10 minute delay before each scan ??

[nonews]

Hello,

I've got an old HP ScanJet 6200C. It now has to wait for about ten minutes
after I tell it to scan before it actually scans. Once it gets going, it
seems to work fine but then the same thing happens for each scan.

This started a year or two ago and at first would only start after I had
scanned a bunch of pages. Now every scan requires that 10 minute rest
before it starts.

I'm using W98SE and it's a USB device.

I usually find that my problems are shared by many but I've done a lot of
searching for this and haven't found anything like it. Can anybody shed any
light on this?

Thanks.

Paul

 

[Martin K. R.]

Hello,

I've got an old HP ScanJet 6200C. It now has to wait for about ten
minutes
after I tell it to scan before it actually scans. Once it gets going, it
seems to work fine but then the same thing happens for each scan.

This started a year or two ago and at first would only start after I had
scanned a bunch of pages. Now every scan requires that 10 minute rest
before it starts.

I'm using W98SE and it's a USB device.

I usually find that my problems are shared by many but I've done a lot of
searching for this and haven't found anything like it. Can anybody shed
any
light on this?

Maybe the light level in the lamp has fallen due to wear?
Probably the firmware does not allow a scan to start before a certain light
level is present, and this level is only reached after 10 minutes warming
up.

Just a guess...

/Martin

 

[nonews]

That sounds plausible, thanks. I don't know much about how these lamps work
& never thought that it would take a while for the light be sufficient for a
scan. Maybe the firmware doesn't monitor the light level constantly but
goes into a set time warmup cycle.

It seems odd that when this first popped up, it would work fine for, say a
couple dozen scans, and then would switch to this condition where it waited
for 10 minutes before each scan. It almost seems like there might be
something that is part of the waming up process that weakens as it gets
warmer (and has been weakening in general over the years).

So, if the problem is a worn out lamp, I guess I need to replace the
scanner. I checked with a local repair shop who tell me that you can't get
lamps for this model. Should I keep looking or is that the way these things
go?

Thanks.

Paul

 

[CSM1]

You did not say the age or the model of your scanner, but if it is several
years old, scanners are much faster and have a higher resolution now for
even $100-150 USD.

 

[nonews]

The thing is at least 5 or 6 years old (I did say that it is an HP ScanJet
6200C.) and I'm sure I can get something like what you mention. But a $100
is a $100.

Also, a friend just gave me a practically unused Microtek ScanMaker X6 EL.
This is a SCSI device. I plugged it in and seems to work OK (not a given
with my PC's suspicion of SCSI devices) but the software is diabolically
inconvenient. When I have a little more time, I'm going to see if I can get
this one going in tolerable fashion before I surrender to shopping.

Thanks.

Paul