I have been trying to scan a document. I keep getting the message, "could not find scanner." I used it a couple of weeks ago without a problem.

Any ideas? I have an HP Office Jet K60 All in One, a Dell Dimension 4100, and Windows ME.

First, have you restarted your computer with the scanner turned on? If not, I suggest you do that. Most computers have to "find" the scanner during the initial system startup.

Second, if after a system startup (with the scanner turned on) you still are not able to scan, open your Systems Propteries window/Device Manager and look for the "Imaging Device" entry.

Open Systems Propterties
1. Right click on "My computer"
2. Choose "Properties"
3. Click Device Manager
4. Look for the entry "Imaging Device"
5. Click the + sign to the left of the Imaging Device entry
6. This should show you your scanner. If it does not, you will need to uninstall/reinstall the the HP Office Jet K60 software.

You can uninstall the software using the installation CD (in most cases). Just put the CD into the drive, then use the "uninstall" link.

Once the uninstall is complete, shut your computer off and follow the directions to reinstall the HP Office Jet K60.

Pay particular attention to when the printer should be connected to the computer. Usually a parallel connection is done before starting your computer and a USB connection connected only when prompted by the software. Sometimes the software will need to be installed, then the computer shut down and the printer connected.

Parallel connection

USB connection

I hope this will help!

Dwight

The above post dealt with potential problems with the scanner or scanner installation software. The HP site has some information that may be useful Click here.

But the problem may also be in the scanner software itself.

One simple way to determine if the scanning software is the problem is to try using IrfanView to do the scan.

If you don't already have IrfanView, you can download a free copy of IrfanView at http://irfanview.com If you like, you can read my download/installation tutorial for IrfanView at this page.

To scan using IrfanView, click the File menu/Select Twain source. Choose your scanner from those listed.

Then click File/Acquire/Batch Scanning. Choose your number of scans you wish to do, then choose the image type on the next screen. Click the "preview" button and the scanner should begin the scan process. When the preview is complete you can drag a box around the the part of the image you wish to scan, and then click the Scan button. The image should be scanned and then sent to the IrfanView program for editing.

If all this works correctly, my guess would be that they is problem is within your scanning software. Perhaps it just has lost track of where the scanner is. You may be able to locate the Twain device in the software (in one the menus) or by reinstalling the HP scanning software.

Dwight