Yesterday I spent a lot of the day getting the browser working on this Mini properly because my G3 died when the power went out in the street. I'm presuming it was a power surge. After getting that running, I downloaded the drivers for my CanoScan LiDE 50 scanner... I spent a lot of hours and a lot of frustration on trying to figure out why it won't work, and now I'm beginning to wonder if the scanner is also dead, since it was off, but still plugged in to the now dead G3.

I downloaded the drivers for the (ugh) PC and the driver refuses to even load on that machine, but the PC can at least see that it's a CanoScan scanner.

So... from what I can tell, it looks as though the driver on the Mini isn't seeing the scanner at all, and the PC is seeing the scanner, but is having trouble loading the driver. Either way, the scanner isn't running. I was sure if it was a driver problem downloading a PC version and using that would work, but I guess not.

Thus far I have installed the latest driver for OS X, then uninstalled the driver, and reinstalled (with obligatory reboots) to no avail. I have attempted to install the driver on the PC - including telling it to just look for a frigging driver - and while it says it's doing something, nothing happens.

The work I needed to get finished yesterday is now looking as though it'll never get done, and I'm about ready to tear my hair out

Any ideas? Anyone seen this type of issue before?

Sounds like you aren't having any fun or luck.

Had you ever had the scanner running on the Mini beforehand?

Nope, only ever plugged the scanner into the G3 before, and that ran immediately without problems

However, we are looking at the possibility of buying a cheap eMac to replace the G3.

Luck and I aren't always on the best of terms... I suspect I am subject to the ancient Arabic curse "May your life be interesting"

The scanner may not be properly supported on the Mini but if not, there may also be a workaround.

does the scanner actually switch on? i had to replace a canon scanner power block recently when a similar situation occurred, and i narrowed it down to a dead power block...

I'm hoping there's a workaround

peajay - I have *not* seen any sign of life, except for the fact that the PC can actually tell that it's plugged in via USB and what it is. The scanner does get it's power directly from USB however, so there is no power block associated with it. That doesn't mean that something hasn't shorted out however. The light doesn't tend to come on until it is access to scan... and I'm not getting that far. I had considered a power issue, but have been discounting that a little since the PC can access it enough to know what it is and when it's plugged in.

What does the scanner do - nothing at all?

Coincidentally, I have the same scanner and it's just gone on the fritz for me. It starts scanning then immediately reports "Communucation lost with the scanner". The scanner gets to the end then keeps grinding up against the edge. Not sure how to troubleshoot either, I may have to replace it.

coljac, I've had a similar problem with a scanner before, and that was fixed by moving the scanning arm so it had free movement again (there was some dirt caught in the wrong spot, making the scanner stick, and then lose it's position) A few ways of getting it to shift include removing the glass and manually manipulating it then replacing the glass, or possibly even trying to pick up the scanner and shake the arm from one end to the other (obviously without engaging the locking mechanism).

I would also suggest trying another cable, a slight issue with cables can cause intermittent communication issues... however it wouldn't cause the other issue (grinding up against the edge)

have you tried a different usb cable? it sounds like the scanner has an problem, but it's good to eliminate smaller and less expensive issues...

• Operating systems: Windows XP, 2000, Me, 98, Mac(r) OS 9.0 - 9.x, OS X v 10.1.x - 10.2.x
• Interface: USB 2.0

Don't ask me why the system support stops at 10.2

The CanoScan LiDE 500 does support 10.3

Even though the power was off ,if the scanner was connected to the iMac when the power surged then it may have fried the USB connection on the scanner. Try replacing the USB cable to start with.
I have never heard of a scanner that gets all its power through the USB port. I would be sceptical of this scenario working properly. Are you sure there is no power port on the back of the scanner ?
There are OS9 and OSX drivers for it depending on which OS you prefer and which computer you are using ...
CanoScan LiDE50 Scanner Driver ScanGear CS Ver. 7.1.3.4 for Mac OS 9
CanoScan LiDE50 Scanner Driver ScanGear CS Ver. 7.1.3.4X (Mac OS X)
2006-02

See here...
http://www.canon.com.au/products/sca...canlide50.aspx

The other problem may be that your software may not be compliant. I have an excellent HP 8200 scanner and had quite a bit of trouble getting the scanner to scan directly from Photoshop. It was a TWAIN problem and I ended up going down a version of PS to get it to work properly.
Stewie

I had a very similar issue to yours but minus the power surge. Try the drivers from Canon USA not the Australian site. Make sure you use the 'driver delete' utility first to uninstall everything. Then reinstall the drivers and programs on the US site.

^ They aren't very free with information and won't allow people to see which drivers are available for downloading unless you have cookies enabled.

It definitely is powered through the USB port and if a surge was experienced then yes there could well be damaged parts.

You convinced me to have a go, and funny thing. Shaking the scanner and moving the head around seems to convince it to come good for a while - I've got it actually scanning again. I still get the communication lost error, but if I shake it around a bit it sometimes comes good. Probably still a write-off, but interesting nonetheless.