Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner not fscking working

December 1, 2018 2:06 PM

I bought myself a brandy new Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner, intending to scan some family negatives. It doesn't frickin' work. Halp?

OK, I'm running Windows 10 Home 64-bit here, build 17134.407, on a Dell XPS 15 9570 laptop. I have downloaded and installed the "Scanner Driver and EPSON Scan Utility v3.9.2.5" driver and utility package from Epson's official site, recommended for my scanner and my OS. I installed it, connected the scanner directly to one of my laptop's USB ports using the supplied cable, and then powered up the scanner according to the manufacturer's instructions. I then went to fire up the scanning utility (EPSON Scan) and got this message:

Cannot communicate with the scanner. Make sure the scanner is on, correctly setup [sic] and connected with no errors indicated. For detailed information, see Solving Problems in the User's Guide.

The User's Guide is… less than helpful. For one thing, it doesn't refer to any version of Windows newer than Windows 7. Its suggestions are limited to plugging and unplugging the USB cable, turning the scanner on and off, and uninstalling and reinstalling the scanner software. I have tried all of these things—bupkis. It also has detailed instructions for making sure that my computer supports USB which, obviously, yes it does because my computer is less than 20 years old. Other USB devices work perfectly well on this laptop.

Upon googling this error message, I found a recommendation to go into the Epson Scan Settings app and make some changes. When I try to run this program, I get this message:

Information for scanners that support EPSON Scan Settings is not installed. EPSON Scan Settings will close.

I cannot find the scanner in Device Manager. I cannot find the scanner in Printers and Scanners. Clicking "Add a printer or scanner" in Printers and Scanners does not detect the scanner, and further clicking "The printer that I want isn't listed" doesn't yield any promising leads—perhaps there is something arcane that can be done from there to make the scanner work, but if so I don't know what it is.

Googling my error messages has not gotten me very far; there are some references to these error messages, but the recommended remedies are very basic (I did try running EPSON Scan in administrator mode, no luck) and haven't gotten me anywhere. Yes, I have tried rebooting my computer. Yes, I have tried plugging the scanner into a different USB port.

So, now I am here. What is your advice? How do I proceed? How can I make this darn thing do its job?

posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The to Technology (8 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, and the Windows Image Acquisition service is set to Automatic mode and is running.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:29 PM on December 1, 2018

Bad USB cable or jacks?
posted by j_curiouser at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2018

For diagnostic purposes, does it work with Vuescan?
posted by zamboni at 3:04 PM on December 1, 2018

That's a tough one. Have you connected other things to make sure the USB ports are working? Can you connected the scanner to another computer to make sure it connects? Seems like it could be a communication issue. One thing I'd try is uninstalling the drivers, reboot, and reinstalling them. Another thing I might try is uninstalling them and seeing if Windows automatically finds and installs drivers that work on its own.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:24 PM on December 1, 2018

Response by poster: Yes, as I already said, the USB ports are working—I have an external HDD that is plugged into one right now and it works fine. Also—as, again, I already said in the original question—I have tried uninstalling the drivers, rebooting, and reinstalling them.

I will try a different USB cable, Vuescan, and letting Windows automatically detect the scanner in the morning, and will report back. I will also try installing the scanner on a different computer.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:41 PM on December 1, 2018

I had a similar problem with the same error message for a V850 this summer after a Windows 10 update. At the time, a reboot fixed it temporarily until it cropped up again and then another reboot would fix it again. Finally Epson update their software which fixed the problem permanently for me. Maybe double check that you actually have the most recent version.
posted by octothorpe at 7:09 PM on December 1, 2018

Create a Linux live USB stick (first four steps).
Boot off it.
Open a terminal and enter the command lsusb
You'll get a list like
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:217f Broadcom Corp. BCM2045B (BDC-2.1)
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 147e:2016 Upek Biometric Touchchip/Touchstrip Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
If the Epson scanner is listed, your problem is with Windows (would not surprise me in the least). If it's not, try different cables and repeat the command.
I'm not sure if SimpleScan is included in the live environment, but if it is and the scanner is detected you can even scan the stuff you want scanned, saving it to an USB stick, then go back to Windows.
posted by Stoneshop at 4:18 AM on December 2, 2018

Response by poster: OK, I got it working. Whatever Epson's website was telling me was the right software was bogus; I had to install the scanner software from the CD that came with the scanner. The reason I hadn't done that to begin with is that my laptop, like many recent computers, has no optical drive. I had to find a USB one to borrow, but when I installed from the included disc everything worked. Plugged in the USB cable and the scanner started making little warmup noises that I'd not heard before. Now all seems to be working, more or less. Thanks very much for all the advice, sorry the answer turned out to be so stupid!
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 10:50 AM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]