Is there a way to determine the number of pages an Alps MD-1000 has printed, like a mileage gauge on a car.

That is a low band printed count for any ALPS printer.

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.

I think your best bet is to find a "parts" machine on ebay. The print element goes out fastest, so the mechanical part should be fine.

There are NO Windows 7 drivers for the ALPS MD printer. I've read that you can run an XP virtual mode on Win7 that allows you to use the printer. If you are comfortable tweaking the OS, it's a workable option. I picked-up an old (and cheap) laptop on Craigslist and printed my decals from there.

It could be a couple things. First try cleaning the print head as described in the ALPS manual (a cotton swap and alcohol). There could be some old ink stuck to the print head. If this doesn

It sounds like the print head is failing.

Join the Yahoo Group for Alps printers. There is a lot of information there. Have you cleaned the print head? Refer to the Users Guide for how to do it. Lines in the printer output can indicate a bad printer head.

Have you ininstall the device and reinstall it? Do you have any pending print job?

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

Several things about these printers.......

1. Do NOT use the MS XP driver for these - it has limited functionality. Download the Alps driver, which you can find in the files section at the Alps YahooGroup (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Alps/files/)
2. The printer requires bi-directional comms in order to feed back the printer status to the computer. While this is not an absolute requirement, it means that without bi-dir comms, the error light will flash, and you won't know what the problem is.
3. The driver is hardcoded to only communicate bi-directionaly with Alps virtual LPT ports - run this with a non-Alps cable (And all of the cables on FleaBay are non-Alps), and you will not be able to monitor the printer status.

Now, how to install.....

1. Plug in the USB cable to the computer (But not the printer), and let it install. Reboot if required (Unlikely)
2. Install the Alps driver you downloaded fron the Alps YahooGroup. Reboot if required. If you now look at Printers in Control Panel, you will see a nice Alps printer there, waiting to be used. Make a note of what it named.
3. Plug in the printer and turn it on. XP will now tell you it has found new hardware, and install the MS driver. Reboot if required
4. Go back to Printers in Control Panel. You will now see you have TWO Alps printers! The MS driver will be called something like "Alps MD-1000 (MS)". Rename (DON'T delete!) this driver to something like "Alps MD-1000 (DO NOT USE)". If you delete it, it will come back to haunt you every time you switch on the printer, and screw up your settings.
5. Open the properties page of the driver you made a note of in step 2 (Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes -> right click on printer, and select "Properties"), and click on the "Ports" tab.
6. Check the checkbox next to the port created for your USB-// cable, and uncheck the other box that will be checked.
7. Uncheck "Enable bidirectional support"
8. Click on the "Advanced" tab
9. Select the "Print directly to the printer" radio button
10. Click on the "Print Processor" button
11. Select ALMD224S as the Print processor and select RAW(FF AUTO) as the Default data type
12. Click Apply.