Scanning communication erro

[Guest]

I have installed and reinstalled a 3210 HP all in one printer about 10 times
and have been back and forth with HP with no solution.
I keep getting a communication error that tells me that the device is unable
to communicate with my computer. I have done all the steps, reinstalled the
drivers, even exchanged the printer and I still have the same problem. I even
did a system recovery thinking it was my computer. I am at my wits end since
I really like this printer and want to keep it.
Does anyone have any solutions that I haven't already tried??????

 

[Chuck]

How are you connecting the 3210 to the computer, and what is the computer
make and model?
Does the PC have USB 2.0? Are there other USB devices connected?
Have you properly uninstalled the non working drivers, and perhaps used a HP
utility to do a cleanup afterwords?

Are you using the administrator account to install?
Did you follow the installation instructions exactly--IE install the
software, then plug in the 3210?
(Or whatever the install instructions said to do in exact order.)

When all else fails, and assuming you do not have a USB keyboard, mouse, and
HD-- You can try uninstalling the USB ports and controllers.
This usually allows a new driver install to work properly when all else
fails. Getting the fax portion of a multifunction device to work properly
may be another hassle.

I have used multifunction fax/scanner/printers since the windows 95 days,
and have always had to spend more time and effort than I'd like in getting
them to work properly. Windows XP (esp SP-2) seems to be more problematic
than you'd like when it comes to fax functionality and software.

If you are connecting the 3210 to the PC via an unpowered port, don't do
that! (At least for the driver install)
IF your PC has multiple USB ports, the driver install process may work
better with a specific USB port, usually the first USB 2.0 port.

 

[Guest]

I'm using an HP 553X pavilion and using a USB cable for connecting. And I
have tried it with and without my other devices hooked up, installed and
uninstalled alike and have also deleted the drivers, restarted and all that
jazz. I am the adminstrator for the computer and followed all the
instructions that came with the printer.
I do have a wireless mouse and keyboard but my other scanner that I had
before worked fine with them.

I'm thinking that since they told me to do a system restore and before that
I did a destructive restore, that since my windows haven't been updated with
all the updates that that might be what is making it not work. What do you
think? I am now in the process of downloading SP-2. So we will see and I did
receive another installation disk from HP since when I did their check up on
their site it told me I had the incorrect driver. So after installing SP-2
and installing the printer again for the 20th times I will see if it works
then. Otherwise I am at a loss.

 

[Chuck]

The problem with a USB interfaced keyboard and/or mouse is that it is likely
that uninstalling the USB port and controller drivers will kill the keyboard
and mouse functionality until they are reinstalled. The reason for
uninstalling and reinstalling the USB controller and port drivers is to
allow the USB support drivers and registry configuration to be redone.
Generally, this helps to restore the software environment that is expected
by the multifunction devices and many other devices as well. The wireless
keyboard and mouse should likely be reinstalled after the multifunction
device is up and working properly. As you said, the "other" scanner worked
with the wireless keyboard and mouse. The other scanner likely used
different drivers and possibly even a different software interface
methodology. With software problems such as yours seems to be, divide and
conquer seems to be the best approach.
If you are having problems with only the scanning functions, I'd try a
downloadable trial version of View Scan.

"I do have a wireless mouse and keyboard but my other scanner that I had
before worked fine with them"

One of the more interesting situations occurs when you "rebrick" an HP
system (Reloads the software to the as it came configuration) and HP
multifunction device drivers still don't work. In the past, we had this
occur with a major customer's systems, and at least got HPs attention. In
this case, the ultimate result was a BIOS revision, and a multifunction
firmware change.

 

[Guest]

Well now here's a interesting situation.
I called HP this time and we went through alot more things than we did
online. Deleting all the temp folder, reinstalling software completely,
deleting the twain in safe mode, and so forth, that didn't work, so I decided
along with his suggestion to do a destructive restore, That didn't work, the
scanner and camera wizard didn't show up until after the printer software was
downloaded and the scanner now shows no properties. I'm thinking it might be
the mother board. I am next going to try hooking up the printer on a
networking cable to see if that is going to work.
I've tried the BIOS download and it only screwed up my computer so that it
wouldn't go into windows and had to reload the default setting so that I
could go into windows. Won't try that again.
So I am at a stand still right now. I found out that my old printer was a
parallel port and so that probably worked fine because of that.
If you have any other suggestions I would like to hear it. Right now I think
my motherboard is damaged.

 

[Chuck]

The motherboard hardware is most likely OK. BIOS may be another story. Your
problem really sounds like you should borrow a normal keyboard and mouse,
and uninstall the USB port and controller drivers. Then reboot and allow
windows to redetect and reinstall them.
You may find that changing the motherboard gets you involved in the windows
verification/validation stuff!

 

[Guest]

I finally found a way for the scanner to work and that was to go through
networking. It seems the easiest way to go right now as I really don't want
to mess with the motherboard. I still know that something is wrong somewhere
but can't right now diagnose the problem. Thanks for your help. At least it's
working now and maybe someone else can benefit from my experience.
I really never considered that the mouse and the keyboard being wireless
would be a problem but I will have to think on that one. Thank you agian and
take care.