Scanner crisis SOS

[Katharine Thayer]

My Epson 1680, while I was setting up a scan of a transparency, suddenly started flashing both the green "ready" light and the red "error" light, and won't scan. I can't find anything in the documentation that deals with this. I've tried turning the power off and back on a couple of times, reconnecting all the connections, and so forth, the usual things; the flashing resumes when the scanner is turned back on. Any ideas?

No, unfortunately, I don't remember exactly what I was doing when this occurred. Thanks for any insight.

 

[rmazzullo]

My Epson 1680, while I was setting up a scan of a transparency, suddenly started flashing both the green "ready" light and the red "error" light, and won't scan. I can't find anything in the documentation that deals with this. I've tried turning the power off and back on a couple of times, reconnecting all the connections, and so forth, the usual things; the flashing resumes when the scanner is turned back on. Any ideas?

No, unfortunately, I don't remember exactly what I was doing when this occurred. Thanks for any insight.

possible things to look at:


loose memory (if there are options to install extra memory
loose or partially connected signal cables
is some sort of backing paper (or film) needed behind the transparency (I don't know, I am just guessing here). Perhaps the scanner is seeing something which is throwing a fault or error code into the system.
Is the scanner lighting up (emitters not lit?)
does the scanning emitter move?

sometimes a document or file has "something" that is misinterpreted by the device as a control code (a control code does font changes, or paper size changes ,etc on the fly in printers. the wrong code if not interpreted properly can lock up the device --- something similar can happen with scanners).
try scanning an image printed on plain paper to see if the scanner works.

If the scanner is hooked up to a PC, delete any previous attempts to scan the transparency from the queue in the application on the PC and THEN power cycle the scanner. Then try again. You may want to reboot the PC to clear any cached files that are waiting to be fed from scanner to application on the PC.

Aside from that the scanner could very well have just up and failed. If you are in a cold winter environment and it is dry today, you can accumulate enough static electricity to fry scanner, PC, etc. Especially if you touched a connector input without grounding yourself first (touch the water faucet at your sink first). No spark will be visible, but your device is Kaput.

good luck,

Bob Mazzullo

 

[rmazzullo]

please refresh the page, I made edits....

Bob M.

 

[rmazzullo]

transportation lock at rear of scanner....

I found this in the manual:

error and ready lights are both flashing:

Check that the transportation lock on the back of the scanner is set to unlock. If not, unlock the scanner, then turn it off and back on again. Restart your computer. If this doesn't solve the problem, contact EPSON as described on page 51.

(assuming you have the same manual that I am looking at on the internet).

hope this helps.

Bob M.

 

[mkochsch]

USB or SCSI?
Mac or PC?
OS?
Checked the lid cable?
Unplug everything, scanner, computer, printer, Christmas tree...restart.
~m

 

[Greg_E]

If the lock is not engaged, then it is probably a jammed or dead motor. The 1680 is a larger format machine, right? Depending on what the size is and the type of medium I could probably sneek a couple of scans on the Microtek 9800XL at work for you.

 

[Katharine Thayer]

Thanks!

That was weird; I wrote and sent a reply a while ago but it never got posted. I think the world of machines is against me today.

Anyway, just wanted to say I love you guys, and thanks. Epson says it is most probably the motor, as Greg said, and I need to take it to my authorized service place. I was hoping for a simpler answer, but as the song says, you don't always get what you want. Thanks again for prompt replies,
Katharine

 

[Greg_E]

The question now becomes, is it worth fixing?

 

[Katharine Thayer]

The question now becomes, is it worth fixing?

That's the question, isn't it. The motor will cost $49.95 or so, plus the labor. I don't know what scanners are running now; I think I paid about $800 for this one. I don't really want to buy a new scanner right now but maybe I should look around. I can't get it into the shop til after New Years since I'll be away til then, so I'll have some time to think about it. Thoughts? Suggestions?
kt

 

[rmazzullo]

If you are mechanically inclined, and the motor is easily accessible, you might want to try replacing the motor yourself. The big caveat here is that some products are not mechanically user friendly, and without a disassembly manual you can find yourself with a pile of parts pretty quick.

That being said, if the repair facilty is reliable, can guarantee their work and provide a turn-around time you can live with, and you have been happy with the scanner's performance, it will be easier and time wise more efficient to get it fixed at a repair facility that can do the work. If you have to ship it out, you will need to double box it with plenty of cushioning, insurance, etc, etc,. Once all the costs are added up (parts, labor, shipping), it might even be easier to just get a new one. Depends.

It is possible (I haven't looked yet) that some scanners may be made with ease of maintenance as a design feature. I don't know which units have this feature, and more importantly, I have no idea which units can offer the capabilities you are looking for.

Take care,

Bob Mazzullo

 

[Ben Altman]

That's the question, isn't it. The motor will cost $49.95 or so, plus the labor. I don't know what scanners are running now; I think I paid about $800 for this one. I don't really want to buy a new scanner right now but maybe I should look around. I can't get it into the shop til after New Years since I'll be away til then, so I'll have some time to think about it. Thoughts? Suggestions?
kt

I faced the same question a while back when my Microtek 1800f quit and I discovered there is no service at all on those machines. I didn't want to just go out and buy a new scanner, so I started looking around for something used. Now, after much time on ebay and other research, I have a big Fuji pro flatbed with its software - and two(!) Howtek 4500 drum scanners with fancy Aztek software (which won't run on Mac so I also have a new Dell computer to run that). Could have bought a raft of Epson scanners for what I spent, even though this sort of used equipment is pretty good value now with print shops and government departments going all digital and unloading their scanners.
A cautionary tale, but the scans are great! In fact there's no way I'd go back to a "prosumer" scanner.
Good luck... Ben

 

[Ted Harris]

Katherine, that's a pretty long in the tooth machine. You will likely get better performance from even the low end available now new such as the Microtek i800.

 

[Katharine Thayer]

The mystery deepens

Okay, guys, here's a new mystery for you to explain for me. I finally got the scanner in to the repair place, they looked it over and called and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They suggested, as straws in the wind, that it might be a bad USB cable or the driver may have gotten corrupted somehow. I picked it up yesterday and hooked it back up, and at first it seemed to work fine. No flashing lights when I turned it on, when I hooked it up to the computer, no error message when I opened the scanner interface, no problem scanning a print. Which was all strange because they didn't do anything to it that should have made any difference.

But then I went to scan the same thing I'd been trying to scan when the scanner stopped working before, an old laser printer negative (I had wanted to compare my old laser printer negatives to the ones Jim Larimer is using) the same thing happened again. I got the same error message, "scanner is not responding" and the lights started flashing in unison again. But at least this time, when I turned the scanner off and then on again, it was fine. I tried scanning some 4x5 slides, Provia, and I tried scanning a paper negative, which I would think is more opaque than the laser printer transparency, and those all scanned fine.

So what would explain the scanner going berserk when asked to scan this particular kind of transparency material? I've just spent $88 to pay someone to do diagnostics on a scanner that apparently didn't need fixing; the problem is that the scanner has a dislike for FreeStyle vintage laser printer transparencies and I shouldn't ask it to scan them? Does this make sense to anyone?
Katharine

 

[keithwms]

Katherine offhand it sounds like a memory allocation error or an issue of how fast the information is getting from PC <-> scanner. If communications get interrupted or delayed then you can have all manner of errors either on the software or hardware side.

Let me propose the following. If your scan setup is different for the different media you are scanning, then there may be different memory allocation. Let me suggest reducing the bit depth settings... go to 8 bit greyscale or so, and also reduce the area of the scan. I.e. start small and work your way up.Turn off scan preview if you have that option in your software. In other words do a minimal scan. Then you start building up to larger and larger scans to see where the problem lies.

If you discover that a minimal scan fixes your problem then it could be either a memory issue on your PC or an issue with your cable(s). Or some funky driver issue.

I encountered similar issues with two epson devices- a scanner and an inkjet, and resolved both by purchasing a better "faster" USB cable. I spent all kinds of time on the phone with epson and we eventually concluded that because I was using two slightly different usb cales patched together, there was simply too much delay being built into the communication and that was spuriously causing issues. Solution: sounds goofy and simple but use fast and short usb cables, and don't patch together two cables with those usb extenders. Go out and buy the latest and greatest usb cable. When you have a lot of info flying back and forth then it really can cause issues.

Also try to think about when this started happening- were there any software updates at all on your pc? Especially driver updates? I think part of the problem I had with one of my epson devices was that there was a new driver which my machine automatically detected and installed, and I didn't even know it. So epson walked me through all manner of installations etc. and ultimatey it turned okay.

Sorry if this doesn't help, I'm definitely no computer pro, but I think we can start by eliminating some basic things.

 

[Katharine Thayer]

Hmm... maybe I didn't explain this well enough. The scanner works fine except when I try to scan this one thing, this old laser printer negative. I don't think it has anything to do with memory, because it balks as soon as I choose "film" if this particular kind of film is in the scanner. If I choose "film" with any other kind of film in the scanner, or even a paper negative, it works fine, lets me go ahead and set up the scan and complete the scan. In fact I was planning to scan it in 8 bit greyscale, since it's a black ink negative and I was only intending it for a jpeg, not to make a negative from or anything, and I was only scanning a small portion of it, to look at the detail, but it didn't even let me do that, as I said, wouldn't even let me get to the point where I could set the file size. So I doubt it has anything to do with memory; I can scan quite large files from either prints or film, as long as I'm not trying to scan that particular transparency.

Nothing has changed, no driver changes no operating systems changes no software changes, no changes whatever.

 

[keithwms]

Okay, but as soon as you select what you are about to scan, the software sets up the task, and allocates memory, and sends instructions to the scanner. That is where the problem lies, no?

What I am saying is that perhaps the problem is not with the actual piece that you are trying to scan but with the settings associated with that scan. To test that, try to scan it using the same settings you'd use for provia or whatever. That would be the first thing to test, I think. I suspect it is an issue of how the software is setting up the scan, and if so then there will be a solution.

 

[Katharine Thayer]

Okay, but as soon as you select what you are about to scan, the software sets up the task, and allocates memory, and sends instructions to the scanner. That is where the problem lies, no?

What I am saying is that perhaps the problem is not with the actual piece that you are trying to scan but with the settings associated with that scan. To test that, try to scan it using the same settings you'd use for provia or whatever. That would be the first thing to test, I think. I suspect it is an issue of how the software is setting up the scan, and if so then there will be a solution.

But what I am saying is that I can scan provia and even paper negatives just fine using the very same settings. It's just this particular film, with the same settings that work fine for other film, sets off the blinking lights and error messages.

I don't intend to try to scan this laser printer film again; I have no need to, so it's not a problem that needs to be solved in order for me to do my work. It's just that I'm a curious person and wanted to know if someone could explain why the scanner wouldn't want to scan this particular film.

 

[donbga]

But what I am saying is that I can scan provia and even paper negatives just fine using the very same settings. It's just this particular film, with the same settings that work fine for other film, sets off the blinking lights and error messages.

I don't intend to try to scan this laser printer film again; I have no need to, so it's not a problem that needs to be solved in order for me to do my work. It's just that I'm a curious person and wanted to know if someone could explain why the scanner wouldn't want to scan this particular film.

Is there a possibility that this paricular negative is blocking the calibration area of the scanner light source?

Don Bryant

 

[Katharine Thayer]

Yes. I hate it that $88 later, I find out that the whole problem was that I should have cut the border off that end of the negative so it wouldn't cover that part of the scanner. Something so simple... But at least it all makes sense now, except that since the negative is transparent, or at least highly translucent, you wouldn't think that it would block the light that much. But obviously it does, since when I cut the border off and tried again to scan, it worked perfectly. Thanks,
kt