[Burnsie]

I am attempting to install my HP Scanjet 4850 onto my computer with Vista. I am failing miserably. I have downloaded the new drivers, etc. and the installation was supposedly successful. But the scanner will not scan. There is an error that the computer "cannot communicate" witht the scanner. I am going to tear all my hair out, does anyone have suggestions?

HP support linked me to a patch, but it was for XP, obviously that didn't take!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[CRS]

I have the same problem with my scanner. I go through PSE5 Organizer, to File>get photos>from scanner, and it works just fine. But, if I try to do it without PSE5, I can't get it to work. I had a heck of a time getting my scanner hooked up, drives download, etc, too. I'm not sure which software you use, but hopefully this will help you figure something out.

[DDecker]

Unplug the usb between the scanner and computer. Reboot. Plug the scanner back in. Try to scan again. My Canon scanner gets stuck some times and this works for me.

HTH

[carych]

Burnsie, on Feb 19 2008, 12:43 PM, said:

I am attempting to install my HP Scanjet 4850 onto my computer with Vista. I am failing miserably. I have downloaded the new drivers, etc. and the installation was supposedly successful. But the scanner will not scan. There is an error that the computer "cannot communicate" witht the scanner. I am going to tear all my hair out, does anyone have suggestions?

HP support linked me to a patch, but it was for XP, obviously that didn't take!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I also couldn't scan with my HP when I started with Vista. I checked the HP help forum and, apparently, with Vista, you need to scan from a program and not directly from the scanner (or, in the case of HP, with the HP software itself). I can scan using PSE or Windows Photo Gallery (I think - I'm at work right now with good old XP!).

[gritstoner]

I had a similar problem with my scanner & XP when I set up my new 'office'. I found it worked fine with another better quality USB cable. There was nothing 'wrong' with the old one as such - it works fine with my printer - just didn't want to play with my scanner.

[LissaD]

Yes, with Vista you can scan directly from the Windows Photo Gallery. At the top go to File> Import from Camera or Scanner and try from there. You may have to install the scanner again first from the scanner menu within the control panel. Vista has an internal scanner driver that won't allow other scanner drivers (at least from HP) to be installed so you get an error. The problem is their software doesn't like the error and sometimes won't even install the other necessary parts. I have spent hours on the phone with HP trying to solve this particular problem. They tell me it is my computer but a lot of people have the same problem.

Good luck!

[April Showers]

Our HP scanner didn't work right with Vista either.We did get it to work, but it was a total pain and didn't give me the control I like. Since we don't have Vista on the laptop anymore, I can't go check to see what I had to do, did though it was probably something similar to what Melissa is talking about.

[PBarnes]

I have a Canon scanner that is a few years old and I have Vista. The buttons on the scanner (scan, copy, email) don't seem to work anymore (they did on my old computer) but I can scan just fine through PSE.

[Burnsie]

Oh, yeah! I was able to scan through PSE5! I think I'll do that and leave well enough alone. I love how Scrap Girls can solve my problems even better than HP-they even wanted to charge me $25! Thanks so much!

[AKP81]

I think you all are having the Vista issues that my hubby is so frustrated about! Several of his friends and our Pastor have Vista on their new computers and he is the one who has to figure out how to get the printers/scanners to cooperate!

He told one lady that she had a bug on her computer. After a very confused look from her he said, "It's called Vista!"

Anyway, I hope you all get your scanners and printers working.....so annoying to have equipment that you can't use or have to use in a round about way!

[Sarah in VA]

I know you all are probably getting tired of this same old song, but I have Vista, I have an HP All In One and I scan directly from the HP software. Not a problem. I would second Dee's recommendation to reconnect. Also, do you have the HP connected to a USB port on the computer, or on a USB hub. It does make a difference. When we installed the HP All in One on the new Vista laptop, we did have to go to HP online and get a driver.

Hope you've gotten everything worked out by now.

[CanJan]

Sarah in VA, on Feb 19 2008, 05:11 PM, said:

I know you all are probably getting tired of this same old song, but I have Vista, I have an HP All In One and I scan directly from the HP software. Not a problem. I would second Dee's recommendation to reconnect. Also, do you have the HP connected to a USB port on the computer, or on a USB hub. It does make a difference. When we installed the HP All in One on the new Vista laptop, we did have to go to HP online and get a driver.

Hope you've gotten everything worked out by now.

Sarah:
While I was playing around with your instructions and the tutorial on about.com late last night <Read early this A.M.!> I wanted to print a part of the tutorial, just said print, and a window came up with "find printer" on it. When I clicked that, it found both the HP4 and the HP Photosmart All-in-One; then each time I selected one of the printers - it gave me the message that the driver was needed on the laptop with a load driver button to push - I did and it installed the driver and the printers both worked - Amazingly enough! Now I'm going to have to play with the Scanner and Fax to see how that goes - thanks for all the tips! My XP where the printers are plugged into is NOT wireless, but the router is and so I imagine, the laptop (Her name is Sheeba by the way as in the Queen of...) was picking up the info via the router. Hubbies laptop, which is also wireless, does not seem to be available yet <sigh> Is there a "Network Neighbourhood" in Vista?

[Sarah in VA]

CanJan, on Feb 22 2008, 04:31 PM, said:

Sarah:
While I was playing around with your instructions and the tutorial on about.com late last night <Read early this A.M.!> I wanted to print a part of the tutorial, just said print, and a window came up with "find printer" on it. When I clicked that, it found both the HP4 and the HP Photosmart All-in-One; then each time I selected one of the printers - it gave me the message that the driver was needed on the laptop with a load driver button to push - I did and it installed the driver and the printers both worked - Amazingly enough! Now I'm going to have to play with the Scanner and Fax to see how that goes - thanks for all the tips! My XP where the printers are plugged into is NOT wireless, but the router is and so I imagine, the laptop (Her name is Sheeba by the way as in the Queen of...) was picking up the info via the router. Hubbies laptop, which is also wireless, does not seem to be available yet <sigh> Is there a "Network Neighbourhood" in Vista?

CJ,

It is not impossible to connect an XP machine and a Vista machine to a small network, but it can be tricky. First of all, the Network Neighborhood is now Network and Sharing Center and can be accessed through the Control Panel, or in the Start menu, Search function, begin typing network until the Network And Sharing Center appears. This should get you started.

What causes the difficulty is usually your Internet security program - I have Norton. You must turn the firewall off on both computers until the connection is made, or tell your Internet security program that your network is a trusted network. Then you should have no more problems. If you have Norton, this is how you do it. Open your Norton software and under Internet Security, click on Settings, then click on Personal Firewall. Once there you will find a Trust Control. There you will see the network you created, highlight it and click on Trust.

If you don't have Norton, whatever security program you have probably has the same, or similar way of establishing a trusted network. So take these instructions with a grain of salt ;-)

[Brandy M]

This happened to me..I called HP and they suggested I try scanning from Paint, and that worked. It might work for you!

[AmandaFace]

i had this problem too when i first started using vista.

i had to scan from windows photo gallery b/c there werent updated drivers yet for my scanner... now that theyre finally are, i dont use the HP software anyway.

glad you figured it out