Scanner broken?

santino

FSU gear head
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Mar 5, 2006
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My almost unused scanner has started to give me a black image. The scanner lamp lights up and everything seems to work fine. I tried it on Windows and Linux so software is not the issue. The scanner is in mint condition and sat unused for about 7 years (not in humid climate).

Is there a way to bring the scanner back to life?

it is a Canon CanoScan 8400F.
 
I have a CanoScan 8600F and has given me trouble from time to time when windows would update automatically. Problems ranging from newton rings and large visible lines from one end of the frame to the other to blank frames. What i figured out is that the latest versions of scangear do not work well with modern OS. My current version is the "Canon ScanGear 12.1.3 64-bit Edition" and i used the Canon Toolbox V5.0

I hope this helps
 
Thanks for the hints! I have to give it a try. What makes me wonder is that in Linux mint I did not indtall the scanner (it already seems to have generic drivers) and the problem was the same. Last time the scanner worked was probably under Windows XP and it sat unused because initially there were no 64 bit drivers for Windows 7. Fingers crossed :)
 
My laptop is very old and held in place by duct tape. It is using Windows 7 and I only use it to scan. For pretty much everything else I use my phone.

Another suggestion would be to install some sort of VM-Ware and run Windows XP or 7 on it. That is my back up plan if my laptop fails to switch on again. The canon scanners are very tough, I have scanned acres of film with it....
 
Another vote for vuescan. I've used it with multiple scanners over the years. Plus, you get endless updates/upgrades with the software. Really a good deal.
 
I use my XP Windows, never online! Works fine, faster with new SD cards! I still have Picasa. I think Windows 7 no good. 64 no good. Needs 32.
 
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