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re: old scanner on old 98 pc stopped working Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8:59 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) cheryl pocino wrote: |[...]after using it without issue yesterday[...] |the error message says that it can't find the scanner[...] |I believe the drivers are still in place | Look for yellow marks in Device Manager. When in doubt, Remove the old device driver and reinstall the driver. (Things *can* get corrupted without raising a flag.) |but not sure if its the driver or if the scanner simply gave out due age. | The best way to test hardware is with an OS that has an excellent ability to discover and configure devices (without having to manually mess with drivers). If you DON'T have to *install* that OS to use it, that's **really** good. (Just boot to the CD containing it.) This one is legendary: http://google.com/search?q=Knoppix+Linux The fine print: It's a ~700MB download. You then need to tell your burning software to make the downloaded *.ISO file into a (bootable) CD-R. Warning: You may fall in love with Linux and never go back to your 11 year old M$ OS. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: old scanner on old 98 pc stopped working Friday, August 14, 2009 at 10:12 pm Posted by C K (6910 messages posted) Is it parallel port or SCSI port? If parallel, this was a classic symptom of a failing scanner, and when the bulbs go out of specification or the interface starts to fail, the scanner stops working, so it can work one day and not the next, sometimes depending on the tempature of the room believe it or not. Scanners had to warm up and then the color temp of the bulbs were checked by the electronics inside the scanner. If the bulbs output color was off, the scanner didn't work. Sometimes it would throw an error and sometimes it won't. SInce the bulbs are florescent, they will go out of spec as the hours of start and on time increase and they get older, whether used or not because they are always kept warm. They are never totally "off" unless you have turned the power switch off (if it has one). That coupled with the fact that the parallel port scanners were really a pain to keep functioning correctly, it was no wonder that USB scanners rendered them obsolete in a very short time. SCSI scanners seemed to last longer. I still have old HP 4c and 6100 scanners in use from the mid 1990's believe it or not. Only have lost two out of 6 due to bulb age and use. Even then, when they failed, they had the same symptoms as the parallel port scanners. Little wonder really as the parallel port is really a simplified SCSI port. Bottom line, if it is found one time and not the next and then returns, the scanner (or scanner bulb), the interface or some other piece of hardware is failing in your system IME. SOftware won't heal itself so I doubt that you have a total software issue. There is a hardware componant failing somewhere, in my experience. If this is a USB scanner, most of the above applies, only the interface is different, but USB presents a few problems of it's own. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: old scanner on old 98 pc stopped working Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 9:34 am Posted by cheryl pocino (3 messages posted) thanks for your help and suggestions. we are currently following the path of replacing the power converter for the scanner as we have had it tested this morning and it's not providing the power output the device needs.....not sure if we can find a replacement but are currently looking... thanks again On Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8:59 pm, gewg_ wrote: >cheryl pocino wrote: >|[...]after using it without issue yesterday[...] >|the error message says that it can't find the scanner[...] >|I believe the drivers are still in place >| >Look for yellow marks in Device Manager. >When in doubt, Remove the old device driver and reinstall the driver. >(Things *can* get corrupted without raising a flag.) > >|but not sure if its the driver or if the scanner simply gave out due age. >| >The best way to test hardware >is with an OS that has an excellent ability to discover and configure devices >(without having to manually mess with drivers). >If you DON'T have to *install* that OS to use it, that's **really** good. >(Just boot to the CD containing it.) >This one is legendary: >http://google.com/search?q=Knoppix+Linux > >The fine print: >It's a ~700MB download. >You then need to tell your burning software >to make the downloaded *.ISO file into a (bootable) CD-R. > >Warning: >You may fall in love with Linux and never go back to your 11 year old M$ OS. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: old scanner on old 98 pc stopped working Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 8:19 am Posted by cheryl pocino (3 messages posted) Thanks again for your help and suggestions. It turns out the problem was the power converter. It was emitting enough power to light the ready light but not enough to light the bulb or power the scanner do it went undetected by the PC. We got two exact same model power converters from online and one of them worked great. We are back to scanning! Thanks again for your suggestions. On Friday, August 14, 2009 at 4:56 pm, cheryl pocino wrote: >Up until today I have an old pc with windows 98 on it and it is hooked to an old >ibm color flatbed scanner 0275-001 01K1226. The only thing I use the old PC for >is to run the old scanner. I booted the machine up today after using it without >issue yesterday (and several times over recent months) and the error message says >that it can't find the scanner. there is no scanner light on except the small green >one on the outside >I believe the drivers are still in place but not sure if its the driver or if the >scanner simply gave out due age. >Can anyone help? >Thanks [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows 98 Discussion Forum