Question Epson scanner stopped working

[donrudi]

After years of reliable service, our Epson Perfection Pro 4990 scanner won't turn on at all, not even a blue light. Bad power supply or bad switch? (Win 10, Ryzen 7)

 

[Lutfij]

Perhaps the motherboard in the scanner might've conked out.

 

[donrudi]

Perhaps the motherboard in the scanner might've conked out.

Indeed a possibility. I have worked extensively with PC mobos but in 40 years I have never taken apart a scanner.

 

[Grobe]

Check those things:

• There is a plastic "lock slider" at the back and possible in under the lid. Make sure both are in unlocked position.
• If this is a film scanner as well, there are a short cable between the bottom part and the lid. Check if this cable is actually plugged in.
• Some scanners may become unresponsible (seemingly dead) until waken up by software command. Check if the software is working, and is the correct version, and any neccesary drivers are installed (in Device manager, there shouldn't be any "unknown device").

 

[donrudi]

Check those things:

• There is a plastic "lock slider" at the back and possible in under the lid. Make sure both are in unlocked position.
• If this is a film scanner as well, there are a short cable between the bottom part and the lid. Check if this cable is actually plugged in.
• Some scanners may become unresponsible (seemingly dead) until waken up by software command. Check if the software is working, and is the correct version, and any neccesary drivers are installed (in Device manager, there shouldn't be any "unknown device").

Thank you for your inputs which are all plausible suggestions. I also reached out to a friend who is an artist and has extensive experience dealing with the miseries of archaic scanners and printers. She related the story about her pricey Epson 10000XL that also suddenly quit working and displayed no signs of life. For reasons that are not entirely clear to her, it spontaneously resuscitated itself after a few days and began working normally. Encouraged by this unusual development, we redeployed our scanner and reconnected all the cables and turned it on. Lo and behold, it was restored to life just as I was preparing to consign it to the computer junkyard in the basement for harvesting of reusable components. Lesson learned: just because your hardware has gone completely dark and unresponsive, that doesn't mean that it is gone for good.