Seen this before in earlier versions (can't remember how far back). However, it is the same problem and is making it frustrating to use LR for printing.

In a big image (but a variable size - usually 13 x 19 works but randomly not) LR sends the image to my Epson 7800 printer and things seem to go fine. However, the output from the printer is (in this case) a 13 x 19 grey square with red letters, printed backward (as in a mirror) "Out of memory".

I've called Epson about it and they believe that in Photoshop you can see the same thing and in this case the solution is to reduce the amount of memory available to PS to less than 50% in the preferences. Neither they nor I can find any way of doing that in LR.

Anyone else bothered by this issue and any work arounds yet?

I think my workaround before was to exit and restart Lightroom before making a big print. It only happened to me on 16x24 prints a few times.

The other option is to increase your RAM.

Thanks Theophilus - I have 4 Gb RAM on an XP 32 bit system so extra RAM won't help. I have also done the close/reopen thing but it is frustrating when you forget and waste a large chunk of paper and ink.

The funny thing is that Qimage will print the image properly even if LR remains open (so that total free RAM must be even less). A noticeable difference is that Qimage sends the print to the printer quite slowly (about 5 mins to generate a large image) while LR does this in a few seconds - I keep wondering whether LR is simply too fast for some buffer system in the spooler somewhere. Anyhow, I can't seem to figure this out!

Qimage Studio Edition supports dual core/HT and is noticeably faster if its enabled.

Qimage may do more than LR for large prints (uprezzing and sharpening) although I'm not sure what LR is doing in that regard.

In the print driver have you checked the spooler settings?

I haven't yet upgraded from 1.4 to 2, but I have this problem and I believe memory mismanagment in LR is at fault. I get the gray box problem in printing contact sheets (I mostly use PS when printing larger), and it started when I upgraded to a 1DsIII. I still shoot with a 1DsII as well, and when printing contact sheets with images from both cameras the MarkIII images are printed as gray boxes.

I'm using an Epson 2200 as the printer and XP on a machine with "4" GB ram and never previously had the problem before trying to print the larger Mark III images. I have, however, always had the problem of needing to close and restart the program basically every time I switch to a different folder because the on-screen image goes gray with the red "out of memory" (not immediately but after doing a certain amount of editing in the 2nd folder).

In troubleshooting the printing problem, I even tried plugging my 2200 into my MacBook Pro running LR through XP/Bootcamp and had the same problem. My work around for the printing problem is to export the images as jpgs and re-import them, and then print. It works.

Thanks all - I agree with the comments (and I've fiddled with my spooler settings ad nauseum...) There is a memory leak/problem (it seems) with LR that is not fixed in version 2. It is no better or worse from my experience with 1.4 and is quite annoying. The worst part about it is that for me it is unpredictable. I can always print 5 x 7 from LR, usually 13 x 19 and anything bigger I have to go to Qimage. The frustration comes from thinking that a 13 x 19 will print and quickly doing it in LR only to find you've wasted paper, ink and time.

Oh well - I love many of the aspects of LR 2 and will continue to use it for most of what I do. However, I really, really, wish that they would fix the memory/printing problems.