Sane-find-scanner still reports it, but any other software says there's no scanner attached. Update: after about 8 years of service, my 4490 did one more scan of some 8mm film, and then decided to call it quits :-( Until then, there are other products around.(related tip: fixing the Epson 4490 ratchet noise) Get the software sorted out properly, to a standard where it could pass "Designed for Windows Xp" certification, and Epson might have a useful product. Leaving aside software reliability niggles, poor design and truly nightmarish installation, the scanner produces reasonably quality results. Once this nuisance had been grasped, test scans of transparencies worked fine though. It seems that the the various quirky and confusing little applets supplied on the CD MUST be used if you wish to scan transparencies, an annoying inconsistency. However the standard Windows Xp "Scanners and Cameras" wizard failed to work with transparencies, a design fault that needs to be fixed. The scanner worked, apart from occasional cryptic "not ready"-type error messages (which may be due to a design fault relating to "warming up" readiness).
Alarmingly, the drivers on the Epson website were NOT digitally signed, a quality inconsistency that speaks for the company's hit-and-miss attitude to software quality stanadards. These were downloaded, and the process of integrating them with the application software on the CD proved a nightmare, partly because of the lack of documentation, and partly because of the bizarre behaviour of the installer program supplied. Checking the Epson website showed that much more recent drivers were available. The scanner drivers supplied on the CD were digitally signed, which was promising, but were rather old. The scanner software was not "designed for Windows Xp" logo-certified, which should ring alarm bells. I recently installed this scanner on Windows Xp, a new clean installation. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.