Epson XP-960 installation problems

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gewitty
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Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

I just swapped my Cannon printer for a new Epson XP-960. It looked like a pretty straightforward set-up procedure. I downloaded and successfully installed the Mint drivers for print, scanner and utilities from the Epson web site, went through the wi-fi and network set-ups, then added the new printer in Mint.

Initially, I had a lot of trouble getting anything other than a test page to print. All I kept getting were error messages saying that the printer was off-line. However, for reasons that I haven't yet figured out, it suddenly decided to start working and I can now print from any application.

The ongoing problems though are that the scanner is not recognised by either Simple Scan or Xsane. All I get is "No devices available". This puzzles me, as Mint has the correct driver installed, so I'm not sure where to go next.

A second, and probably unrelated issue is that although the XP-960 offers direct printing from both SD cards and Flash drives, when I plug either of these in, the printer screen shows a series of icons with the correct file names, but the icons are all showing just a large question mark (?) instead of a thumbnail image. None of these files can be printed, even though they are standard JPEGs.

I am not yet at the point where I send the printer back as faulty, but I've just about run out of ideas as to how to fix these problems. If anyone has experience with using an XP-960 with Mint, perhaps they could offer some thoughts.
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kyphi
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by kyphi »

gewitty wrote:... went through the wi-fi and network set-ups, then added the new printer in Mint
This might help:

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=225289
Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon
pdc_2
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by pdc_2 »

so the HP and Canon scanning sections of their multi-function devices seem to just work; Epson and Brother are trickier; Epson probably the trickiest

from here http://download.ebz.epson.net/man/linux ... nv3_e.html they talk of an install script; that might do what is needed for you;

the page to download the scanner driver seems to be here http://support.epson.net/linux/en/image ... ion=1.3.22

so if you were to download imagescan-bundle-ubuntu-16.04-1.3.22.x64.deb.tar.gz which is their scanner bundle for 64bit Mint 18 then if one SAVES it on download, the commands would be

Code: Select all

cd Downloads

Code: Select all

tar -zxvf imagescan-bundle-ubuntu-16.04-1.3.22.x64.deb.tar.gz

Code: Select all

cd imagescan-bundle-ubuntu-16.04-1.3.22.x64.deb

Code: Select all

./install.sh


and that final command runs the install script; it will ask you to enter your sudo password at some stage; and maybe; just maybe; it will do all the permissions things that are needed;

I can only suggest you run the above commands; and see if the install script does things for you for the scanner
gewitty
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

Thanks for the thoughts. There is an imagescan bundle specifically for Mint, which is the script I used when I installed the printer.

I've had problems with other scanner installations over the years, so I know they can be tricky. But I usually get there in the end. Here's hoping someone comes up with a solution.
pdc_2
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by pdc_2 »

so sounds like you have been around the traps for a few years; if you work through the imagescan manual that Epson provide; get your head around what you need to do; you can learn what needs to happen; see which files it happens in; and check and see to what extent the install script did it all; there is often good learning to having a go at these things;
ClixTrix

Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by ClixTrix »

If you have UFW (firewall) enabled, disable the firewall - reboot - and test if Simple Scan and Xsane work.

If that works, I have a fix. Try the method at bottom of the bug page to comment the syncookies line in /etc/ufw/sysctl.conf

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ufw/+bug/1595046

Oh....and I have a working printer-scanner Epson WF-2760.
gewitty
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

ClixTrix wrote:If you have UFW (firewall) enabled, disable the firewall - reboot - and test if Simple Scan and Xsane work.

If that works, I have a fix. Try the method at bottom of the bug page to comment the syncookies line in /etc/ufw/sysctl.conf
OK, switching off the firewall worked. The scanner is recognised by Sane and all systems are go. However, the bug fix to comment out the syncookies line in /etc/ufw/sysctl.conf had no effect. I made this change and then rebooted with the firewall on, but the scanner was not recognised again.

I suppose it's no big deal to switch off the firewall when I need to scan, but it's an odd bug.

Many thanks for the fix. Much appreciated.

All I have to do now is figure out why the Epson isn't properly recognising JPEG files on flash drives and SD cards.
ClixTrix

Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by ClixTrix »

Well, glad the suggestion to try with UFW disabled worked. Odd that change to syncookies didn't. However, it might be a rules problem. If you look at the bug report and looooong list of tests, there might be something that is also required.

That fix does work on my scanner. I've got Simple Scan, ImageScan, and Xsane all working. Got my Epson back in January to replace an older scanner. I did NOT have this problem back with Mint 17.3 on my office system. Only the recent build of system in my sig had the problem....which appears to be tied to something with kernel and UFW.

Does the memory size of the SD or flash drive have something to do with the problem?
gewitty
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

The Epson support site mentions that firewalls can sometimes be a problem and states that an exception (rule?) can be added to allow the printer/scanner. However, the site only mentions how to do this for Windows and Mac firewalls, no mention of Linux.

I checked the firewall report on my machine and can't see any clues. There are no rules set currently and I have no idea how to construct one for this particular issue. Any ideas?
ClixTrix

Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by ClixTrix »

Well, a simple first test would be to reenable the firewall and change the Incoming Deny to Allow.

If that doesn't work, then that problem with syncookies has more to it than just that change, even though it worked for me and others.

If that does work, then need to add rules around the necessary port(s) until it works. I know port 1865 is used on mine.

I'm still a little confused on why the fix works on the Epson XP-950 (at bug report) and not on the XP-960, which was an update to that older model. Are they that different? Did you for sure reboot after you commented that syncookies line?

Edit: If the Allow works, then set Incoming to Deny and try adding this rule from Terminal (shotgun approach):

sudo ufw allow from [scanner ip address]

e.g. sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.100

Edit2: i just tried a test on that bug. Instead of commenting the line #, I flipped the 0 to 1: net/ipv4/tcp_syncookies=1

That change also seems to work for me.

Edit3: I ran from Terminal: tcpdump -nn host [scanner ip address]

and then started Simple Scan to see what ports I could spot. Ports 1865 and 5353 were at least involved with my scanner.
gewitty
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

Just an update on the JPEG problem: I wrote to Epson Customer Support and explained that I was having difficulty getting the XP-960 to recognise JPEGs on SD cards and flash drives. Here's what they replied:

"This is not an option from the printer but more related to the original files itself. this is because the codec for these images must be not correctly setup.

We'd advise you to try to load into this SD card another image coming from internet for example (you can just download an image and save it into your SD card) and try if this thumbnail shows in the display. this means the JPEG files must have a codec setting that is not read by the Epson printer."


So I gave it a go and downloaded a random JPEG image from the web; and guess what? The printer was able to read and print it!

I've never come across this before. I always assumed that a JPEG was a JPEG. It's a common standard. Works everywhere. But I'm proved wrong - not all JPEGs are born equal. Epson have CODEC issues with some images.

Now I'm trying to figure out if the bad guy is my Nikon camera or Mint.

Life is an endless cycle of learning!
ClixTrix

Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by ClixTrix »

https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd4/cpd42858.pdf

Check page 190 about jpeg file format :!:
gewitty
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by gewitty »

It was the file size. Nothing to do with EXIF. As soon as I went down below 10200 x 10200, the printer decided to play nicely.

That's the desktop and printer sorted. Moving on now to figure out why wireless doesn't work on a Sony Vaio laptop. What a way to spend time on a sunny day :(
Petermint
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Re: Epson XP-960 installation problems

Post by Petermint »

Hello gewitty,
Thank you for going through the pain. I am about to buy the same printer. Always nice to know someone has worked their way through the problems.

Peter
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