thought it was a web add. Come to find later it was when it was starting to happen. So I have no idea. Before you ask its not a layer problem as there would have to be a layer every inch which would be complete insanity and its not following any rhyme or reason or pattern.

Hard time finding much info on this problem. Some say check drivers and we have. Some say memory problem which is actually possible. The computer we RIP from is about 4 years old and on large prints for banners depending on the layers, file size and positioning of the moon.... may or may not rip very very slowly when over 5ft long. As I think about it all occurances of my problem have been on print jobs over 10feet long. The last one was about 35feet long and the others were about 10feet and an other time was on a similar job with same dimensions but different graphics 20-30feet long and on some individual long piece about 10feet long.Its not inverted colors either. The computer does exceed the minimum requirements by about 2x for the software and needs. In the past was told we had the whole system checked out with someone representing the RIP company and out system looked good. May just chalk it up to the rip software problems among it crashing daily or sometimes every 10 minutes.

[Szalam]

What software are you using? You've posted in The Lounge​. If you let us know what you're using, a moderator can move your thread to the appropriate, software-specific, support forum.

[Kat Gilbert]

As Szalam asked we really need to know what program you are using to print from. I also have an Epson and once in a while I run into software/ hardware issues some which are easily solved and some not so much. I thought of purchasing a rip when I bought my printer but the cost was beyond the advantages. Is your driver current? I am sure that you are upto date on this so just a question to make sure. Key is knowing what Adobe application you are using....

[MyCoalescence]

Thanks for the replies.

Most if not all we print from is using adobe software mostly indesign and illustrator. I know my question is not really an "adobe" question but I figured I would give it a shot. The rip is ColorBurst which came with the EpsonGS6000 plotter we use we have bought updates for it over the years Ive heard. A problem is the software is no longer being supported by tech support and is basically discontinued.

I did reprint the flawed images then 6 of the 7 printed fine with only 1 gltichy with stripes. Then reprinted the last 1 I needed and it worked as normal. I work at a printing/publishing company that has about 60 people and I spent hours talking to our prepress, IT and graphic designer to see if there was something they knew. I checked all they suggested including transparencies and several preflights in adobe acrobat and advanced plugin software as Pit Stop and found nothing. I am a graphic designer but not with many years of experience and this problem was a mystery to every one I shared it with. Im 95% its a problem with the rip but being like a 1/1000 thing I can live with it.

The printed pieces were for car magnets for a customer that several times a year changes what is displayed on the vehicle iwth the exact same sizes/files but different content. I remembered the last time we did this project I had the same problems but the time before that not a single problem. I grilled the designer who did them to see if anything weird in the way it was saved from InDesign and we could not find any problems. As said if problem x was happening every single time in a situation then you can pin down what is going on better but this seems more random and the only thing in common being that I set the plotter to print over 10ft of piece/pieces at once.

Talked to my boss about this in detail and he said he had seen it happen with that machine/rip as I did a few times a year but not consistent enough and not often enough to being able to find the problem. Out plotter is about 4-5 years old and he is looking for a new plotter to replace this 1 with in the near future.