epson scanner and image capture: blank white image

Question

Level 1

0 points

epson scanner and image capture: blank white image

I've been trying to make an epson perfection 1670 scanner work on an iMac running 10.6.4

Since epson no longer specifically supports this model I am going to Image Capture and the epson drivers supplied by Apple. I have downloaded/installed the updated drivers twice (once via software update and once manually from apple support).

I can get image capture to recognize the scanner and perform preview and full scans.

The frustrating thing is that the image generated is completely blank; a white page. I have tried using the scanner and image capture on two other mac's (macBook pro, macBook) both running 10.6.4 and both of these produce the same white page (although they do recognize the scanner).

I thought the scanner may have finally broken so i tested it on another (old) iMac G3 running os x 10.4.11 and epson's scanning utility; it worked fine and made a nice scan.

I have tried to get epson's scanning utility to work under 10.6.4 by reinstalling it; I can get it to startup and run the scanner but it too produces a blank white image!

I conclude there is some basic software incompatibility between the drivers and os x 10.6.4. Its odd that the drivers and image capture can run the scanner but cannot send an image to the computer.

The epson driver in the latest apple update is version 5.2.5 (Copyright 2003 ???) while the latest driver on the epson site (for image capture) is 5.3. Tried to download the epson driver and got file not found (*!%#?&).

done what I can; any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 29, 2010 10:19 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Meherally

Level 4

1,129 points

Aug 29, 2010 10:45 PM in response to iad23

Just a suggestion, not saying this will fix it. Have you tried to reset the printer to fty settings? maybe that might clear up or clean up if something is preventing the image transmission.

Reply

Answer 2

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

Aug 29, 2010 10:56 PM in response to iad23

I had the same problem with my Epson 1260 scanner. The "updated" drivers provided by both Apple and Epson produced the exact same result - blank white pages, or if anything showed up at all, it would be all chopped up and skewed, like it had gone through a shredder. Trying to adjust the brightness and other slider settings made no difference.

After wrestling with it for a week, I finally found a solution. First make sure Rosetta is installed. Use the old PowerPC Epson TWAIN driver from 2003; with the filename EPSON TWAIN 5.ds. Put it in the folder /Library/Image Capture/TWAIN Data Sources/.

Then, don't use Image Capture. Download Graphic Converter. Set it to open in Rosetta mode. Then you can use Graphic Converter's File -> Acquire -> TWAIN Acquire... menu command to scan using the old EPSON TWAIN driver.

Reply

Answer 3

iad23 Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2010 10:04 AM in response to Király

Kiraly: thanks alot for your input; this worked with my 1640 scanner; i'll try it tonight with the 1670 epson. I think Rosetta is key for getting older things to work in 10.6.4.

BTW: today for whatever reason the epson Image capture driver version 5.3 is available for download; i installed this and I can use Image capture with an epson 1640; i'll try this with the 1670 too (its at home).

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 4

sberl

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2010 2:12 PM in response to iad23

I had a similar problem. My Epson Perfection 1650 stopped working with a recent Snow Leopard upgrade. It seemed to have lost track of how big the scanner bed was. The overview scans would only move the scanner a few millimeters on its tracks, and then stop.

First I got the driver update from Epson's web site, but that did not seem to make a difference.

Then in the System Preferences Print & Fax pane, I deleted the scanner, restarted, and then added it again. After that everything works great. I can scan from Apple Image Capture, or from Preview.

Reply

Answer 5

iad23 Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2010 7:50 PM in response to sberl

I spoke too soon. What worked for a 1640 does not work for a 1670 epson perfection.

I have downloaded the newest drivers from epson (5.3) and tried scanning in Image Capture and also tried openning Graphic Converter in Rosetta and using the Epson Twain acquire drivers. I have deleted the scanner in print and fax preferences and re-added it. I have also downloaded VueScan and tested whether it can generate images.

Blank white pages is all I get.

Like I said in my previous post, i can get a 1640 to work on the same mac (macbook pro) using Image Capture or Graphic converter / Twain. The 1670 only works when hooked up to a G3 iMac running OS X 10.4.11.

Thanks to all who responded. For now i'm stuck using an old machine. Could be worse.

Reply

Answer 6

iad23 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 1, 2010 8:18 AM in response to iad23

Still looking for a way to use an epson 1670 perfection scanner with Mac OS 10.6.4.

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 23, 2010 7:29 AM in response to iad23

I cam across your thread because I too have a Perfection 1670 which has been acting up since I went Intel.

Thinking to try it now that I have a new MacBook Pro and see what happens when I do nothing about its disks/drivers it actually works- it recognises the scanner and remote-controls it as you'd expect, via Image Capture. It scanned/saved two perfect pages and then I got the dreaded message "no camera or scanner detected".

This message appears as the scanner is returning to its primary position.

Unplugging and replugging the scanner is alway recognised, scans and disappears. One more (fifth or sixth attempt) page was successfully saved but since then nothing.

Frustrating- I get to see the image, all is well and then WHAM- nothing saved. You, on the other hand don't get the image but at least it saves. o_O

No solution yet but if I find one I will let you know.

Reply