Hi, I've seen a lot of traffic about USB scanners and SuSE 9.1, but most of this seems to have been about problems configuring the Sane backend. I think my problem is a USB communication problem because I can make initial, but not sustained contact with the scanner. I'd be appreciate advice anyone can offer. 1) Problem summary (details in 3 below) Having configured Sane epson backend and sorted out libsub permissions, I am now at the stage where after initially powering on the scanner I get sensible output from sane-find-scanner and scanimage -L (including as non root). However, if I repeat scanimage -L after a few seconds it fails to locate the scanner (even if issued by root). VueScan also fails. YaST hardware info. tool also fails. The only way to locate the scanner is to restart it, but again it 'disappears' after a few seconds. It doesn't make any difference which USB socket I use. 2) Setup SuSE 9.1, kernel 2.6.5-7.111.19-default libusb is 0.1.8-31 YaST reports USB controller as VIA Technologies supporting 1.1 and 2.0 Scanner is epson perfection 4870 (also known as GTX700) 3) Detailed info. a) Switch scanner on b) syslog reports: Mar 2 10:47:15 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using address 67 Mar 2 10:47:20 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: control timeout on ep0out Mar 2 10:47:25 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: control timeout on ep0out Mar 2 10:47:25 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: device not accepting address 67, error -110 ... repeats this showing attempts to use addresses 68, 69 ... 76, but eventually ... Mar 2 10:49:22 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using address 77 Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar /sbin/hotplug[13727]: add usb Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: Product: EPSON Scanner Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: EPSON Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar /sbin/hotplug[13727]: LOGPID=13727 OLDPWD=/ DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-1 PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin ACTION=add PWD=/etc/hotplug SHLVL=1 HOME=/ SEQNUM=284 _=/usr/bin/env Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar /sbin/hotplug[13743]: add usb Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar /sbin/hotplug[13743]: LOGPID=13743 OLDPWD=/ DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.0 PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin ACTION=add PWD=/etc/hotplug SHLVL=1 HOME=/ DEVICE=/proc/bus/usb/001/077 PRODUCT=4b8/128/103 TYPE=255/255/255 SEQNUM=285 _=/usr/bin/env Mar 2 10:49:23 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: need a device for this command Mar 2 10:49:28 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb.handmap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /lib/modules/2.6.5-7.111.19-default/modules.usbmap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/ISDN.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/alsasound.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/sane-hardcoded.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/tascam_fw.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: Setup 'epson_scanner ' for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/usb.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: Run 'usb/epson_scanner' for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/usb.usermap) Mar 2 10:49:29 brodgar /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[13743]: No drivers for 'USB product 4b8/128/103' (from /etc/hotplug/usb/usbcam.usermap) c) Above shows correct script has been run. Scanner can now be located as follows tcrnmar@brodgar:~> sane-find-scanner found USB scanner (vendor=0x04b8 [EPSON], product=0x0128 [EPSON Scanner]) at libusb:001:052 tcrnmar@brodgar:~> scanimage -L device `epson:libusb:001:052' is a Epson GT-X700 flatbed scanner d) syslog reports: Mar 2 10:50:25 brodgar scanimage: resmgr: server response code 502 Mar 2 10:50:25 brodgar last message repeated 8 times Mar 2 10:50:25 brodgar scanimage: resmgr: server response code 500 Mar 2 10:50:25 brodgar last message repeated 7 times Mar 2 10:50:25 brodgar kernel: ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: qh c56cb100 (#17) state 1 e) But now any further invocations of scanimage fail tcrnmar@brodgar:~> scanimage -L No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different, check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages). f) syslog reports: Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar scanimage: resmgr: server response code 502 Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar last message repeated 8 times Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar scanimage: resmgr: server response code 500 Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar last message repeated 7 times Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar kernel: usbfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 77 ep 0x2 len 2 ret -19 Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar kernel: usbfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 77 ep 0x81 len 1 ret -19 Mar 2 10:56:00 brodgar kernel: usbfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 77 ep 0x2 len 2 ret -19 Thanks for looking, Mark