Epson 4870 on Vista with CS3 will not scan

I have an Epson 4870 scanner which I'm using with my Vista Home Premium (32 bit)software. When I first installed it, it worked fine. However, some update came along and made that a thing of the past. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling. (The drivers are said to be Vista compatible, and they were for a while) I've searched the forum and Googled, but the only new advice I've seen is to turn off the Vista UAC or whatever, which opens the computer to security risks. Even with UAC off, it still doesn't work. I've considered getting a V700 or V750, but the reviews I've read don't show a significant difference in quality over the 4870, and I don't have enough 8x10 transparencies to warrant purchasing for that alone. I've also uninstalled and reinstalled CS3, trashed preferences, jumped over the moon while spinning counterclockwise, etc. Any suggestions?

Do you mean it won't scan from within Photoshop or it won't scan at all?

It won't scan from Photoshop, and I can't find another interface (e.g. Epson scan) that I can scan from either. It seems under XP it would also put up an Epson scan utility, which doesn't seem present under Vista. The odd thing about it is that it did work on Vista when I first got this computer, and it still works well when attached to one of my XP computers.

I installed the driver only and it put a new shortcut in the Start Menu (all Programs). From there I can start "EPSON Scan". I also have the scanner available as an import device in Photoshop.

Thank you, but I don't know what you mean by installing "the driver only". I don't have anything showing up in the Start Menu for the Epson Scan, though I seem to recall it was there in the past. It seems something needs a clean slate in installing the driver. Lately when I install it it says "Could not copy files. Check the setup disk then run setup again." I'm installing the drivers downloaded from the Epson site, so there is no setup disk. I do have the original disk from Epson, but installing from there did no help, as I recall. I've done this so many different ways I've lost track of the permutations of trials.

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Thank you, but I don't know what you mean by installing "the driver only". I don't have anything showing up in the Start Menu for the Epson Scan, though I seem to recall it was there in the past. It seems something needs a clean slate in installing the driver. Lately when I install it it says "Could not copy files. Check the setup disk then run setup again." I'm installing the drivers downloaded from the Epson site, so there is no setup disk. I do have the original disk from Epson, but installing from there did no help, as I recall. I've done this so many different ways I've lost track of the permutations of trials.

Disconnect the USB cable from the scanner. Uninstall the old software. Though it may not be necessary, I have found it is best to reboot the system at this point. Personally, I run CCleaner free from
http://www.ccleaner.com/ to clean the registry files of remaining Epson file associations. I run it several times until it detect nothing more. Then reinstall the latest Epson driver and scan software 3.04a from their site. There is also an ICM updater update to clear some problems, install them as well. Now reconnect the scanner. It is better to connect to the computers usb port than to a hub (epson says it's okay to connect to a hub IF you are using the original USB cable). Your system should detect the scanner when you power on the scanner. Check to see if the OS 'sees' the scanner. Try using the Epson scan program to scan something. If it does, you should be able to import from within PS CS3 from your scanner via the twain plug-in.

These are a lot of steps, but it is possible one or more files have become corrupt. CS3 utilizes the scanner drivers to import, so if you can't scan with the Epson software, it's doubtful you will get CS3 to work properly.

On the Epson UK site you can choose between "Drivers" and "Creativity software". I chose drivers only, double-clicked the download and it installed itself.

Thank you, John, for staying with me so far. I downloaded the drivers from the UK site, but haven't installed yet. The drivers come with the same number (12180) as the US drivers, so I'm assuming they are the same as what I've been using, which haven't worked so far. As I mentioned earlier, they did work when I first installed them on the Vista computer, then stopped working. It may have been something I did or something that Microsoft did which rendered them inoperable.Just yesterday I installed an older scanner (Epson 2450) on an older computer (XP software) and it worked perfectly just using the downloaded drivers, but I keep running into a wall with these drivers. I should mention that I also have a document scanner (Fujitsu Scansnap S500) which worked perfectly at first but which also stopped working around the same time as the Epson, again possibly due to a Microsoft update. I've been running into the same wall there.

You could try disabling the Twain plug-in temporarily with a Tilde(~).

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe PhotoshpoCS3\plug-ins\Import-Export

It may have something to do with the Vista service pack. The advice from Microsoft is to uninstall problematic drivers then reinstall them. Does it show up in add/remove programs?

The basic problem seems to be that the service pack uninstalls all drivers during the update and then puts them back again. Pre-service pack Vista apparently didn't install the drivers "properly", and the sp would fix that. So I've read.

If this is the case, then at least a clean Vista reinstall should fix it, as long as you hold your scanner off until the service pack is in place.

John,
Thanks again for the followup--I don't know how to disable the Twain plug in with a tilde--I found the plug in--how do I do the tilde? Do I just place it somewhere in the name of the Twain plug in??

Thanks for your patience with my "dummy" questions.

Freeagent--I'm going to hold off on the Vista reinstall--is a clean install going to put me back to square one? I've never had to do this in the past and am totally inexperienced in the "clean reinstall" realm.

In Explorer just put the ~ sign in front of the name of the plug-in like so:

~Twain_32.8BA

It may not help but it has worked in other situations where there is a conflict.

John G,

Not saying you should reinstall right off the bat. The implication was more that you might find something in Microsofts knowledgebase - if indeed it is a service pack related problem, which I of course don't know.

Go with John Joslins suggestions first.

Hi John,
I tried the ~Twain and nothing changed. In the course of looking, though, I found a separate folder named

Epson 12180_twain_driver_and_epson_scan_utility_304a.

I wonder if this is one of the ancient installations that is now interfering with reinstalling correctly?? Once again, I'm in Dummyland when it comes to this aspect of computereze. Is it possibly in the wrong place or shouldn't be there at all?

Freeagent,
I found in the Microsoft knowledgebase that this scanner is Vista compatible, and it points the way to the drivers, but so far nothing further.

May I suggest checking to verify the drivers you have been trying to install. I just went to < http://esupport.epson-europe.com/ProductHome.aspx?lng=en-GB& amp;data=kVFQIoh3k1lpFyj2g2kFaMGuaI64nFnyUrvjJMOEt4IU003D&am p;tc=6>
and downloaded the Epson Scan 3.0u file listed for Vista and for the Epson 4870 scanner. After expanding the .exe file to a folder, I found that this software supports multiple scanners, your included. In checking Es34.inf I found the following:

"[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
LayoutFile=Layout.inf, Layout1.inf, Layout2.inf
Class=Image
ClassGUID={6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}
Provider=%Mfg%
CatalogFile.nt=es34.cat
DriverVer=12/21/2006,3.0.4.0

[ControlFlags]
ExcludeFromSelect=*

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir=11 ; LDID_SYS
DS.Files=10,TWAIN_32\ESCNDV
TBL.Files=10,TWAIN_32\ESCNDV\ESSYS ; LDID_WIN\TWAIN_32\ESCNDV\ESSYS DRV.Files=10,TWAIN_32\ESCNDV\ES0034
FFMT.Files=10,TWAIN_32\ESCNDV\ES0034\FFMT
EPSON.Color.Files=23 ; LDID_SYS\COLOR
ES34.Color.Files=23 ; LDID_SYS\COLOR
USB.Scan.CopySys32Files=10,system32\drivers ; LDID_WIN\system32\drivers

;----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------

[Strings]
Mfg = "EPSON"
ES34.DeviceDesc = "EPSON Perfection 4870"
DSName = "EPSON Perfection 4870"
StartButton = "Start Button"
RegSection = "SOFTWARE\EPSON\EPSON Scan\ES0034" RegSection.x64 = "SOFTWARE\WoW6432Node\EPSON\EPSON Scan\ES0034" ScanApp = "EPSON Smart Panel"
DiskName = "EPSON Scanners Driver Disk"
ICCName = "PER487_R.ICM,PER487_T.ICM"

It does appear this is the correct Vista driver and software to support your scanner. May I suggest it is possible to have corrupt files not being rewritten on reinstallation. After uninstalling and possibly running a registry cleaner, you might try installing the software and drivers from Safe Mode. Hopefully this will keep other drivers and antivirus software drivers from loading, giving you a better opportunity at a successful install.

The driver that it has been installing is showing up with a yellow exclamation beside it in the device manager, and there is also a WPD driver (no idea what this is) that installs at the same time, also with a yellow exclamation mark.

Jimmy, can you recommend a reliable registry cleaner? I've seen some on the internet but I'm heard that some downloads do more harm than good--I'd like something sold in stores that isn't giving someone spy access to my computer, as it seems some of the downloads do.

I thank you all for your help. I'll try all your suggestions.

"Registry Mechanic" is good because it creates a restore point and backs up the registry and then lets you decide what should be fixed.

John Joslin,
Thanks again for the suggestions. I've uninstalled the offending drivers. What does the yellow exclamation mark mean? Is it something like the conflicts on other OS's?

I'll try Registry Mechanic. Since I'm also having the problem with the Fujitsu Snapscan, maybe it can help with that also.