Epson Perfection 3170 "humming" noise. Is this normal?

[DigitalCameraBasics]

I just purchased an Epson 3170, and it installed without a glitch, and works
just fine. But there is one thing that is bugging me and I'm hoping someone
on here has dealt with it or knows about this.

I noticed what I guess I would call a "hum" coming from the back of the
scanner a couple of days ago. It's low in volume and very high pitched. My
scanner sits sideways so perhaps this is the only reason I can hear it at
all (as I tend to hear high frequencies in my left ear anyway). Regardless,
I've only owned two lower-end scanners in the past, and they did not make
any noises at all. This one also seems to vary slightly. At no time is it
"loud", but at times you can hear it (just barely) from 3 feet away, and
other times you literally have to put your ear very close to it to hear it.

I wondered if it was a bad USB cable, but when you unplug it from the back,
you still hear it coming from the back of the machine. It's in the general
area where the USB port is, and the locking switch. I called Epson but the
rep I got (after a very long wait) sounded like he was 11 years old and
wasn't even familiar with the model number of this scanner. He just said
take it back. The store is out and I'd rather not go with another model as
I find the scans from this one to be better than most I've seen in this
price range.

Again, otherwise the scanner is working just fine. Is this something to
worry about, or just an "electronics noise" for this particular machine?


Thanks

[g***@tin.it]

Post by DigitalCameraBasics
I just purchased an Epson 3170, and it installed without a glitch, and works
just fine. But there is one thing that is bugging me and I'm hoping someone
on here has dealt with it or knows about this.
I noticed what I guess I would call a "hum" coming from the back of the
scanner a couple of days ago. It's low in volume and very high pitched. My
scanner sits sideways so perhaps this is the only reason I can hear it at
all (as I tend to hear high frequencies in my left ear anyway). Regardless,
I've only owned two lower-end scanners in the past, and they did not make
any noises at all. This one also seems to vary slightly. At no time is it
"loud", but at times you can hear it (just barely) from 3 feet away, and
other times you literally have to put your ear very close to it to hear it.
I wondered if it was a bad USB cable, but when you unplug it from the back,
you still hear it coming from the back of the machine. It's in the general
area where the USB port is, and the locking switch. I called Epson but the
rep I got (after a very long wait) sounded like he was 11 years old and
wasn't even familiar with the model number of this scanner. He just said
take it back. The store is out and I'd rather not go with another model as
I find the scans from this one to be better than most I've seen in this
price range.
Again, otherwise the scanner is working just fine. Is this something to
worry about, or just an "electronics noise" for this particular machine?

It might be the scanner motor and in that case it might not be a good thing, it might stop working
sooner than its expected MTBF hours.

Laser printers can show similar defects, searching on google produced may results, this is just an
example thread regarding defective HP LaserJet :
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/printer/messages/258.html