Printer won't scan

[sonicyouth]

Help.

I'm trying to get a HP Deskjet 1050A working on my girlfriend's parent's PC but at the moment it will print but not scan.

The error that comes up is 'scanner communication cannot be established'... I'd post an image of the error message but it's in Norwegian.

The printer is new (Xmas gift) and has been working fine until recently on an ancient XP machine shared over the network. I have tested it on my laptop (Win7) and using the latest drivers it worked without any issues.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the printer with the same drivers (albeit XP version) as used on my laptop. Attempted the same using the full HP suite (so with all the bloatiness) but no luck.

The scanning software allows you to start scanning and you can hear/see the printer is starting to scan the document but it seems to fail at the point where it should produce the file - in this case I'm testing using 75dpi black & white document to PDF format - and the error above appears.

Interestingly, the HP scan diagnostics tool doesn't recognise a scanner but given that the printer is attempting to scan a document when Windows asks it to, I'm thinking this is a red herring.

Any suggestions?

[Batch]

Sounds like you tried all this then

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00040499&lang=pt&cc=br&taskId=101&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=4027462&prodTypeId=18972

not that it'll help me, but what OS is the computer that doesn't work.

Other than try the latest drivers and a different USB port no suggestions.

[Simon Pieman]

There are usually advanced driver settings in the device properties. You may have to manually 'install' an element of the driver. Basically change the drop down box setting to installed. I had to do this with the duplex settings of a printer we recently got at work. HP drivers seem to be a load of balls.

[sonicyouth]

Batch - it's on XP and have tried all of that to no avail.

Si - how do I do that? Trying to navigate through a load of menus in Norwegian is a bitch!

[Simon Pieman]

You go to printers and faxes, right click on the printer and then select properties which should be the bottom option. There should be an advanced settings tab.

How the fuck you're going to find the option for 'installing' the scanner element when it's in Norwegian is another matter!

p.s. this is purely hypothesis, it may not be down to this at all.

[sonicyouth]

Nope

I think it's this PC. It's absolutely ancient...

[stfcinbmth]

Make sure it's attached to one of the usb's on the Motherboard Back Plate, not a front port or a hub. Try a different cable too if you have one