[sane-devel] Need help with Epson scanner problems-Fedora 20

[Louis Lagendijk]

On Thu, 2015-01-01 at 09:39 +1100, Terry Duell wrote:
> Hello All,
> I have a problem that has existed for some time, not exactly sure how long  
> as I don't use the scanner on a regular basis. I may have had the problem  
> for a year, maybe more.
> The scanner is an Epson Perfection 3490 Photo, and I have been using it  
> without problem for many years on Fedora Linux (I have been using  
> Redhat/Fedora since 2000).
> Sorry if the following is a bit long winded, but it may help to explain  
> the problem.
> I keep Fedora up to date, and for some years now have been doing a clean  
> install at each new release.
> I am reluctant to say my memory is 100% accurate on what I do to migrate  
> the scanner to each new Fedora system, so I may have missed something when  
> moving from Fedora 19 to Fedora 20...but I do use a scripted process to  
> capture the installed packages prior to installing the new system, then  
> get a package list from new system and then extract a list of missing  
> package names which are then installed. This process has worked OK for  
> many years.
> The sane related packages that are installed are (this list from Fedora  
> 17, but the same for 20);
> sane-backends-drivers-scanners 1.0.23-4.fc17 x86_64
> sane-backends-libs 1.0.23-4.fc17 x86_64
> xsane-gimp 0.998-12.fc17 x86_64
> xsane-common 0.998-12.fc17 x86_64
> sane-backends 1.0.23-4.fc17 x86_64
> xsane 0.998-12.fc17 x86_64
> 
> For each system upgrade I install the Epson firmware (esfw52.bin) in  
> /usr/share/sane/snapscan/ and ensure that path is in  
> /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf.
> 
> Now, finally, to the specifics of the problem.
> I can start Gimp and select File -> Create:XSane dialog and the XSane  
> windows appear OK. I can select "Preview" and get a preview scan OK, but  
> when "Scan" is selected I get an error "Failed to start scanner: Error  
> during device IO".
> If I reboot, and repeat the process, usually the XSane preview window  
> appears blank, and this can be remedied by closing the XSane windows and  
> Gimp, deleting my ~/.sane dir and restarting Gimp and XSane, and either  
> one preview or a normal scan can be obtained but when attempting a second  
> I get the "Failed to start scanner: Error during device IO" error.
> I also run Windows 8.1 in Virtualbox and can successfully do multiple  
> scans using the Epson supplied Windows software, which rules out scanner  
> or USB cable problems.
> 
> I have raised the problem in the Fedora forum of Linux Questions and it  
> was suggested I ask here, although I have a feeling that there may be more  
> to explore/test that is purely Linux related.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience of a problem like this, and what might be  
> causing it?
> Any ideas welcomed.
hi Terry,
Is the scanner connected to a USB3 (often blue) port? If so, move it to
a USB 2 port. There are some issues with USB3 ports that got fixed
recently in GIT but are not in the Fedora version (nor most likely any
other Linux distro's version)  
Kind regards, Louis