Comment 28 for bug 478761

Hi rik (and others),

Thanks for the suggestion.

I did in fact resolved the problem, but before your post...

I knew I wasn't crazy -- I HAD seen xsane work on the machine under WUBI. So, I booted from the install CD and just ran in "Live CD" mode. Still no joy.

So then I rebooted a different machine -- a 5 mo. old laptop -- under WUBI and hooked the scanner to that. No joy, no joy, no joy.

So, since I had wiped WinXP off the target machine (my desktop machine, 32bit), where the scanner has been working fine for years, I installed the original Epson driver / software on the laptop booted under Windows Vista. STILL no joy. I had inadvertently install the 32bit drivers instead of the 64bit ones. So, I uninstalled the 32bit Epson drivers/software and then installed the correct 64bit version. Still no workie (although I had never had the scanner attached to this 64bit laptop).

At this point, I just wondered if the scanner had gotten into some weird state. So, I installed the 32bit Epson drivers/software on an older Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop running winxp sp3. FINALLY, my scanner worked again.

At that point, I attached it back to the original, target machine. In so doing, I also plugged it BACK into its original USB port -- port 1, which is farther from it -- rather than in port 4 where I had plugged it into during the switch to Ubunutu because that port is physically closer.

The good news is that the scanner reset twice during boot -- which is what it had always done under winxp on the same machine -- and low and behold, xsane worked perfectly!

So, I'm not sure if the scanner got into some odd state -- possible, but I doubt it -- that hooking it up to an older Dell 32bit laptop fixed, or if, more likely, SIMPLY SWITCHING THE USB PORT fixed things??!?

The target machine / my desktop has an ABIT KT7A mb with two on-board USB ports that I have never used for anything (they are USB 1.0 and hence slow). When I got the scanner, I also purchased a StarTech USB 2.0 4-port PCI card, and that provides the 4 ports I actually use.

I've no idea why switching ports would matter, especially since /proc and lsusb show the exact same information for the scanner whether on port 1 or 4, but who knows. I suppose I could move the scanner over to ports 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and see what happens -- and am happy to do so if anyone needs me to -- but for now I'm simply happy that my scanner is working and working reliably again.

Thanks all,
Doug