Does anybody have an idea what could cause this problem ? (see link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70209909@N00/ ). I had a useless conversation with their support (reset Epson scan, check the connection of the lid cable) and they have not responded to my web site support request within 24 hours so I send another one tonight. I think it is HW, the calibration window is clean,the streaks show with Epson scan, Silverfast and viewscan. I use the latest drivers. Doug from betterscanning thinks it could be the mirror or sensor itself, but the reflected target seems to work fine without streaks.

I still have warranty (till the end of December). Does anyone have experience on how to deal with the Epson support ?

Thanks - Hans :(

Hi

my first thought is: is the glass clean at the "top" of the scan area? This area is used for calibration and can muff up things ...

It is clean as can be, unless there are invisible smudges (to the human eye) that only the CCD sees but it sure looks like a typical scanner calibration artifact. As of this morning still no response from Epson.

Why don't you use the scanner's original 4x5 film holder? Have you tried with those holders?

Its not a holder problem. The scans on the flatbed are just to show that the stripes are not related t the film (see rotated negative).
....

So I finally got Epson to acknowledge to bring it in for repair. I brought it to one of their repair places in Freemont, Ca. The place already looked suspicious and it turned out they did not have any standard targets for testing scanners and did not appear very knowledgeable with scanners. Later the guy called me and told me that he scanned some 35 mm color slides and said there were no problems. The next day the technician was not there (I wanted to bring him a better test target and it is a 30 minute drive for me) and someone else told me to take the scanner back.
The other phone number Epson gave me was always busy the whole afternoon. Who knows if the place even still exists ! I will research this this weekend.
This is very frustrating !

I have a problem with my 4990 on one of my machines. My inquiries with Epson support began with emails. After a few exchanges, they recommended I call their tech support line, which I did. I got right through, and probably spent an hour and a half with the technician. He was very helpful and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, we were unable to resolve the problem, which I have since come to suspect is actually a motherboard issue (it's a USB thing). So, anyway, based on my admittedly limited experience, I would recommend that you call the tech support folks and hash it out with them. They sure tried their hardest with me.

I would never bother with taking any scanner to an authrized repair place. Most of those places work on many brands and are hacks at best. Either send it back to Epson's main repair center or just ask for a replacement. Personally, I would do the latter because the techs at the repair center have not produced good results for many people.

Doug