[urbangilson]

SYMPTOM: My EPSON WorkForce 500 worked wonderfully for months but then it stopped working. When you plug it in, it says it’s trying to find “EPSONWorkForce 500” (no space between EPSON and WorkForce) yet all of the drivers and associated documentation say “EPSON WorkForce 500” (with a space between EPSON and WorkForce). Eventually, the Vista says it can’t find a driver. But the driver _is_ installed. If I go to Printers > Server Properties > Drivers tab, the EPSON WorkForce 500 driver is definitely installed. In addition, if you go to Device Manager > Printers, it shows EPSON WorkForce 500. What gives? Why can’t the Plug-n-Play device correctly identify with the previously-installed drivers?

Notably, there may be a corruption somewhere. When I go to Printers > Server Properties > Ports tab, the system locks up. If I go to Device manager, the process that failed is supposedly Explorer.

The system also locks up if I go to Printers > Add Printer.

My first question was: Is the problem with Vista, the Print Server, or with the Driver? I think I’ve eliminated the first two, and I’m on to the driver.

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STEP ONE: IS THE FAULT WITH VISTA ITSELF?
To check the system, I used the Windows Vista System File Checker: It did find problems, but I’m not sure that they were related to the printer.

The log file SFC generates is too big to manage. There is a command-line prompt that you can use to consolidate the findings. I used it and stored the output here:
C:\Windows\Logs\CBS. And it reports problems with the Windows Sidebar, but I don’t think it’s a problem. Nor is this related to my printer problem.

Cannot repair member file [l:24{12}]"settings.ini" of Microsoft-Windows-Sidebar, Version = 6.0.6001.18000, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch

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STEP 2: IS THE FAULT WITH THE PRINT SERVER?

If I print to Vista’s “ Microsoft XPS Document Writer”, it works fine. The output goes to the desktop. Therefore I conclude that the problem lies with the driver and not the print spooler.

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STEP 3: IS TH FAULT WITH THE DRIVER?

To test the driver installation, follow the directions here: See document from Microsoft: Which I downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver.../diagnose.mspx

STEP 3A: I examined the INF file from Epson.

In this file, it talks about copying the file. Although I don’t see some of the file, I do see many that are already located in the Driver Store. I assume THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH FAULTY DLLS OR WITH A CORRUPTED ZIPPED FILE. I used WinZip to re-extract and validate the extracted files, which match what has already been installed.

STEP 3B: I examined the Registry portion of he INF file from Epson. That part _is_ missing.

[AddNet_NT.AddReg]
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\EPSON\STM3\Driver\%DRVNAME%","ADDNETWORK_NAME",0x00000000,"E _Addnet.exe"

[AddNetXP_NT.AddReg]
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\EPSON\STM3\Driver\%DRVNAME%","ADDNETWORK_NAME",0x00000000,"E _Addnet.exe"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\EPSON\EBPrinter4\EBAPI4","Path",0x00000000,"%11%\spool\drive rs\w32x86\3\EBAPI4.DLL"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\EPSON\EBPrinter4\OldEBAPIPorts","",0x00000000,""

STEP 3C: See file C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log. This is one of the pieces of information that the Microsoft document suggests using to fix.

Here is an excerpt:

b0a0d8c349a1}\Package\usbscan.sys, \\?\C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\es96.inf_9674ad44\usbsca n.sy
! cmi: CopyFile from C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\Temp\{ed7b012b-593f-472c-abce-b0a0d8c349a1}\Package\usbscan.sys to \\?\C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\es96.inf_9674ad44\usbsca n.sys failed 2
! cmi: CopyFile(source=C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\Temp\{ed7b012b-593f-472c-abce-b0a0d8c349a1}\Package\usbscan.sys, destination=\\?\C:\Windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\es96.inf_967 4ad44\usbscan.sys, f
idb: Registered 'es96.inf' to driver store path 'es96.inf_9674ad44'

It suggests that the file “usbscan.sys” was bad or missing.

I found a good copy of “usbscan.sys” in the directories:
* C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\sti.inf_67b3f94c from 2008.
* C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\sti.inf_727905e0 from 2006

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If I go to Settings > Printers > right click to Print Server >> Drivers, I learn that the EPSON is already installed:
(Picture of Vista's "Print Server Properties" window)

But how does this existing printer get associated with this existing driver?

If I click on “Ports” tab, the application crashes. Vista reports that Windows Explorer has crashed.

If I click on the Advanced tab, I get:
(picture of Vista's Print Server Properties window)


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Also, the printer already shows up in the Device Manager:




And you right-click on “add a printer” the computer hangs. Again, Windows attributes it to Explorer.

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I’m going to troubleshoot the REGistry. I think I may have goofed up the registry by changing all of the “EPSON WorkForce” to “EPSONWorkForce”.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E979-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000
• Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}
o HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}\0000
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}\0000\DeviceData
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\##?#USB#VID_04B8&PID_084C&MI_01#6&13006699&0&0001#{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\#\Device Parameters
o HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\##?#USB#VID_04B8&PID_084C&MI_01#6&356a9095&0&0001#{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\#\Device Parameters


I've attached my entire research file. It includes pictures, which is much more helpful.