scanimage not accessing epson perfection 2450

Sorry. Need more sleep. This is on dapper, not breezy. Worked fine on breezy.

Here is the problem in a nutshell:

jb@nonesuch:~$ sudo scanimage -L device `epson:libusb:004:008' is a Epson GT-9700 flatbed scanner
device `epkowa:libusb:004:008' is a Epson Perfection 2450 flatbed scanner
jb@nonesuch:~$ sudo scanimage -d epkowa:libusb:004:008 >/home/jb/test.pnm scanimage: sane_start: Error during device I/O
jb@nonesuch:~$ sudo scanimage -d epson:libusb:004:008 >/home/jb/test.pnm
scanimage: sane_start: Error during device I/O

Perms are set fine on the device but can't even do it as root as shown above. Strace shows many, many attempts to access device resulting in "-1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)". Does not matter if scanner is on USB hub or directly attached to PC.

Jack

What does dmesg say after this happens?

I can confirm this bug.

Matt: after _what_ happens?

dmesg doesn't say anything while i run scanimage, if that was what you meant.

$ uname -r
2.6.15-22-powerpc

It is working! But not the way I had hoped. I took the time to do a clean install of 6.06 when it dropped. No change. In fact, if anything it was worse - I got an immediate "no scanner detected" error when trying to use it.

But then I thought that maybe the reason that scanimage is not getting anything back from the scanner is because it just cannot talk to it...period. I have a USB 1.1 and a USB2 bus on this machine. So on a whim, I moved it over from the USB2 bus (where it was working fine in Breezy) to the USB 1.1 bus. Instant joy. But of course the scans take longer to complete.

I have no idea why this scanner no longer plays nicely on the USB2 bus. That is why you guys get to play with the code, I suppose.

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if the scanner is still problematic when connected to a USB 2.0 port? Thanks in advance.

This model of scanner is known to be a problem to both myself and others. I was using FC5 until recently, where it is also a problem.

At present, I'm using Feisty, and I've just done a nice looking scan of a 35mm transparency using my Perfection 2450.

Firstly, and this seems to be of the utmost importance with this particular scanner, DON'T try to use it with USB2.0. It just doesn't work. In my experience, it can be made to work with USB1.1 but most computer users don't have this available these days. I'm beginning to suspect that there's something wrong with the USB2.0 implementation in the scanner itself. The way to make it work is to use the Firewire connection. Go buy a Firewire cable if you've not got one, and a Firewire expansion card if you've not got a socket on the motherboard. Just doing this gets it working with FC5, but it's not enough with Feisty.

My path of reasoning was as follows:-

Upon installing Kubuntu (I tried Dapper first) I noticed that it appears to be organised with group access control to various hardware devices such as CDROM drives, USB flash drives and scanners. Membership of these groups appears to be granted to users to enable them to use these devices by default in Feisty, but I think they had to be added manually in Dapper.

An email acquaintance in New Zealand I contacted because of this scanner told me that what he does is find out the device name, then do chmod 666 to get it working. As I said to him last night, this seems to me to be a bit of an unsubtle approach.

So what I did last night was try to find out how to get sane-find-scanner working, given that Feisty definitely creates an entry in /dev/.

sane-find-scanner does not find the 2450 when run as a normal user. So I did
su - adminaccountname
and tried again. It still didn't work. Finally tried
sudo sane-find-scanner as adminaccountname to run it as root, and this time it worked. The scanner was reported as being found at /dev/sg3. My friend in New Zealand reports that his 2450 appears at /dev/sg2.

Checking the permissions on this device shows ownership to be root:root! Which is why it doesn't work.

sudo chown root:scanner /dev/sg3
sets the permissions to the correct values on my computer, and now I can use xsane as a normal user to run the scanner. It worked for me last night, and it's worked for me again this evening. It's just scanning a second slide as I type this, so in my humble opinion I've found the problem.

Now, it needs to be fixed.

I'm not a Linux expert, so I can't say for certain, but is the ownership of devices set up by udev?

Wherever the problem is, somebody please fix it. It's a PITA and an embarrassment and we can't expect new users to jump the chown hoop when they've just decided to give Linux a try instead of Windows.

Hi, Brian. Yes, no change in the situation. Just tried it last week and works fine with the USB 1.1 port but I might get one action out of it with the USB 2.0 port before it dies. Unknown to me if it is bad juju between the two usb implementations or something deeper and more sinister in the libusb subsystem itself.

Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
Canada

----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Murray <email address hidden>
Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 5:06 pm
Subject: [Bug 34551] Re: scanimage not accessing epson perfection 2450

> Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntubetter. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't
> been any
> activity in it recently. We were wondering if the scanner is still
> problematic when connected to a USB 2.0 port? Thanks in advance.
>
> ** Changed in: linux-source-2.6.15 (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Brian Murray
>
> --
> scanimage not accessing epson perfection 2450
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/34551
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

I've now got mine fixed, I think. See my comment on bug #112322

As I say in bug #55272 unloading the ehci_hcd module solves this problem for me, running Ubuntu 7.10.

Since 6.06, I'd had no success with USB, instead went the Firewire route. I ran 'sudo chmod a+rw /dev/sg3' for each session. I was delighted to find this workaround was no longer required when I installed 7.10 a few weeks ago (oh joy!). My motherboard died two weeks later and the only replacement I could find lacked Firewire (oh sorrow!). Back to USB, 'sane-find-scanner' and 'scanimage -L' report the presence of the scanner, but I always got the I/O error if I tried to scan. The post above regarding USB 1.1/2.0 got me thinking and I dug out an old OrangeLink Firewire/USB PCI card (I'm guessing that it's USB 1.1). Plugged in the USB and it works! Plugged in the Firewire, that works too! Thank you David.

My pleasure!

You might like to know that I recently built a new PC using an Asus M2N-E SLI board and an Athlon dual core energy efficient processor with OCZ heatsink and an Antec case with Earthwatts power supply. The board has a firewire socket, and the Epson 2450 scanner "just works" with Kubuntu Gutsy and firewire on this board. And this new machine runs cold - unlike the P4 that's more like an expensive fan heater.

Actually, there was a better solution than chmod every time when using Feisty. I found out how to write a udev rule which I called 10-dave.rules:-

ATTRS{model}=="GT-9700", ATTRS{vendor}=="EPSON", GROUP="scanner"

and saved into /etc/udev/ I was told that the problem was that somebody had got rule wrong by entering epson or Epson instead of EPSON, which meant that this machine was not recognised, therefore it was not assigned to the scanner group therefore nobody could access it.
I also heard that somebody in Red Hat was working on a USB solution for this scanner, and had it working, but because I've got nothing else that needs a firewire socket, I'll just keep this system as it is. I have an issue with the sound system on this motherboard but my scanner works.

On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 09:32:17PM +0000, David Fletcher wrote:
> My pleasure!
>
> You might like to know that I recently built a new PC using an Asus
> M2N-E SLI board and an Athlon dual core energy efficient processor with
> OCZ heatsink and an Antec case with Earthwatts power supply. The board
> has a firewire socket, and the Epson 2450 scanner "just works" with
> Kubuntu Gutsy and firewire on this board. And this new machine runs cold
> - unlike the P4 that's more like an expensive fan heater.
>
> Actually, there was a better solution than chmod every time when using
> Feisty. I found out how to write a udev rule which I called
> 10-dave.rules:-
>
> ATTRS{model}=="GT-9700", ATTRS{vendor}=="EPSON", GROUP="scanner"
>
> and saved into /etc/udev/ I was told that the problem was that somebody had got rule wrong by entering epson or Epson instead of EPSON, which meant that this machine was not recognised, therefore it was not assigned to the scanner group therefore nobody could access it.
> I also heard that somebody in Red Hat was working on a USB solution for this scanner, and had it working, but because I've got nothing else that needs a firewire socket, I'll just keep this system as it is. I have an issue with the sound system on this motherboard but my scanner works.
>

Just tried adding the above stanza into /etc/udev/10-jb.rules. Made no
difference. I really think it is something to do with the USB
implementation of the 2450 itself. Some units just may have a borked USB
port. Didn't even know the scanner had a firewire port :) I'll try that and
see what happens.

Jack
Ubuntu 7.10

Jack,

Yes I agree with you. I don't think it will make any difference at all.

In my experience, the only way you are going to get this model to work is with USB1.1 or firewire.

As you have Gutsy installed you'd be better off removing my udev rule because it isn't needed. Plug it into the firewire port and I think it will "Just Work".

With Feisty the udev rule, and connection using firewire is necessary.

Anything earlier, I don't know.

On Sat, Jan 12, 2008 at 12:01:34AM +0000, David Fletcher wrote:
> Jack,
>
> Yes I agree with you. I don't think it will make any difference at all.
>
> In my experience, the only way you are going to get this model to work
> is with USB1.1 or firewire.
>
> As you have Gutsy installed you'd be better off removing my udev rule
> because it isn't needed. Plug it into the firewire port and I think it
> will "Just Work".
>
> With Feisty the udev rule, and connection using firewire is necessary.
>
> Anything earlier, I don't know.
>

Got myself a 6-pin Firewire cable and plugged it into my 2450 and it works
perfectly. Thanks for the heads up, David.

Jack

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this linux-source-2.6.15 kernel bug to the new "linux" package. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Also, if you would be interested in testing the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release, it is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Please let us know your results. Thanks!

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

Hi, Leann. Well, just did my first reccy with the latest Alpha 5 build of Intrepid. Glad to report that the problem with the Epson 2450 scanner has completely disappeared. In fact, it runs like a scalded cat on my USB 2.0 bus. So it looks like it was a kernel bug all along. Who'd a thunk it?? LOL!!

But now I have to open a new bug. You see, the scanner no longer works with firewire. In fact, it is not even seen as an enumerated device on the fireware hub. The firewire hub is seen but the kernel sees nothing attached to it. Instead XSane sees the Hauppage HVR chip as the only device worth talking to. Just for kicks I tried to scan a preview through the Hauppage which resulted in a nice crash.

Score: USB 2.0 - Home Run
           Firewire - Strike Out

Jack (originator of #34551)

I also confirm Jack's findings. Works now via USB in Intrepid Alpha 5. In Hardy it is recognised via USB, but "Acquire preview" hangs. Also when connected via firewire, works in Hardy, but not in Intrepid Alpha 5. I report dmeg output in bug 266989 Jack opened.

This bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with in Intrepid. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status . Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Feel free to submit any future bugs you may find.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.