Epson R1800 prints v. dark despite many attempted fixes

Question

i  have an epson r1800 printer which i used successfully with early  versions of PS and windows XP. now the prints are very dark with a greenish cast using both  a  macbook pro snow leaopard, and windows 7 both with ps5.
i import the pics first into LR3.
i  have been on the fone for hours with epson high-level tech support and  the best they/we can figure out is that the printer cannot handle the  photpro color setting that LR assigns automatically. it only like prints  that began as Adobe RGB 1998 and havent been re-assigned. those occassionally seem to  work fine. but some do not. i have shots in jpg tif and digitized slides [tif] going back  decades, so lots of issues included. nor is  that is an all-round solution, but is there some way i can instruct lr NOT to use the photopro profile, but  adobe rgb 98 instead.
if i go that route, my options then are importing into ps using smart  object and opening in raw one foto at a time, a pretty cumbersome [and somewhat confusing  to me] process. i do this in lr by choosing 'edit in' > 'open as  smart object' and then in ps clicking on the thumbnail in the layers  palette to open in raw. ot i can use bridge, thereby involving 3 programs. arghhh.
per epson tech instructions--and this was  the first thing that gave me some good prints--i have set the workflow  option at the bottom of the raw image in ps at:
adobe rgb 1998; 16 bit; highest mp available( 20 or 25mp even tho i am shooting at 18mp); 320 ppi. but it only works sometime.
or  am i on the wrong track completely in trying to solve the printer  problem. i have been thru many setting adjustments and nothing seemed to  work until opened with the current workflow setting. i have tried, as both adobe and epstill darkson recommeded, having ps control the color and setting icm and management off. still dark.
if agsinst all recommendations i use printer controls color, epson vivid, i can get prttey good prints, but only if i print from LR. PS hates this setting.
i am awating a call from a high-level adobe techie.
my  little head is reeling--and of course this all is after epson tried to  blame OS, PS, LR, my monitor, and me. and adobe did the same casting about. but since the same dark image is  happening with the mac laptop and windows desktop, none of these seemed  likely. epson also suggested i buy another, newer printer, but then  admitted that if the photpro profile was the problem, no joy.
any suggestions, help. i have gone thru much ink paper and hair tearing and dozens of on-line fora.

Answer 1

As remarked by other responders, this is not a problem unique to you, to Lightroom or to your printer; I have struggled many times, most recently with Aperture3 and an Epson1290 (my Epson 220 didn't show the problem at the same time, with the same images). Changes in driver, profile usage to names but 2 factors, all can screw things up.
My suggestions:
1. Make sure you have the latest drivers downloaded from the Apple Software Update window below the Apple icon at the lefthand end of your Finder menu bar.
2. use an appropriate profile for your printer/ink/paper combination; the only real solution is to produce your own, with something like SpyderPrine - I have one for each combination I use.
3. Select these in the Lightroom Print Menu at the right hand side of the window under "Print Job". Don't use "Draft Mode.", which doesn't allow the following choices. Underr "Color Management", put in your chosen profile and Rendering Intent (I use Perceptual, but, in my experience, they don't change things much).
     When you click on "Print", an Apple print window opens, which shows the printer is not in control of printing; all the options are greyed out.
As an alternative, in the Apple Print Window, select "PDF". This will save the image as a .pdf, which you can print from Preview. In the Previerw print menu, select Color Matching/ColorSyc/Profile: and put in your chosen profile; when you get down to the Clor Management" option, coilor controls will be "off", showing that your choices will be used.
If things are working correctly, two prints, one from each route, should be identical; if they are not yoy have another proble, the basis of which I cannot imagine.