It's very kind of you but I don't want to be a nuisance

no problems, glad to help (or try to lol)

I get the box "New material detected" and it wants to install "BUS SM controller" but it needs to find an update and cannot find one. Is that relevant to my problem ?

is your epson cd in the cd drive when it says this? if not, try putting it in and then try to ask the computer to install the printer

oh, and by the way, im sorry if i dont reply but im having problems with my pc at home, cant get it to boot (im on my nans computer at the moment) so if i dont reply quickly, you should have a reply by next friday at the latest

is it working ok now?

No, but I didn't yet try changing the USB cable. I think I'll try too buying new USB ports, because I've got 3 and they are occupied by the mouse, the graphic tablet and the modem.
I hope you resolved your computer problems.
Thanks for your interest ,
Françoise.

yes thanks, mine are sorted thanks.... for now :P hope it works, i have had a bit of trouble with my epson lately, re-installing worked for me tho, they are nuicences as times!!! lol