Digital BW, The Print

I teach a new digital imaging a photography course. We have moved
completely to digital output. We use CFS systems due to the low cost.
Color has worked wonderfully for us. BUT, my foray into the
Quadtone/hextone B/W has been quite frustrating. All photos look
posterized and the grayscale print out has a similar out put for 75-85% as
found in about 45-55%. I am new to this and may have overlooked something.
I read (in this group) and tried as much as I could to solve it, but I
really need help. My students need to be printing within the week. 

Here are the details:

1. Printer Epson 1280 with MIS CFS system withVariable Mix Quadtone 
(Hextone) ink set
2. Test paper is Epson photo and our print station uses Photoshop 5
(upgrading to 7 soon)
3. Print set up as per Paul Roark's curves for MIS Variable Quadtone
4. Inkbottles are properly connected to the appropriate color in the
cartridge; the labels on the bottles matched the position on the cartridge
. A purge test in RGB mode of CMYK, pC , pM color bars resulted in the
following output: K= black; C= darkest gray; M= blue-gray; Y= lightest
gray; pC = medium gray; and pM = light-blue-gray

5. The purge test when converted to grayscale and then back to RGB and
applying Paul's neutral (vmp8-nc16) curve resulted in a gradation from
very light gray to black for Y, PC, PM, M, C, and K, respectively

6. All grayscale sample outputs with color space in grayscale, RGB
(converted from grayscale), and RGB (color) yielded printouts with similar
tonal output at the 75-85% range as found in about 45-55% range.

7. I tried to correct the grayscale problem with a transfer function, but
the tonal differences are too strong.

Questions/Thoughts:

1. Are the inks possible in the wrong position in the cartridge (checked
many times and it follow the pattern on the cartridge and as per Paul\ufffds
instructions)?
2. Am I possibly missing something in my set up in PS %, the printer
driver, or the curves?
3. The printer has had some USB related interruptions (seems to work fine
now) and I think it may be suspect, although it printed colored photos
well although partially at times.
4. Can the F-16 chip resetter cause problems?

I truly hope someone can shed light on this problem or set me in the right
direction. Like many of you, I prefer to spend my time creating or
teaching. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,


Murray Bulger
Digital Media Program, Argyle Secondary School
North Vancouver, BC 
(604) 903-3300