Pulling maintenance on an Epson 4990

[cooltouch]

I just acquired a used Epson 4990 last week, and am slowly working through its various issues. One that I feel I must address is the glass plates, especially the lower one. It looks fine when viewing it when the light source is off, but when it's on, there's a lot of just stuff on the underside of the plate. Enough that I want to clean it.

Okay, so I've dismantled my Epson 3170 before. Pretty straightforward -- a couple screws in the back, the front is hinged, and it comes apart. The 4990 seems to be put together similarly. Two screws down in the holes where the posts for the cover sit. I take them out, but the top plastic panel won't budge. There are two more screws on the back panel, looking suspiciously like they're holding the back panel's connectors in place, so I don't mess with them. But after futzing around with the thing, trying to get the top part off, I go ahead and remove those two screw also. Fortunately, nothing falls down inside. But still, nothing doing. Can't get the top piece to budge.

I've tried this with the carriage locked and unlocked. That doesn't seem to make a difference.

So, what am I missing? There's gotta be a way to get inside these things without too much problems. Cuz there's a sticker on the back saying that the bulb contains mercury and most be disposed of properly. Why would that sticker be there if it was not possible to get to the interior without tearing things up?

Any help is appreciated.

Best,
Michael

 

[jamie]

Try this: http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/documentation/Perfection 4990 Photo Exploded Diagram.pdf

 

[Doug Fisher]

Did you get the screws under the button caps on the top side of the case?

Doug

 

[cooltouch]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm printing out the pdf, and no, Doug, I didn't get the screws out. I looked at those "button caps" and looked at them quite closely, even tried to see if I could pry them out with a knife, and came to the conclusion that they were part of the housing, although having two circles in the housing for no purpose didn't make any sense to me.

But now that I know they are indeed caps, I'll give it another go. Might have to drill them out.

Best,
Michael

 

[Doug Fisher]

An icepick works fine or even stick-and-pull with duct tape usually works (developed to remove the caps in a way so Epson warranty control would not know you opened the case!).

Doug

 

[cooltouch]

Thanks, Doug. Dunno if the icepick will work any better than the knife I tried. As it is, I marred up the surface a bit. Tried duck tape and that didn't work. They're stuck.

I went to fetch my drill, and the battery is dead. Waiting for it to get charged up before I drill out the caps.

Since the 4990 is no longer under warranty, I'm not all that concerned about this.

 

[pellicle]

nothin to say, just holding my breath this end...

 

[cooltouch]

Well, the caps popped right out once some torque force with the drill was applied. The scanner came apart without a hitch, and I was able to clean both pieces of glass inside and out thoroughly.

It's back together now, but unfortunately not in operation on the target computer. Still have a software glitch that's unresolved.

Best,
Michael

 

[Dan Williams]

It's back together now, but unfortunately not in operation on the target computer. Still have a software glitch that's unresolved.

Best,
Michael

If the problem is with the driver, delete the driver you have and download a new one from epson.com I just checked and it is available there.

Dan

 

[cooltouch]

I've been there done that so many times I've lost track. I've also been in correspondence with Epson tech support over this, and just got another response from them. Now they're telling me to give them a call to see if we can find out where the problem lies.

I have an Epson 3170 scanner that I've been using on this same machine for years. I also just recently bought an Epson Workforce 600 all-in-out machine. After uninstalling both the 4990 and its software, rebooting, and then cleaning the registry using CCleaner, I went back and installed the 3170s software, then hooked it up. No big surprise -- it doesn't work with this computer anymore. So, I tried the W600. It will print, and Epson Scan for the W600 (v3.4) will boot standalone, but the TWAIN driver is not functioning now. When I try to boot the W600 from within my image processing software, I get the same popup saying Epson Scan cannot start.

So it seems clear to me that there's something left behind somewhere from a previous scanner install that is causing these problems. Hopefully, Epson and I will be able to get to the bottom of this.

Fortunately, I've been able to get the 4990 to work on another machine, so that's a relief -r- at least I know it works.

Best,
Michael