Black Line in Scans from my Epson

[Frank Petronio]

Hmm rather than investigating it closer myself, I'll just "axe" here...

Scanning 4x5s on my trusty 5-6 year old Epson 4990 using the stock holder which places the two 4x5s horizontally on the platen. I am getting a couple pixel wide black line across my scans, which means something is dropping/blocking on just one small narrow portion the moving CCD bar. I don't see anything dark or messed up here.

Anyone have similar experience? Any advice?

[Jim Noel]

Dust in the scanner. It is likely in the small window near one end of the carrier.
I can't be more specific because I use a Microtek. I have had this problem and a good cleaning of the class has always solved it.

[Kerik Kouklis]

Yep, clean the glass. It's not too difficult to take the thing apart to clean both sides of the glass.

[bvstaples]

I have a 4990 and have a similar problem. I get a dark line (not black) running in the scan direction of the platen. I've cleaned both top and bottom glass and it is still there. Then it goes away. Then it comes back. Then it goes away. Then it comes back.

I did a little test and found it had to do with the scanner lid. I could never reproduce it while scanning reflective art. I thought maybe a small dirt spot on the moving light source in the lid might be the culprit, but I didn't want to mess with it.

I called Epson and they gave me a "We can't explain it and we've never heard of it, but if you send it in we'll diagnose and fix for a "small" fee. So I asked them what was worst case scenario (other than buying a new scanner), and they said around $200 to replace the light source. Since I only paid $150 for the scanner when CompUSA closed down, I couldn't see myself paying $200 plus shipping both ways to fix it. I can fix teh anomaly in PS if it rears its ugly little head.

I also asked about this on the Epson 4990 Scanner Forum and got no help there. I thought I was all alone in the world with this problem. Thanks Frank, for making the world a little smaller place. :o

Brian

P.S. Oh — and if you hear of a solution, let me know, and I'll do likewise...

[patrickjames]

A two pixel wide line could be the sensor. If the lines are completely black, then it sounds like you may have a dead pixel or two. If the line is not black something is dirty. It is pretty easy to clean the glass and you should be able to get at the mirrors pretty easily. Less than an hour to do both of those. A sensor cleaning would be more involved. I bricked an old epson 1600 scanner a few years ago trying to clean the sensor. I would say clean the glass and the mirrors (if you can get at them) and then, if the line is still there, go for the sensor or look for a new scanner.

[Doug Fisher]

If a very meticulous cleaning of the top 2 inches of the scanner glass doesn't help, you should try raising up on its side just less than 90 degrees and running a few long scans. Then check to see if the line moved. Sometimes this can dislodge junk on the mirror. After that, its time to open it up and clean the underside of the glass and pay special attention to make sure the white calibration strip on the underside of the outer frame is clean and complete. You can try blowing canned air on the mirrors but you have to be careful or you will just make things worse. I have put up schematics and tips here for dismantling:

http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/dismantling.html

If you are still having problems, then it seems like you might be looking at a CCD problem.

My $.02,

Doug

[Frank Petronio]

Luckily it was just some dirt in the calibration strip I think -- a simple cleaning did the trick.