problem with Canon LiDE 60 scanner w/ Inspiron 8500 - no response

Question

I just bought a Canon LiDE 60 scanner to use with my Inspiron 8500 system, and I am having a problem getting it to respond / be recognized. I actually bought the lesser version yesterday, the Canon LiDE 25, which had the same problem and which Canon diagnosed as a scanner hardware failure. However, having the same problem twice in a row makes me think it may be a problem with my Inspiron settings.   The Canon LiDE 60 scanner is unique in that it is fully powered through the USB cable - it uses the same cable for power and data. The software is pretty straightforward, and as far as I can tell it should work without the software (e.g. with imports in Photoshop).   Problem is, it isn't working. Whenever I try to communicate with the Scanner, either through the Canon-provided software or Photoshop, I get the same error message: 'Cannot communicate with scanner. Cable may be disconnected or scanner may be turned off. Check status. Scanner driver will be closed.'   The scanner does show up in Windows Device Manager, under the 'Unknown' tab. It does not have an exclamation point next to it and Windows says the device is working properly, however the Canon folks seem to think that is a problem (but are unable to solve it so far).   The person who I last talked to from Canon suggested that the scanner should 'make a noise' when I plug it in, which is also when it turns on, because there is no power switch. However, it has not been doing so, which makes me think maybe it's a power issue? However, Windows still recognizes the scanner and I have 3 other devices which can get power through the USB port just fine (my mouse, iPod and Blackberry).   Any assistance would be greatly appreciated... Message Edited by eliot1785 on 01-26-2006 04:38 PM

esquire · Answer

PS.  If you have other USB devices plugged in at the same time either to other USB ports or through a USB hub (although in my experience with Canon scanners, they work quite well with self-powered, i.e., with separate power supply, USB hubs), try removing them before you attach the scanner.

esquire · Answer

Indeed, you don't have to install the software, but have you installed the driver before you attach your scanner for the 1st time?  After reboot, your Windows should have detected the presence of the scanner and proceeded to setup the driver for use.   (You didn't mention this, so dunno if the Canon tech support has gone through it with you)

eliot1785 · Answer

Hey, yes I did install the driver software before I connected for the first time. In fact, I have installed and uninstalled the software several different times with the Canon support people, to no avail.   I also just got off the phone with Dell support and they weren't much help :(.   It has been suggested to me that this could be a problem with a file called USBSCAN.INF, which is supposed to link to other INF files and complete the process of installing it as an 'imaging device.' Supposedly the problem is that it's not being listed as an 'imaging device' but rather an unknown device. Could there be any truth to this suggestion? I can't seem to get it labeled as an imaging device. I did an internet search for USBSCAN.inf and I can only find it for Win 98. The file doesn't exist on my computer, even though there are other variations (like usbprint, usbstor, usbvideo, etc), so I suppose that might be a problem?   The problem is - I'm not sure which tech support to contact (Canon, Dell, Microsoft) because I have no idea what the problem is. And they are all passing the buck to each other :(.

esquire · Answer

When Windows cannot install the driver for a device, the hardware is installed as an Unknown Device - it doesn't matter if it is a scanner or sound card or mouse or anything.

Is the scanner the only USB device attached for now? You mentioned you had other devices on USB - one or two of them could be drawing too much power to prevent the Canon to operate correctly (since your Canon relies on USB bus power and this resource is somewhat limited).

Another thing you could try is to manually update this Unknown Device entry in Device Manager to point to the scanner driver by clicking Update Driver button in its Properties. I don't have access to a Canon scanner right now, but 1st try looking for it in C:\Windows\INF - you don't have to point to the actual INF file, just the folder and if there is a compatible entry, Windows will show the hardware entry once you've click OK. Failing that try looking in the Canon folders on your hard drive.

eliot1785 · Answer

Also - and I think this could be very important - when I go into Control Panel, and double click on "Scanners and Cameras" and click on "Add an imaging device" to the left, nothing happens. No wizard opens at all. So it looks like the mechanism by which I'm supposed to add a scanner is broken (?)... would I need to do some sort of recovery? I'm running XP Pro but the only thing I have with me is an XP Home Edition CD from my neighbor. My Pro CD is back at college.

Message Edited by eliot1785 on 01-26-2006 09:14 PM

eliot1785 · Answer

Update - I just tried the scanner in another computer, a desktop computer that my family owns, and it works. On that computer, using the same installation CD that I used on my laptop, the scanner installs correctly and shows up as an imaging device, not an unknown device. Also, it immediately powers on (makes noise, lights) when I plug it in.   So it appears it isn't an issue with the scanner or the scanner software, but rather my computer settings.   To answer some of the questions: The scanner doesn't work regardless of what else I have plugged into the USB port.   As for trying to find the setup file in the C:/windows/inf folder, I wasn't able to find anything that Device Manager would recognize. I'm not sure that I went about it in the right way, however. Was I supposed to click on 'Have Disk'? Or search within that folder?   Right now it looks like all I need to do is to get Windows to recognize it as an imaging device, but unfortunately that's still not happening :(

eliot1785 · Answer

Well... good news! I just got the scanner to work again by doing a System Restore to mid December.   Any idea why that would have worked? My guess is it has something to do with problems that I had with a previous scanner from HP that I tried to install in late December. It was a really bad piece of software/hardware, I don't think I've ever seen something designed so poorly. Anyway, when I was trying to fix it I went into the registry and tried to delete some of the HP scanner entries manually because I thought its driver wasn't doing a clean uninstall. I was careful to only eliminate items with 'HP' in them... could I have caused a problem anyway?   At any rate I'm glad to have my system back... though System Restore has left me with a bunch of super-weird settings.... Message Edited by eliot1785 on 01-27-2006 10:16 AM

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