Canon D1250 buggy

[Matt J. McCullar]

I've been using a Canon D1250U2F flatbed scanner, and overall I'm very
pleased with it. But I have reason to believe that if I scan too many items
at one sitting, the software goes bonkers and starts screwing up my system.
I've tried re-installing the original software from the CDs (I bought the
unit new) but it doesn't seem to help. It's done this with both Windows 98
and also WinME, which I'm currently using.

Connected with USB 2.0.
Pentium running at about 800 MHz.

If I scan only about 20 or 30 different images and then shut down the
scanner, no problems seem to develop. But if I scan 50 or 60 items or
greater at one time, then I start getting intermittent system problems. The
unit won't shut down properly, but Windows repairs itself the next time I do
a cold boot.

Perhaps I've been using this scanner incorrectly. The software the starts
up is Adobe Photoshop Elements. When I want to scan something, I go to
Import --> CanoScan D1250U2... Then Scangear CS-U starts up and lets me do
the preview and actual scanning. But to do anything with the image in terms
of resizing or changing shades, I must close Scangear. Then Adobe Photoshop
lets me do whatever I want. But not until I close Scangear.

Is this part of my problem? Again, this is the original software that came
in the box with the scanner. I've seen that Canon has some drivers and
toolbox stuff for this scanner on its website, but I have not tried
downloading or using these until I can learn more.

Many thanks!!!! This is a great little scanner when everything's working
properly...

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

 

[birdman]

You are using the import function in PSE correctly: the twain driver,
regardless of manufacturer, has to shut down in order to manipulate the
image in PSE.

It sounds like when you scan that many images you are experiencing one of
two types of memory problems, either of which is likely due to the Canon
software. Alas, in my humble opinion, Canon makes good equipment but issues
it with some of the worst operating software ever written. I see Canon has
just posted yet another round of firmware revisions for their dSLRs. These
are marketed as "improvements" when they are really bug fixes.

If you experience computer restart or the blue screen of death it means the
driver is trying to write two pieces of data to the same place in memory.
Windows dies as a result.

More likely the Canon software driver is using up and not releasing Windows
resources. All versions of WIndows, WinXP being only slightly improved, have
a limited number of "heaps and stacks"--essentially placeholders in memory
for the OS to refer to. If a piece of software does not release those
resources and their number drops below a certain level WIndows will give an
out of memory message even though there may be gigabytes of ram or swap file
space available. You have to reboot the computer, as you have seen, to flush
the system toilet.

 

[lostinspace]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt J. McCullar" <>
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scanners
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 8:24 PM
Subject: Canon D1250 buggy

I've been using a Canon D1250U2F flatbed scanner, and overall I'm very
pleased with it. But I have reason to believe that if I scan too many
items
at one sitting, the software goes bonkers and starts screwing up my
system.
I've tried re-installing the original software from the CDs (I bought the
unit new) but it doesn't seem to help. It's done this with both Windows
98
and also WinME, which I'm currently using.

Connected with USB 2.0.
Pentium running at about 800 MHz.

If I scan only about 20 or 30 different images and then shut down the
scanner, no problems seem to develop. But if I scan 50 or 60 items or
greater at one time, then I start getting intermittent system problems.
The
unit won't shut down properly, but Windows repairs itself the next time I
do
a cold boot.

Perhaps I've been using this scanner incorrectly. The software the starts
up is Adobe Photoshop Elements. When I want to scan something, I go to
Import --> CanoScan D1250U2... Then Scangear CS-U starts up and lets me
do
the preview and actual scanning. But to do anything with the image in
terms
of resizing or changing shades, I must close Scangear. Then Adobe
Photoshop
lets me do whatever I want. But not until I close Scangear.

Is this part of my problem? Again, this is the original software that
came
in the box with the scanner. I've seen that Canon has some drivers and
toolbox stuff for this scanner on its website, but I have not tried
downloading or using these until I can learn more.

Many thanks!!!! This is a great little scanner when everything's working
properly...

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

Hello Matt,
I've been using the same scanner quite extensively and
almost daily for 18-months. IMO, far beyond its intended design use.
Initially my scanner worked superbly, that was until the machine maker
added a video update.
Since then, I've learned to deal with glitches and crashes.

The most common cause that I'm experiencing are related to either internet
activity (while scanning) or sound card issues (while scanning).
Fortuantely, my computer does not deliver the blue screen or lock up.

If the scanning is intensive and urgent, I would advise making sure your are
working off-line.
I generally get some type of failure warning pattern before a reboot is
required. In many instances, I just close my image software for both the
scanner and the whatever software I'm using, then reopen the scanner
software and reset the scan from image to scan, which appears to happen in
these crashes. Close the software and and reopen again (after resetting.)

I've also experienced problems when I make attempts to readjust the scan
size of the image by dragging the lines after an inital selection has been
made.

In summary, I've had three scanners and each one offers its own glitches and
limitations. It's merely a matter of finding a comfortable work zone.

One possible thing to try when you get the blue screen is opening and
closing your CD or DVD drives manually. This will sometimes interrupt the
lock-up.

BTW, I'm using an Athlon 2.0gig with 512mem. The Memory, IMO is far too low.

 

[Matt J. McCullar]

Many thanks for the information, folks! That cleared up a lot of questions
I had, and you mentioned some things I forgot to type in. Looks like I'll
have to stay off-line and not use the CD player while I'm scanning huge
amounts of stuff if I want to lessen my chances of my computer crashing. I
may try downloading Canon's latest driver to see if that helps any.