common problem with usb all-in-one psc's not scanning on xp, scanner not found, no solution ive found and yet printer still works

Forums › Microsoft Windows › common problem with usb all-in-one psc's not scanning on xp, scanner not found, no solution ive found and yet printer still works

gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#54592 18-Dec-2009 20:00

I repair computers and have come across this exact same scanner problem only in the last 2 months on 3 different computers which I havent been able to find a solution for, even after googling for numerous hours, tonns of others are having this problem too and i cant find any real solution.

So far its happened to me on two older brother all-in-one fax/printer/copier/scanners's and one older HP office jet 7100 series (cant remember models of brother machines), all newish computers running xp pro sp3, all amd systems too. the exact error message when trying to access the scanner thru my computer is "The scanning software could not be found, or your scanner is not connected, Please make sure your scanner and your scanning software are properly installed."

I have been down all troubleshooting paths, reinstalling software/drivers, downloading updated software/drivers, problem will not go away, even clean install of xp pro sp3 on one of the amd system running a brother machine. all other functions work fine, prints no problems, copies no problems, faxes no problems, just cant scan from pc, get above error message.

The most recent problem, the office jet 7100 series, the customer could scan previously but not now all of a sudden. im assuming its something to do with windows updates, sp3 compatibility issues maybe? going to check renetly applied updates to system running the office jet. if that failes to show the source of problem, its going to be a real time waster to sort out, going to try clean install of xp pro sp2 on new test hdd in one of systems, set up scanner make sure it works and apply updates one by one checking scanner each time till i hit the culprit.

I have seen a patch for this problem on the hp website but not for any of the models i have worked with.

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#283889 18-Dec-2009 20:13

Mine does this quite often. Just have to remove the scanner from device manager and redetect hardware, and it comes right.

Richard rich.ms

gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#283898 18-Dec-2009 20:39

yours must be something else causing problem, maybe corrupt driver? ive tried removing from device manager and no joy, same problem.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#283910 18-Dec-2009 22:09

Well lets break this down a bit (no offense but some formatting in your OP would be nice)

You say you have tried fresh drivers and that printing and faxing still works on all models. That means it is probably not a driver issue, so we can rule that out.

You say that you have done a fresh install of windows xp and the problem still occurs. This then narrows it down to one of two things:

Either the printer is buggered
or
Windows is causing you the problems

Now, one of the things I have found with some HP PSC's is they don't install correctly when you leave them connected during install.
The fix I used to use was to run through the install, selecting "No, I will connect the device later" option (this was more of an issue with printing rather than scanning - so it is something to try)

Another thing to try is to load just the drivers for the printer - no software - on a fresh windows install and see if the problem happens when you use the built in Scanner and Camera software in XP (start >all programs> accessories> Scanner and Camera wizard) This uses just a basic TWAIN driver so will help confirm whether it is the printer or windows.

The other thing to do is make sure when you are uninstalling the drivers/apps to ensure that all the drivers and app settings are gone from windows. there is always something left behind somewhere which might be hampering your efforts.

SepticSceptic

2186 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#284376 21-Dec-2009 14:17

Ditto for what jaymz says.
On a fresh OS install -
Install driver manually first - don't let windows find the driver - browse for the location where you have unzipped the driver, also ensuring you get the correct language setting. Sometimes windows will use the first inf file - usually arabic :-(
Reboot, then plug in the offending device.
Usually they will find the printer driver file first, then followed by the scanner driver. But not always.
I also use Irfanview as my USB/Network TWAIN scanner baseline test.

And you could have a faulty USB cable - I have ditched a fair few over the years.

And USB ports get locked if they are asked to power certain external USB HDD's, so that too could be an issue.

I also use an external POWERED USB hub for testing, as the internal USB interfaces in some laptops ( HP in particular) are somewhat fussy, and the hub acts as a buffer.

And check the firmware in the printers/scanner. See if it needs an update.