Epson 3170 - refuses to install

[Styro]

Hello all,

I recently bought an Epson 3170 and have been trying to install this
thing for the past four hours (seriously!). My computer spec - P4
1.6G, 512MB, +20GB free on drives, WinXP (no SP1a yet, but all other
current patches), abit SD7-533 motherboard (supposedly only USB 1.1,
but abit won't divulge specs on discontinued items).

I first installed according to directions - no good. System sees
scanner and IDs it, but comes up with message in Found New Hardware
box stating "An error occurred during the installation of the device -
The data is invalid." Not a big help as far as messages go, but
generally on par for Microsoft.

Uninstalled all Epson software. Removed all Epson files that I could
find on drive(s). Removed almost all Epson references from registry
(maybe I should note here I've worked in tech support before and this
was a common solution to installation issues). For good measure I
uninstalled the all USB devices from device manager (WinXP will put
them back).

Tried multiple times to install. Sometimes everything looked OK when
powering on the scanner, but the Epson Scan wouldn't work. Most times
I got the above error message - "data invalid."

What do I have to do to get this scanner working?! Help!

-- Styro

ps - scanner works on a test-bed system. That system is much older and
less capable than my main system and WinXP has not been patched ever.
This is really bizarre behaviour.

 

[-]

Are you using the latest driver download from Epson? Have you gone through
the suggestions at the www.newsoftinc.com support section?

Doug

 

[Styro]

I've tried using the latest driver as a patch to the CD-based driver,
and instead of the CD-based driver - no joy. I've looked over the
suggestions at newsoftinc (& downloaded the MS patch even though I
haven't applied SP1a). Newsoftinc gives me the impression they are
more insterested in SmartPanel than the drivers/other-applications.
I've stopped installing everything but Epson Scan; it makes the
constant install/uninstall cycle faster.

I'm open to suggestions. Heck, I may even apply the SP1a patch. I'm
almost tempted to reinstall WinXP (its past due; the cobwebs in the
registry might be affecting the system and applications).

-- Styro

 

[Styro]

Solved the install problem by installing SP1 then the patch recommened
by newsoftinc. The new hardware wizard was a bit of a stickler, but I
found the drivers in "C:\Program Files\Epson\ESCNDV" after that
everything works well.

Now to discover whether USB 2 will be a large enough improvement to
both to buy and install a card...

Thanks for the help Doug.