New Epson scanner DRIVING ME UP THE FUCKING WALL!

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2006-01-22 05:19am

Here's the situation: I buy a new Epson Perfection 3590 flatbed/film scanner for my iMac. This is replacing a HP piece of shit scanner/printer combo which unaccountably stopped working because it and the computer weren't talking to one another.

I get it out of the box. Install the drivers. Hook up the scanner to a USB four-port hub connector. Plug in the scanner. The applicaton fires up and it scans with no problem whatsoever —AT FIRST.

I leave for about sixteen hours or so. Decide to do some more scans when I return, so I fire up EpsonScan and —nothing. The scanning arm just shunts into ready position while the computer displays a "scanner warming up, please wait" dialogue box —and nothing. The control window just comes back up as if a scan had been done when nothing at all happened.

Tried switching USB connections —nothing. Tried connecting directly to the USB ports on the computer itself —nothing. Repeatedly restarted both scanner and computer —nothing. Even went so far as to completely uninstall the drivers, disconnect the scanner from both power and USB, then reinstalled the software, repeated the step-by-step connection procedure and —NOTHING. The fucking thing just sits there not talking to the computer. Every once in a while, I get an error message stating that the scanner could not be started, that there is a communication problem, and get dumped into the singularly unhelpful troubleshooting menu which typically is worse than useless for all the "information" it offers.

Brand new scanner right out of the motherfucking box and it gets itself stuck in some sort of loop barely a day into use. Epson is supposed to be a good scanner; there's no bad buzz about the Perfection 3590 from what I've read. And this is Mac, not a Windows machine, which means you don't expect to actually run into this sort of bullshit aggravation with a new piece of equipment. The only thing I've done before trying scans was to load on a CD labelmaking programme, but that shouldn't have been enough to alter the system to the point where the scanner would be rendered nonresponsive to its own drivers. Especially not on a Mac.

It can't be the USB ports or hub —everthing else works when plugged into them. Can't be the USB cable —it's brand-new with the scanner. It's definitely not a memory problem —the computer's still got plenty to burn. Can't be a software conflict, or the thing shouldn't have worked in the first place. Never had this kind of trouble with a peripheral device before. Never.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-01-22 04:02pm

EPSON ARE FUCKING SCUMBAGS.

FUCK THEM.

I've been having a problem with my printer. An Epson C65. I check the manual, apparently its an unspecified error "return to supplier for warranty work". I check their website, apparently its still an unspecified erroer, "return to supplier for warranty work". I call up their tech support (long FUCKING DISTANCE no less) and get fed a pile of bullshit: "There's not paper stuck is there?"
"NO FUCKWAD! I've already done all that, I've tried replacing ink cartidges, changed the connecting cable, tried different paper, reinstalled drivers! None of it worked!"
"Oh, then return it to the supplier. Its still under warranty."

So while I'm in at the supplier later, I confirm what I need to do to bring it in and have it repaired. But then, later, when I bring it in to have it repaired, I find out that they won't repair it, because Epson didn't give me a fucking Case No. for the warranty work. I tell the guy on the counter that no one at ANY stage, even at the fucking store that he's the manager of, EVER MENTIONED A CASE NO. "Well, you can't just come in here, slap your printer down here on the counter and have it exchanged..." At this point I nearly fucking killed him. I swear I was half a freaking second away from grabbing a large display server case and braining the guy. Instead I carefully explained the entire sequence of events... And his advice: "You'll need to call Epson again..."

Fuck Epson.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-01-22 04:33pm

Take it back and get a Canon.
I've had a Canon for several years and the only time I had a problem was when I connected it through the hub on my monitor.
Directly connected to the PC, no problems whatsoever.
Plus they're directly powered through the USB connection, so there is no power brick to deal with.

What's not to love?

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2006-01-22 07:26pm

Glocksman wrote:Take it back and get a Canon.
I've had a Canon for several years and the only time I had a problem was when I connected it through the hub on my monitor.
Directly connected to the PC, no problems whatsoever.
Plus they're directly powered through the USB connection, so there is no power brick to deal with.

You mean the big transformer/adapter? I do recall that I never had that on the UMAX I lost in the flood. The HP also needed the power-brick as well. Strange thing is, however, it worked fine up until it spent a long time disconnected from the computer and was hooked back up again, after which it did a few scans and then stopped talking to the computer. The Epson got itself stuck in its loop for no damn reason I can determine.