R
Rhino
Flightless Bird
I'm having odd problems with my scanner, which is an HP 6200C. I've had it
for quite a few years now - the newest OS "officially" supported by the
scanner is Windows 2000! - so maybe it is just getting so old that it needs
to be replaced. Then again, I've never used it very heavily and it has been
_slightly_ flakey for several years but not as flakey as it has been these
last few days. I'm running Windows XP Professional SP2 on a nearly new
quad-core computer with an ASUS-M3A motherboard.
I don't have any idea how to troubleshoot scanners and so little knowledge
of how they actually work (and interface with the computer) that I don't
have any idea what, if anything I can do to make this scanner run any
better. Therefore, please forgive me if I give irrelevant information or
omit important information in my description of the problem.
Basically, the scanner "stalls" quite frequently, always at the start of a
scan of a page. My scanner is a flatbed 8.5 x 11 scanner. I seem to be able
to scan a handful of pages without difficulty, then it just "stalls". I
leave it alone for many minutes in the hope that it will "wake up" again and
it occasionally squeaks a few times as if it is about to scan the page but
then goes still again. Eventually, and I mean MANY minutes later (20 or more
minutes sometimes) I will get one of several different cryptic error
messages.
I have fully reinstalled the software with the latest version from the HP
site; this software is dated 2003. This has not helped. I've pretty much
given up on using the HP Precision Pro software since it hardly ever works.
However, the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard gives me somewhat better
results. Sometimes, I can scan twenty or more pages before it starts to
"stall".
The only antidote I've found to the problem is to disconnect the power from
the scanner, leave it disconnected for 15 seconds, then power it up again.
After that I can OFTEN (but NOT always!) scan again. When that doesn't work,
I just give up on scanning that day and try again the next day when it will
typically work again.
One other symptom that I just discovered today which may or may not be
helpful. I tried to click on My Computer to see some files on my D: drive (I
have two hard drives) and got only the "flashlight searching for folders"
animation. I waited several minutes and it utterly failed to find my list of
drives. I had similar results when I tried using Windows Explorer. Then, in
a moment of inspiration, I disconnected the power for the scanner and My
Computer came up right away!
It seems as if the scanner and XP are having some kind of issues but I have
no idea what kind of issues they could be having or what I could do about
them.
Sorry for the very vague information but does this give anyone any ideas for
how I could help myself?
Unfortunately, I can't afford either a repair depot to fix the scanner or a
new scanner since money is extremely tight right now.....
--
Rhino
for quite a few years now - the newest OS "officially" supported by the
scanner is Windows 2000! - so maybe it is just getting so old that it needs
to be replaced. Then again, I've never used it very heavily and it has been
_slightly_ flakey for several years but not as flakey as it has been these
last few days. I'm running Windows XP Professional SP2 on a nearly new
quad-core computer with an ASUS-M3A motherboard.
I don't have any idea how to troubleshoot scanners and so little knowledge
of how they actually work (and interface with the computer) that I don't
have any idea what, if anything I can do to make this scanner run any
better. Therefore, please forgive me if I give irrelevant information or
omit important information in my description of the problem.
Basically, the scanner "stalls" quite frequently, always at the start of a
scan of a page. My scanner is a flatbed 8.5 x 11 scanner. I seem to be able
to scan a handful of pages without difficulty, then it just "stalls". I
leave it alone for many minutes in the hope that it will "wake up" again and
it occasionally squeaks a few times as if it is about to scan the page but
then goes still again. Eventually, and I mean MANY minutes later (20 or more
minutes sometimes) I will get one of several different cryptic error
messages.
I have fully reinstalled the software with the latest version from the HP
site; this software is dated 2003. This has not helped. I've pretty much
given up on using the HP Precision Pro software since it hardly ever works.
However, the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard gives me somewhat better
results. Sometimes, I can scan twenty or more pages before it starts to
"stall".
The only antidote I've found to the problem is to disconnect the power from
the scanner, leave it disconnected for 15 seconds, then power it up again.
After that I can OFTEN (but NOT always!) scan again. When that doesn't work,
I just give up on scanning that day and try again the next day when it will
typically work again.
One other symptom that I just discovered today which may or may not be
helpful. I tried to click on My Computer to see some files on my D: drive (I
have two hard drives) and got only the "flashlight searching for folders"
animation. I waited several minutes and it utterly failed to find my list of
drives. I had similar results when I tried using Windows Explorer. Then, in
a moment of inspiration, I disconnected the power for the scanner and My
Computer came up right away!
It seems as if the scanner and XP are having some kind of issues but I have
no idea what kind of issues they could be having or what I could do about
them.
Sorry for the very vague information but does this give anyone any ideas for
how I could help myself?
Unfortunately, I can't afford either a repair depot to fix the scanner or a
new scanner since money is extremely tight right now.....
--
Rhino