Railfan Technology > Problems with Canon scanner

I have a CanonScan8600F that has been working great for years and recently when I tried to scan some slides from my childhood and result was that they had streaks in them. So I got some better slides and experimented and got the following results.

1. Color slide
2. B&W negative 
3. B&W photo (It scans photos just fine)

I am using a old XP computer that is not hooked up to the internet to scan to and be my photo file.

Any suggestions on what might be happening or is it time to look for new scanner?

Steve
 

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I  can think of a couple of possible causes -
1. RAM in your computer may have gone bad.  I've chased some really wild problems that turned out to be RAM issues.  If you're not afraid of popping the top on your computer, swap the memory sticks in your computer into the others' slots (assuming more than 1 stick of RAM in computer).  If the problem goes away, swap 'em back.  If it recurs, then one of the sticks is bad.  Use only 1 stick at a time and see what happens...other than an incredibly slow computer. 
2. Your hard drive may have gone bad.  Hard drive failures are similar to RAM failures...screwy colors, streaks, blacked out portions of the picture, etc.  If you can go directly from scanner to your screen without writing it to the hard drive and the problem is gone, then it's possibly a hard drive failure.  Sometimes HDs fail a couple of tracks at a time.  If you suspect a hard drive failure, get to the DOS prompt, and enter: CHKDSK /F  That should fix and reallocate any bad sectors.  If there's lots of bad sectors, it's HD time.
3. Given you're using an XP box, it's remotely possible that some of the contacts/connectors/cables between the scanner, the computer, or even to the motherboard (video card, for example).  Poor connections may 'act' OK but are causing 'noise' of their own.  Sometimes simply unplugging and replugging them in can solve the problem.
4. Try some 'generic' scanner software that you can download from the net.  Finding one that's XP compatible these days MAY be impossible, though.
5. Using Control Panel, remove the scanner software, reboot your computer, then reinstall it. 
6. Try installing the scanner and software on a different computer...even a friends.  You might have to use different software for Win 7/8.1/10, though.  If it works OK there, then it's something in your XP computer.
7. If you just upgraded to Windows 10, that could be the problem.  Software compatibility issues is why I have both an XP and Win 7 computer.  And I know there's several of my Win 7 programs that I already know will never be upgraded for Windows 10...including Microsoft Media Player!

I don't have an answer, or the same problem but I am using an off-the-net Vista OS for my scans. I'd be looking for something to cause the scanner to read every other vertical line, like a preview function.

What scan software are you using? It may have some sort of a license or 'call home' issue. A large number of people recommend using Vue-Scan software. If you decide to go that route you would need to load it onto a flash drive and then move it over to the XP machine. There would be an issue with loading on a new OS and then transferring it to the older OS.

Let us know how it works out.

You can also look into the case and see if its full of dirt. I've seen some interesting things happen when static electricity uses the dust to jump across circuits. Also the CPU and RAM could be overheating if they are full of dirt (CPU Cooler fan/heat sink and ram blocked with dirt).
 

I did hook it up to my Win 7 laptop and got the same results.  Slides and negs it does this, photos it scans just fine.   

I am using ArcSoft Photo Studio 5.5 for my software.

The computer is pretty clean inside and there is nothing inside the scanner, dirt-wise.

Steve

#1&#2 are transparencies and require a light source through the film.
​#3 would be a standard reflective scan, not requiring the light from typically the top.

​That would suggest to me that it is not the computer at all. rather the scanner.
 

I believe it is the scanner too, I am just wondering can it be fixed or not.

Steve

There is a strategy of....
" since it is probably going to the dumpster anyway, take it apart.." and see if you can clean the lamp that shines through the positive media. And look for something out of place. You might get lucky and find something easy and be able to put it back together. 

It's worth a shot.

Steve

I took it a part toady and didn't find anything that looked amiss inside. I put it back together and tried another scan and had the same results. The funny thing is I looked on e-bay as to what a replacement would cost and it was $170 cheaper than when I bought it.  Oh well.

Steve