Epson scanner returns blank scans

  • Thread starter Thread starter John E.
  • Start date Start date
J

John E.

Epson Perfection 1670 used to work fine. Now when I scan a document (any
document) I get a white page. The scanner responds to all commands from the
software (it will preview and scan when tasked), and I've tried all different
settings. I've tried different software, too (the Epson Twain software, and
VueScan). No joy.

The FAQ at the Epson page for this scanner says that the scanner "may not
work properly" if a USB cable other than an Epson cable is used. What cable
should I use? I've been using one that I usually use for my Canon inkjet
printer. The scanner has one of the square 4-pin USB connectors, and the
cable is the flat 4-pin to square 4-pin ones.

Power supply "brick" is providing correct voltage.

Ideas?

Thanks,
 
John E. said:
Epson Perfection 1670 used to work fine. Now when I scan a document (any
document) I get a white page. The scanner responds to all commands from
the
software (it will preview and scan when tasked), and I've tried all
different
settings. I've tried different software, too (the Epson Twain software,
and
VueScan). No joy.

The FAQ at the Epson page for this scanner says that the scanner "may not
work properly" if a USB cable other than an Epson cable is used. What
cable
should I use? I've been using one that I usually use for my Canon inkjet
printer. The scanner has one of the square 4-pin USB connectors, and the
cable is the flat 4-pin to square 4-pin ones.

Power supply "brick" is providing correct voltage.

Ideas?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Is the scanner lamp lighting ?

Arfa
 
Epson Perfection 1670 used to work fine. Now when I scan a document (any
document) I get a white page. The scanner responds to all commands from the
software (it will preview and scan when tasked), and I've tried all different
settings. I've tried different software, too (the Epson Twain software, and
VueScan). No joy.

The FAQ at the Epson page for this scanner says that the scanner "may not
work properly" if a USB cable other than an Epson cable is used. What cable
should I use? I've been using one that I usually use for my Canon inkjet
printer. The scanner has one of the square 4-pin USB connectors, and the
cable is the flat 4-pin to square 4-pin ones.

Power supply "brick" is providing correct voltage.

Ideas?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

So does it provide a correct preview of the document scanned?
 
Arfa Daily said:
Is the scanner lamp lighting ?
Click to expand...

If is wasn't, wouldn't you expect a *black* image rather than a white
one? Besides, the OP says he does see a preview, and you can't make a
preview if your lamp doesn't work.
 
Hello, John!
You wrote on Sun, 11 Feb 2007 01:25:46 -0800:

If you can see a preview then the scanner is probably OK, the main issue
will be software related. You are probably inadvertantly scanning a very
small part of the document. You need to read the manual and discover how to
change the area scanned.

With best regards, 3T39. E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
 
Hello, 3T39!
You wrote to John E. on Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:00:28 -0000:

T> If you can see a preview then the scanner is probably OK, the main
T> issue will be software related. You are probably inadvertantly scanning
T> a very small part of the document. You need to read the manual and
T> discover how to change the area scanned.

Thinking about this again, If you can't actually SEE a preview picture even
though the scanner goes through the motions then the hardware may indeed be
at fault. However if you DO see the preview image then it probably is
software as I previously said. The usb connector is NOT an issue since there
only two data lines and these must be OK if the hardware functions correctly
..

With best regards, 3T39. E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
 
3T39 said:
If you can see a preview then the scanner is probably OK, the main issue
will be software related.
Click to expand...

Well, except that he has the same problem when with both the Epson
software and VueScan.

I'd try scanning from another user account (creating a new account just
for this purpose) and, if that fails, even trying it on another
computer. And if _that_ fails, it's time to replace the scanner.
 
John E. said:
Epson Perfection 1670 used to work fine. Now when I scan a document (any
document) I get a white page. The scanner responds to all commands from the
software (it will preview and scan when tasked), and I've tried all different
settings. I've tried different software, too (the Epson Twain software, and
VueScan). No joy.

The FAQ at the Epson page for this scanner says that the scanner "may not
work properly" if a USB cable other than an Epson cable is used. What cable
should I use? I've been using one that I usually use for my Canon inkjet
printer. The scanner has one of the square 4-pin USB connectors, and the
cable is the flat 4-pin to square 4-pin ones.

Power supply "brick" is providing correct voltage.

Ideas?
Click to expand...

What operating system ?

Time to reinstall the device driver ? XP often has one already available btw.

Graham
 
John E. said:
The FAQ at the Epson page for this scanner says that the scanner "may not
work properly" if a USB cable other than an Epson cable is used. What cable
should I use? I've been using one that I usually use for my Canon inkjet
printer. The scanner has one of the square 4-pin USB connectors, and the
cable is the flat 4-pin to square 4-pin ones.
Click to expand...



Use the Epson cable.

It may have an inline device attached as do some iPod or camera
devices.
 
Johan W. Elzenga said:
If is wasn't, wouldn't you expect a *black* image rather than a white
one? Besides, the OP says he does see a preview, and you can't make a
preview if your lamp doesn't work.

Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.com
Click to expand...

No, he doesn't say that he *sees* a preview, he says that it carries one
out - and also "scans" when tasked to do so. From this, I infer that he
means that he hears it responding in the normal way in both cases, as the
lamp carriage traverses the document bed. I am pretty sure that one I had
some long time ago, just produced a blank scan when the lamp driver circuit
failed, rather than a black image.

Arfa
 
Use the Epson cable.
It may have an inline device attached as do some iPod or camera
devices.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't make a difference if it is a standard USB cable, but if a Epson
branded one is available he should use it. John E., don't connect into a
USB hub, go directly into the back of the computer.
 
A bit of confusion. Sorry for miscommunicating at first...

No representation of the document appears on the screen -- only a blank,
white window.

Bulb does light, and carriage moves the length of the scan bed when I click
Preview or Scan. But no image appears.

OS X 10.3.9, and the drivers page on Epson site says the ones I downloaded
and installed support this OS.

I'll try another computer, and then... we'll see.

I was just asking the USENET world to see if there was a common, simple
solution (whap it upside the head...) or such.

Thanks,
 
John E. said:
A bit of confusion. Sorry for miscommunicating at first...

No representation of the document appears on the screen -- only a blank,
white window.

Bulb does light, and carriage moves the length of the scan bed when I
click
Preview or Scan. But no image appears.

OS X 10.3.9, and the drivers page on Epson site says the ones I downloaded
and installed support this OS.

I'll try another computer, and then... we'll see.

I was just asking the USENET world to see if there was a common, simple
solution (whap it upside the head...) or such.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Just for amusement, you might be interested to know that I just ditched my
Epson all in one. I had one a couple of years back that had endless problems
with the print heads clogging up. I like to leave my printer on all the
time, so that when I need to print, I just click, and it's ready to roll -
none of this waiting ten minutes whilst the thing determines if it's still
alive, still connected, still has a driver installed, still has ink in it,
still has paper in it and so on. Unfortunately, the Epsons don't go to sleep
and park the heads, so if you don't print for 2 days, the stupid things dry
out. Eventually, I got so angry with it that I went down to the store ready
to buy a new HP, as these had always served me well in the past. I came away
with another Epson that was such a good deal, and I figured that they had
probably got it right on this newer all singing and dancing model. How wrong
can you be ... I've put up with it clogging it's heads, using about a gallon
of ink from ALL it's cartridges to perform a clean and many other foibles,
for about 15 months, before drop-kicking it into next week, and this time,
buying an HP as I should have done the first time. This product is superior
in every possible way.

I have absolutely no faith at all in Epson products, or their technical
support people, whom I would describe as space cadets at best, and my best
recommendation, if your problem is not easily resolved, is to just go out
and buy another from a different manufacturer.

Arfa
 
Just for amusement, you might be interested to know that I just ditched my
Epson all in one. ...

Arfa
Click to expand...

I, too, had an Epson (850? 950?) with similar symptoms. Cleaned the heads
right until they leaked (printed some red when you only wanted yellow) --
ironically the opposite of the original problem (clogging).

After that I bought the cheapest Canon I could find (iP3000 for $50US) and
have been really happy with it. The non-US model of the Canon printers will
print CDs/DVDs but due to patent arrangement only Epsons will do that here.
But there is a hack to allow these US models to print now. Was that ever good
news...

Am prepared for the worst, and will probably go buy a Canon LED scanner if it
comes to it.

Thanks for your story.
 
Or try any other USB cable you have to see if that does the trick - if so,
just buy a new cable.

Maris
 
Mike Rosenberg said:
Well, except that he has the same problem when with both the Epson
software and VueScan.

I'd try scanning from another user account (creating a new account just
for this purpose) and, if that fails, even trying it on another
computer. And if _that_ fails, it's time to replace the scanner.
Click to expand...

Years ago I had a similar problem and had to re-install the twain driver for
the scanner. Somehow it had become corrupted in such a manner that it
couldn't do anything other than give a preview image no matter what program
I used.

If you haven't tried a re-install of the twain driver (I am assuming here
that your scanner uses twain) it might be worth a try.
 
Thus spake LDP:
I have the same problem with my 1670. It was working fine less than twoweeks
Click to expand...
ago but now in preview mode it returns a white page just as if Ihad no
document on the scanner. I deleted the old drivers and softwareand
re-installed but still same problem.
Click to expand...

My 1670 went away with the recycle trash on Monday.
 
Thus spake Ron P:
Years ago I had a similar problem and had to re-install the twain driver for
the scanner. Somehow it had become corrupted in such a manner that it
couldn't do anything other than give a preview image no matter what program I
Click to expand...
used.

If you haven't tried a re-install of the twain driver (I am assuming here
that your scanner uses twain) it might be worth a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

I had reinstalled the latest drivers for it a couple of times. No joy.

The scanner is now probably disassembled into its component plastic bits in
the recycle yard of the local community.
 
Thus spake bz:
I took it apart and re-seated all the 'flexable cables' at each end and it
fixed it.
Click to expand...

Tried that. I even took out the loooong flex cable that follows the
bulb/camera carriage and ohm'd it out. It was OK. Still, no joy.

It's binned.
 
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