Installing an Old Scanner - HELP?!

[RangerWickett]

I need some help. I recently got a hand-me-down computer with Windows XP, and I want to use my old scanner with it. Problem is, the scanner went on sale back in '98, so of course it's not made with XP in mind. Now, when I plug in the scanner, a little icon saying 'PaperPort Scanner' appears in the bottom right of the screen. But in my device manager, it doesn't show up. I can't figure out what's wrong, mostly because I can't even find the device!

Now, when I open my software, it can't seem to figure out how to scan; the Acquire option is disabled. But if the computer knows that there's a device called PaperPort Scanner, why can't I find it?

 

[Cergorach]

Start by running windows update, chances are that it will find a working driver for your scanner.

How is the scanner connected to the computer? SCSI, USB, or god forbid, by Paralel Port?

What's the manufacturer of the scanner and what's the name of the scanner (exactly)? Have you gone to the manefacturers website to look for XP instructions?

Old scanners suck!

I tried connecting an old scanner to my laptop last week, but after booting i go a blue screen of death when the scanner was connected.

 

[RangerWickett]

LTP port. Yeah.

It's a Visioneer PaperPort 6000b scanner. The company website doesn't provide drivers for XP, or if it does, I can't figure out how to find it.

 

[Usurper]

http://www.visioneer.com/support/flatbed/6000downloads.asp

Says that the drivers support NT. XP is built on NT, so those might work. They'll be "unsigned" and you'll get a warning when installing most likely, but tell it to install anyway.


EDIT: From their site:

The Visioneer 6000 series scanners are not supported on Windows XP, although it may function properly on most systems. If you choose to install the software on Windows XP, we recommend creating a system checkpoint by using the Windows XP System Restore feature. During installation Microsoft displays a warning dialog because the driver you are installing has not been submitted to Microsoft for testing. Click the Continue button to complete the installation. If you experience any problems with your scanner or operating system, remove the software and restore to the point created before you installed the driver.

 

[RangerWickett]

It says it requires Service Pack 3. I don't see that listed anywhere.

 

[RangerWickett]

Installed it; didn't help. The computer still doesn't even show such a device being there. There are no scanners or imaging devices listed.

 

[KenM]

Another thing you can do since you have XP is run the scanner in compatibillty mode. Compatiblity mode is a thing built into win XP to trick an old program that its running under an older version of windows.
Right click on the icon for the scanner program, then go to properites. There should be a compatiblity mode section there.

 

[RangerWickett]

I tried, but the computer still doesn't show that I have a scanner. I mean, the software for the program works fine, but I'm pretty sure it won't scan because it thinks there isn't a scanner attached.

But, as I mentioned in the first post, it shows in the taskbar, there's a scanner, right next to my clock and my Symantec AntiVirus icon. This is really bewildering me.

 

[Len]

It looks like you're out of luck. After Win 2000 came out, Visioneer said they wouldn't update the 6000b driver to work with Win 2000 - which almost certainly means it won't work with XP either.
http://www.ntcompatible.com/story346.html

 

[RangerWickett]

But . . . it's not the driver that's the issue. I mean, I know what it looks like when the driver isn't working. You go to Device Manager, see your hardware with a little yellow ! next to it, and you can look at its properties. But my computer isn't even listing the hardware as being there. That doesn't have anything to do with the driver.