dead scanner

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My Dad 3000 miles away says his scanner suddenly stopped working. It's a bus-powered Canon USB CanoScan (don't remember which model) connected to an iMac DV400.



From his description, it sounds like a hardware issue: the scanner does not power-up up when plugged in, and Photoshop doesn't know it's connected. Both of the iMac's USB ports work just fine with his digital camera, the keyboard, and mouse.



My question: is it possible for the USB ports to break and lose their powering capabilities, yet remain functional otherwise? We're planning on just getting a new scanner (they're cheap enough). But if the power from the ports is the problem, then I figure we should get an AC powered one.



Thanks for any help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    Hmmm. I also have a father who has scanner problems now and then, so maybe I can pass on some wisdom:



    1. Have your father look in the Apple System Profiler, and look under the panel that shows that USB devices are connected. Does the OS know there's a scanner attached? Try retarting if now.



    2. What changed? That is, did he install a program one morning, and it stopped working? Did it break during the middle of a scan? I know for a fact that Panther will kill that scanner.



    3. Have him re-install the Canoscan toolbox and other drivers.



    4. Worst comes to worst, just get the Canoscan LIDE 30 - got one at Circuit City for $49.99. It is not worth it to get one that's AC-powered - they break too. That one is Panter compatible. If he tries another brand, do a search first to see who's having problems with which scanners in Panter.



    Keep us posted.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    josephgjosephg Posts: 111member
    Thanks for the advice, francis. I forgot to mention: the iMac is running OS 9.2.



    1. The scanner does not show up in System Profiler, and does not after restart.



    2. As far as he can tell me, nothing's changed--nothing installed, removed, nada, nothing.



    3. IIRC, we weren't using the Caoscan toolbox, just the Photoshop Plug-In for scanning. I've been hesitant about trying to walk him through reinstalling it, since I think it's a hardware problem.



    4. I'm considering getting an AC powered replacement, under suspicion that the USB ports have lost their powering capabilities, but function otherwise. Is that type of malfunction possible?



    Thanks, everyone, for any help.





    Quote:

    Originally posted by francisG3

    Hmmm. I also have a father who has scanner problems now and then, so maybe I can pass on some wisdom:



    1. Have your father look in the Apple System Profiler, and look under the panel that shows that USB devices are connected. Does the OS know there's a scanner attached? Try retarting if now.



    2. What changed? That is, did he install a program one morning, and it stopped working? Did it break during the middle of a scan? I know for a fact that Panther will kill that scanner.



    3. Have him re-install the Canoscan toolbox and other drivers.



    4. Worst comes to worst, just get the Canoscan LIDE 30 - got one at Circuit City for $49.99. It is not worth it to get one that's AC-powered - they break too. That one is Panter compatible. If he tries another brand, do a search first to see who's having problems with which scanners in Panter.



    Keep us posted.




  • Reply 3 of 5
    russsrusss Posts: 115member
    I've had this problem a few times with my Canon LiDE 30. Jiggling the USB cable where it plugs into the scanner fixed it. It's worth a try.



    Also possible that the cable is bad.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by francisG3

    I know for a fact that Panther will kill that scanner.



    which scanner... why?
  • Reply 5 of 5
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    which scanner... why?



    Panther will kill all Canon scanners except the LIDE series, all HP scanners, and many Epson scanners.



    Just because I bought an HP 3670 scanner for my father, and Panther attacked it. HP.com said, "Sorry, we're aware, and working on it."



    If you read on the discussions on apple.com, you can get a good idea of which scanners will work with Panther.
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