Epson 4870, the Mac and what went wrong?

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Hi everyone! I was scanning some 4x5s from my recent TN trip, got to the last batch (after clicking closed several dialogue boxes saying 'some applications don't support 16 bit blah, blah, blah) and got a wild hair up my butt to check the Epson site for new drivers. Sure enough, they had a new download.

So, I installed and now my scanner isn't recognized. Grrrr! Any gurus out there working with this same scanner on Mac OS X who can help me sort this out?

Thank you so much - if you can help me fix this, there is beer in your future! OK, maybe virtual beer but beer all the same ;-)

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Ellen,

Comb your hair and reinstall the original driver. Use that while you contact Epson support about the problem and the new download..

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

What's irritating is that Silverfast SE works - Epson software just doesn't recognize the scanner is plugged in. Dang it!

Good idea though, Jeffrey :)

[David F. Stein]

Very rare. You can try and run Repair Permissions from the Disk Utility application. I would disconnect and reconnect the scanner physically-using Firewire or USB? Otherwise, it's back to the old driver but see if there's a uninstall function on the new one first. GOOD LUCK.

[Steven Barall]

Make sure the you completely uninstall the drivers before you install new ones. Just adding drivers can make problems.

[Steve Bell]

It can't be a general problem with OSX and the latest 4870 software, as I installed it on a freinds eMac last week and caught up with my scanning at the same time with no problems. Her eMac was running 10.3.8. I got some very nice scans. I would be very cautious about upgrading to Tiger until reports come re compatibility,

[jnantz]

ellen -

not sure if you were able to get your scanner to get working again.
you might go into "about this mac" and see if the scanner is id'd in your peripherals.
either way, unplug it from the wall ( scanner and computer), let'em sit for about 5 - 10 mins, then plug back in.
that might fix it ...

i use vuescan more often than the epson driver.

good luck!
-john

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Steven, thanks for pointing out the obvious - that was the problem. Chalk it up to user error! But you'd think they'd mention that on the download page. Perhaps... *WARNING: Installing updated drivers prior to uninstalling the old ones when earn you a one way ticket to the ninth ring of hell* would be appropriate.

Anyway, it's running again. Might try VueScan; I've thought about it but haven't been inspired to give it shot till now.

Thank for the help everyone!!

[Colin Talcroft]

Just, for the record, I'm having the same problem with a brand new 4870 and Photoshop. I have installed and uninstalled the driver that came with the machine and then installed the latest driver from the Epson site, but, clearly this is not yet ready for Tiger. Having just upgraed to a new Mac and Tiger, that leaves me nowhere to go. Anyone have any idea when Epson is planning a Tiger-tolerant driver? The scanner is recognized and the preview page works. I keep trying to scan a roll of 35mm film and it works, except that after all the frames are scanned, everything is frozen. You can't do anything with anything. The files are just there in a stack that doesn't react to clicking of any kind. All I can do is quit Photoshop--which erases everything. Incidentally, the quality of the scans is truly excellent. I'm very impressed for a scanner in this price range. It's much better than my old Minolta dedicated film scanner, but, until the software works, it's useless. Help!

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Hi Colin :) I'm sorry to hear you are having troubles too... I have not, as yet, upgraded to Tiger so I'm not sure how much help I can offer. But first, I would uninstall the Epson drivers. Do a 'repair permissions' and then reinstall the Epson drivers. If none of that works, then you might consider using the Silverfast SE version that came with your scanner or you could try Vuescan. I have since upgraded to Silverfast AI Studio and now that I feel I've gotten the hang of it, I like it much better than Epson's software. I think Silverfast does a much better job of getting a good scanner to perform at it's peak. Users of Vuescan report similar success.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

p.s. You might also want to check out the Apple discussion forums for an answer to your Mac problems. There are some real informative folks over there.

[Colin Talcroft]

Thanks Ellen,

I see that it works somewhat better if you choose the middle mode rather than "professional" or "basic," or so it seems. I tried the bundled Silverfast software and found it hard to figure out--couldn't even change the marquis that determines the scan area. Gave up. I downloaded VueScan, but didn't like it.Tossed it. Actually, the Epson software seems excellent to me, if it would just do what it is supposed to do. The way it uses the film holders to scan each frame into a separate file is brilliant--what a time saver. I'm used to scanning one frame at a time or a bunch of strips as a single scan that I then have to cut and paste from to make separate files for each shot. I think Apple has just gotten so good at upgrading quickly, that the rest of the world is having trouble catching up.

By the way, as far as I know, repairing permissions has NO effect whatsoever on a file not installed by an Apple installer (really). Apparently, the permissions information that gets checked does not even exist for many, many files on your computer (by design).

So, I Guess I'll have to wait until Epson comes up with a new driver. Just hope they do it quickly. If anyone else is having similar problems, I'd recommend calling Epson to complain. The more they hear that their product does not work with Tiger, the faster they are likely to do something about it.

Anyway, I'm getting really tired of this stuff over and over again. I wish they'd get it right the first time.

Coiln