Hp Scanner freezes with OmniPage Pro 14

[Natalie]

When I'm scanning documents in OmniPage Pro 14 with my HP Scanjet 8250
scanner, the scanner often stops mid-page and I either get an error
message saying "hpqscnvw has encountered a problem and needs to
close", "the HP device could not be initialized. An error has occurred
communicating with the device...", or the window on the scanner just
says "DMA Timeout". I have tried installing the latest drivers for
both OmniPage and the scanner, I have uninstalled and reinstalled both
programs and tried them without the last updates, I have looked at
both HP and Scansoft's websites for help, but although other people
seem to have the same problem, no one has posted a solution, and I
have looked at all possible changes in the settings but nothing works;
either on the first page or later in a stack of pages going through
the ADF, I get one of these messages. Any suggestions?

 

[RSD99]

First ... tell us a little bit about your computer. We need to know

(1) Operating System?
(2) Amount of *physical* RAM memory installed (NOT the "Virtual Memory" number)?
(3) Do you have a bunch of other programs hogging this *physical* RAM?
(4) How much free disk space do you have?

Now ... lets try a simple test. Scan a page that has 'choked' the scanner. Make it into a
TIF file. Will OmniPage load and process the file OK?

Please post back with the answers, and someone will probably be able to help you.

 

[L&N lab]

Have you performed a scan wizard callibration?

BW
LN

 

[Natalie]

Here are the details I forgot to include:
(1) OS is Windows XP
(2) 37.2 GB installed
(3) no other programs running except Norton AntiVirus in the
background (and I used to be able to run multiple programs while
scanning)
(4) 31.9 GB free space

Sorry, not sure about how to do the TIF file thing...OmniPage loads
and processes everything correctly once the scanner has scanned the
page, it's just the scanning itself that's causing the problems. For
example, if I'm scanning 10 pages and it chokes on the 5th, OmniPage
has already loaded the 4 pages before it and after stopping the
stalled scanner I can prodess those 4 pages as usual (e.g. perform
OCR, save, export, etc.). The scanner has been working fine from May
until this week, so I'm not sure what has set it off.

Thanks for your replies, hope this helps people help me!

 

[RSD99]

Natalie ... the "(2) 37.2 GB installed" figure you gave is the DISK STORAGE SPACE you
have. These are *totally* different things ...

We need to know how much RAM memory (the semiconductor, physical memory ... memory chips
or memory sticks kind) you have.

You posted
"... For example, if I'm scanning 10 pages and it chokes on the 5th, OmniPage
has already loaded the 4 pages before it and after stopping the
stalled scanner I can prodess those 4 pages as usual (e.g. perform
OCR, save, export, etc.). ..."

That is good information ... at least the scanner and OCR programs *are* working under
some circumstances.

It makes me think that (1) everything is working properly, but that (2) you do not have
enough **RAM** memory and the software is "choking." Or another program could be 'hogging'
the memory (RAM type) and not letting the scanner driver and OmniPage software have enough
memory to work.

What happens if you turn off "Norton AntiVirus?"

The fact that it worked once is interesting. Have any new programs been installed on your
system recently (since the system was working properly)? Have any programs been updated on
your system recently What's "changed" since then?

FWIW: If you do not have enough **RAM** memory (the semiconductor, physical memory ...
memory chips or sticks) installed on your system, you may be limited to scanning just a
few pages at a time.

 

[Terry Yamada]

When I'm scanning documents in OmniPage Pro 14 with my HP Scanjet 8250
scanner, the scanner often stops mid-page and I either get an error
message saying "hpqscnvw has encountered a problem and needs to
close", "the HP device could not be initialized. An error has occurred
communicating with the device...", or the window on the scanner just
says "DMA Timeout". I have tried installing the latest drivers for
both OmniPage and the scanner, I have uninstalled and reinstalled both
programs and tried them without the last updates, I have looked at
both HP and Scansoft's websites for help, but although other people
seem to have the same problem, no one has posted a solution, and I
have looked at all possible changes in the settings but nothing works;
either on the first page or later in a stack of pages going through
the ADF, I get one of these messages. Any suggestions?

I used to have a HP 8250 scanner, it got thrown in the trash after
about a year, reason, the main interface to the scannter died. I will
not buy any HP products, their marketing is lousy and support is even
worse. Their drivers are written by contract programmers, who don't
know the first thing about hardware and the interaction with the
software they write.

 

[Natalie]

Sorry about giving you the wrong info. The amount of RAM memory is 736
MB, and I've tried running OmniPage without anything else running
(including Norton Antivirus) and I disabled some programs that were on
automatic startup that were "living in the memory" as my boss put it,
but I'm still getting error messages at random times throughout
scanning. Today I was able to scan a whole chapter (about 40 pages)
with the ADF with no errors, but then when I went to scan the next
chapter (as a new file) it started freezing again, and conitinued to
freeze more and more frequently. As before, all other functions of
OmniPage work fine, although it does seem a bit slower than before the
freezing started, though that could just be my own impatience. I don't
know why a lack of memory would be causing the choking because I used
to be able to run multiple programs (e.g. media player, msn, Norton
Antivirus,) while scanning and it worked fine then. I had been using
the scanner for about 2 months with no problems until about a month
ago. No new programs have been installed since then, although as I
said in my first posting I have tried running the programs with and
without the latest upgrades/patches/drivers to see if they could have
been causing the problem.

Appreciate your help.

 

[Natalie]

Me again. Just realized that Service Pack 1 for Windows XP might have
been installed within the time that problems have started, but I'm not
sure; it might have been there before. Otherwise, no new programs,
patches, drivers, etc. have been downloaded.

Thanks again.