I have an alps MD400 and am running xp pro with drivers for xp and can't get the thing to print and need a trouble shooter

Wow.... last made in 22007 according to the ALPS USA website. From what I read, it should be a dynamyte printer. Several things to consider.....
1) how long has it been since you thoroughly cleaned the machine... or spent the$$ to have maintainance done on it. 6 years of use and rubber rollers get slippy, paper feed mechanisms need cleaned and resurfaced (this isgeneric info.... i never have worked with an alps)
2) this is a dye "sublimation" printer whose print mechanism moves the sheet through the mechanism 4 times (one for each color) so check and see if there is buildup of dry print medium or lint--paper dust blocking. (Airblast first, then clean with one of those long wood stick q tims. Dipped in alcohol.
3) check your printer drived ssset-up. Some printers can be set to greyscale only. reload your driver. I believe I saw a link saying drivers can be had at driver.com (or was it drivers?)
Also, frim 2007 may not be compatable with win 8. Or win 7. Probably will work with good ol windows xp. Put a good firewall on XP and limit it to only allowing printer calls assigned to whatever port.

Good luck
Sam

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.

Join the Yahoo ALPS group. They have a driver for the 1300 in the file section.

Join the Alps mailing list at YahooGroups. The drivers are in the files section.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Alps/

Please ignore courtdate & creamgetmonE. Here's why:
creamgetmonE - If you're using the XP driver, you are using something so crippled, it should have been aborted. USE THE ALPS DRIVER!!!!!!!!
courtdate, oiling the carriage rail will not change a thing, apart from gunking up the printer, and ENSURING it will fail sometime in the future.
TO FIX YOUR PROBLEM:
There is a sensor under the anti-curl veil. Clean it.

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

Sounds like you have a problem with the anti-curl motor.

To confirm, you will need to print a test page from a computer that has the Alps drivers loaded (Not the drivers that Microsoft ship with XP, as the Alps drivers have a printer monitor that will inform you of any problems that the printer encounters, the Microsoft drivers do not). You can get them by joining the alps and alpsdecal groups at http://groups.yahoo.com. They are in the Files section of one of the groups.

Assuming you are using Alps drivers, and not the Microsoft drivers that are loaded by XP, you can disable the anti-curl function by the following process:

1. Click File->Print
2. Click the Properties button in the dialogue that opens.
3. Check the checkbox labelled "Print on backside" in the Media Type box of the properties dialogue.

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.

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.