Fixing windows xp image acquisition

[nohj_ned]

I just bought a new scanner. On my computer in device manager it shows up under 'unknown' (and it doesn't work). On my wife's computer it works fine. Went through the usual uninstall/reinstall dance with the manufacturer's tech support without results.

I found Nirsoft's usbdeview (gives lots of information about USB devices) and devmanview (like windows device manager but more information). What these programs tell me is:

Under the USB properties (where ever that comes from) my wife's computer knows the scanner has a Device Class of Image, mine does not.

Under the device properties my wife's computer shows Device Type Code: Image and Device Type Name: imaging devices.

Where do I look next for the problem?

Thanks
John

 

[ksiemb]

I just bought a new scanner. On my computer in device manager it shows up under 'unknown' (and it doesn't work). On my wife's computer it works fine. Went through the usual uninstall/reinstall dance with the manufacturer's tech support without results.

I found Nirsoft's usbdeview (gives lots of information about USB devices) and devmanview (like windows device manager but more information). What these programs tell me is:

Under the USB properties (where ever that comes from) my wife's computer knows the scanner has a Device Class of Image, mine does not.

Under the device properties my wife's computer shows Device Type Code: Image and Device Type Name: imaging devices.

Where do I look next for the problem?

Thanks
John

Hello John: You speak in generalities, no scanner model/mfg, computer model/mfg etc. You posted in XP forum, so that is all we know ! And if you jumped thru hoops with their tech support already, not sure what to suggest; but looks like the USB drivers did not install properly. What are the specs for the computer it runs on, and the one it doesn't run on ? In Device manager, do you have "other devices" in yellow or Question mark ?

 

[nohj_ned]

Thank you for your response.

I put the information that I think is germane to the problem. I did not mention that it is an Epson scanner because that does not seem to be part of the problem. Nor the fact that my machine is a Dell and my wife's is an IBM.

I also kept my initial question brief because I know from experience this kind of problem takes a lot of probing before the cause and solution can be found. It's just not a simple "I have this problem" question with the "poke it here" answer. I was hoping my initial question would hook me up with someone who knows more about how all this works so they could guide me in my efforts to fix the problem.

I did leave out that both machines are running SP3 of windows XP.

There are no devices in yellow or with question marks in device manager.

Here's what I'm guessing, and I hope to find someone who actually knows:

When a program wants to get input from a scanner, it asks windows for a list of available scanners and presents that to the user. The user picks, and the program uses the windows api's to access the features of the scanner. So windows acts as an intermediary between the program and the drivers. That intermediate layer would be either Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) or TWAIN. That intermediate part is what I think is broken. I think that when I install the scanner driver, it says to windows "I'm a scanner". On my machine windows doesn't know what that means because something is messed up or missing, so the device ends up in the 'unknown' class.

That's what I think, anyhow.

I suppose that a clean install of windows would fix it for sure, but I think we all know what a pain that is.

Thanks,
John