Scanner not accessible

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I have a HP ScanJet 5100C Scanner. When I try to scan this message comes up:
“Your scanner is currently being accessed by another application.
Please wait for it to finish or close it to allow access.”
I am not very knowledgeable with computers, but have been using this scanner for over a year now without any problems. Last used yesterday to scan into Adobe PhotoDeluxe, on finishing I closed the scanner and the PC. Today it insists on being already used, but I can not find out by what it is used, nor how to finish or close this other application.
I did:
Check system resource = 83% free
switch power supply on/off/on
lock/unlock scanner a few times
uninstall/ reinstall
No luck, so I did take the scanner to a friend with the same PC as mine and installed it there. Scanner works perfect, so it can not be the scanner.
Any suggestions?
My PC is a Gateway G6-350, 64MB Ram, 10GB Harddrive and I am using MSWindows 98
Kind regards,
Monika

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Monika,

Try pressing CTRL / ALT / DEL once to see if the scanner driver is already in use. It is probably something like “hplamp” on the task list. If you see it there, select it and choose END TASK. Then try scanning again.

Hope this helps.

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Preston,
I just tried it, but it seems the solution is not that easy
No scanner driver was in use.
I checked all that’s running and choose END TASK for everything not needed right then. But even then no luck.
Many thanks anyway
Regards, Monika

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Monika,

I went to HP web site and into their support area and found this article and looks like a reinstall may be necessary.
http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_d…&Tfile=bps02874

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Here’s the link again:

http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_d…&Tfile=bps02874

Good luck!

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Preston
many thanks!!
I will try it in the weekend as I am running out of time right now and will be gone for a few days.
I actually looked on the HP site, but did not find this and their Scanjat Email support had no idea what the problem might be.
Cheers,
Monika

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Just to let you know how I got on. I tried everything that HP-Link suggested, but the same message came up. Somehow I was still unable to uninstall the scanner completely, until a friend had a look in the registry and deleted all traces manually. This did the trick and my scanner works again. Many thanks for your reply

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Monika,

I have the HP 5200c and have been experiencing a similar problem to yours. I try to scan and get the message that the software is unable to find the scanner. I’ve uninstalled and installed the software many times but have wondered if there are registry entries not being uninstalled. What did your friend do to remove registry entries? I may want/need to do the same thing?

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Hello,

You e-mailed Monika concerning your HP 5200c scanner.

I am the mystery helper that fixed Monika’s scanner/PC. After tearing my hair out trying different things I copied the uninstal.cfg file from the install directory (ie- c:scanjetprecisionscan). Then I uninstalled the program.
Now after that I opened uninstal.cfg in notepad and opened Regedit.exe (c:windows). I did a ‘find’ for each and every key that is listed as ‘removevalue’ in uninstal.cfg .
When I found a value that still existed (or maybe a value similar but close to? I can’t remember) I deleted it.

Now you would expect the uninstall config file would list only files and registry keys that are deleted; in this case the uninstall does not remove all registry keys. After removing the offending registry keys, and a reboot later, I reinstalled and all was fine.
I have had to do this twice now, and both times a manual registry cleansing has fixed up the problem.

Maybe there is a better way to write a cleaner program or script to remove those keys; but in the meantime I’ll do it the old fashioned way.

I’ve included a list of keys that are in our uninstal.cfg on the bottom of this e-mail.

A tip before removing keys in the registry; once Regedit is open, select :’Registry-Export Registry files’ from the drop down menu. Now save this in a safe dirctory as ‘full.reg’ .
So if you damage the regestry or windows only boots in safe mode just double click this file and it will restore your regestry as it was when you saved this file. Very useful for playing with keys. Although I have still had to reinstall Windows in the past when aimlessly deleting keys!

Good luck!

Tibor Riddering
tibor@crazysexycool.com

Registry keys listed in our uninstal.cfg:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallHP Scanning Software,DisplayName
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallHP Scanning Software,UninstallString
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun,hpsjbmgr
HKEY_CURRENT_USER,SoftwareHewlett-PackardHP PrecisionScan
HKEY_CURRENT_USER,SoftwareHewlett-PackardSJPHP PrecisionScan
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,HP.PrecisionScan.1
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,CLSID{0357D820-58C3-11D0-9524-444553540000}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,CLSID{48BD8610-1843-11D0-A587-444553540000}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,PrecisionScan.Document
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,CLSID{71CD2320-07C7-11D0-9F7F-0800090B88ED}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,SERVER.GIL

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Thanks! I’m going to give this a try. My computer manufacturer seems to think the problem with my scanner is caused by my USB ports going south. So they are sending me a new m other board [under warrenty, of course]. If that doesn’t fix it then I will try your suggestions!

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