Tiny Scanner Problem!
Andi
Lancaster, UK
Hi Folks!
I was recently given a Tiny (Primax) model FU621D USB scanner by a friend of mine who'd gone 'up-market'. Fine - except I couldn't get the damn thing to work. I tried downloading the latest drivers for my OS (Win'98), and even a patch which was supposed to make magical things happen (it didn't).
The scanner loaded OK, and when I pressed the preview button the system seemed to grind into action. Only problem was the prieview screen remained blank, as if there was nothing there to be scanned (there was!).
Time passed. I cursed. I swore. I even tried hitting it gently with a large hammer. Nothing. But then, suddenly, out of the blue, it just decided it'd given me enough pain and began to work normally. Hurrah! More time passed. Once again I tried to scan something .... can you guess? Yes - I mean - No, it wouldn't work again. Grrr!
Can anyone see where I'm going wrong? Please don't tell me to stop being a cheapskate and buy a decent machine. I'm no techno-head, but I just hate the thought of binning the thing when it might be (relatively) easy to fix, and when I'm so poor, boo, hoo, sob! :bawling:
If anyone's had a similar experience with this model, I'd be grateful for any hints & tips on how to revive it. Many thanks!
I was recently given a Tiny (Primax) model FU621D USB scanner by a friend of mine who'd gone 'up-market'. Fine - except I couldn't get the damn thing to work. I tried downloading the latest drivers for my OS (Win'98), and even a patch which was supposed to make magical things happen (it didn't).
The scanner loaded OK, and when I pressed the preview button the system seemed to grind into action. Only problem was the prieview screen remained blank, as if there was nothing there to be scanned (there was!).
Time passed. I cursed. I swore. I even tried hitting it gently with a large hammer. Nothing. But then, suddenly, out of the blue, it just decided it'd given me enough pain and began to work normally. Hurrah! More time passed. Once again I tried to scan something .... can you guess? Yes - I mean - No, it wouldn't work again. Grrr!
Can anyone see where I'm going wrong? Please don't tell me to stop being a cheapskate and buy a decent machine. I'm no techno-head, but I just hate the thought of binning the thing when it might be (relatively) easy to fix, and when I'm so poor, boo, hoo, sob! :bawling:
If anyone's had a similar experience with this model, I'd be grateful for any hints & tips on how to revive it. Many thanks!
0
Comments
Also see if Primax offers updated TWAIN drivers for 98 or 98 SE or Me for this scanner, and make sure the latest ones of those for 98 are installed and then see if the silly thing converses better.
Twain is scanner and some digicam DEVICE core data transfer and handshake support software, for the kind of device handshaking involved. The USB root hub driver is the data transfer BUS driver side of things.
Old scanners, those from the 90's, could take quite a while to warm up. They used CCD BARS (typically staggered rows of CCD sensors, tiny ones, mounted on a bar that moves) and similar zenon or flourescent light bars to what an older photocopier has inside it. Some of them were GREEN energy devices, IE they saved energy by sleeping, both the CCD and the light were shut down.
I still use an Epson 1650 Photo scanner, it takes 30-45 seconds to wake up. Older ones could take a minute or three to wake up. Preview mode is a low res scan in a single pass, so you could wait 3-5 minute before you got a preview out of an old scanner-- mine takes about 1:30 counting wakeup time to get a preview. IF nothing is in it, the software shows a .jpg that is in the software resources, or a nice white blank preview.
FULL HIGH-RES and HIGH COLOR SCAN mode can take 12 minutes from initial opening of the scanning software when scanner is sleeping for a full page scan even on my scanner with latest TWAIN and scanning software. An older scanner might do full color in up to 4 passes, at 5 minutes per pass, for highest res it can do.
Why do I still use this old thing??? It works nicely, sleeps and wakes up in reasonable time, and for most things I now instead use a 4 MP Olympus Camedia 4000Z digital camera. The scanner is mostly used to pull old pictures, some of them literally TINTYPE, of family photos in for digital archiving. We have pics from the late 1800's onward, many from my Grandmother and some of those were given to her by her mother. I've also used it to scan filled out forms for faxing 3-5 years back. The scanner I used before that WAS very, very slow.
IF you are getting no errors and you eventually do get scans and previews, might just be that scanner is slow, but latest drivers cannot hurt any so I suggested checking for those first. Posted this to explain why they might possibly do very little good whatsoever, though.
The preview may be "there", just for whatever reason the card doesn't show it properly on the screen.
What happens if you go ahead and do the full scan? I find the preview function isn't all that necessary since I end up tweaking things in a picture editing program after the full scan anyway.
As I said in the original post, I've already installed all the latest drivers from Primax for this model for my OS - which is Win'98 SE. It worked OK on my friend's machine, also Win'98 SE. Heck, it even worked on MY machine, after a while, but won't work now.
I'd considered the 'warm up' issue - there's a warm-up countdown on this model when you first try to scan - but just to make sure I left it switched on for 20-minutes or so before scanning .... nothing! I'd already installed the latest driver for my graphics card (Nvidia GeForce 2 MX/MX400) ... still nothing!
I appreciate some scanners are slow, but it scanned a b&w document within seconds when it was working. Trying to scan a similar document this time produced - you guessed it - nothing!
The only thing I didn't mention before is that there's a switch on the top of the case that seems to be permanently stuck in the 'on' position. Don't know what it's for (and neither does my friend!). On the other hand, it worked OK last time - stuck switch or no - so that can't be the problem either.
I'll keep trying, but if it doesn't cure itself by the weekend then I'll need to use a bigger hammer!!!
If you hadn't have said "top" I would suspect that you were referring to the "lock" switch which is meant to keep the scanner's bulb from being jostled during transit. That switch is usually located on the bottom of the device and is more of a physical (as in plastic part) than a pushbutton (electronic) switch. Since I have no experience with Tiny/Primax I'm wondering if they may have put the switch in a more obvious postion. (People gripe all the time that they didn't think to look underneath the machine.) If your friend was on the ball he would have "locked" the bulb so it wouldn't be damaged while on its way to you.
If any of this seems to apply to your situation I would advise you to try moving the switch from one extreme to the other, then leave it in the "on" position.
My dad's brand-new scanner worked fine for 18 months, then wouldn't do diddly. After hours on the phone I suggested the above remedy and he was back in business.
If this doesn't work we will keep trying.
I could recommend a few brands I've used on Computers/Peripherals of my own, but they would be expensive to ship.
It's not the 'transit lock switch'. I tried scanning with the lid open to make sure the carriage was moving (it was).
Just for perverse thrills I took the damn thing to pieces today. I discovered that the top button is physically blocked off inside - must be a function switch for a more sophisticated model than mine (?)
Yes, please recommend some good (cheapish) scanners. I need one for business use and it looks like I'll have to splash-the-cash for one that actually works (time's a wastin'). I can always fish around for the best deal on my side of The Pond. Cheers!
...sounds like a nice Saturday night...