My "old" Canoscan 8800F and Windows 10

[BonzaiDuck]

Should this be "Operating Systems?" "Windows Software?" or "Peripherals?"

Well -- it's a Canoscan 8800F. We bought two of them in 2009 to replace a pair of HP flatbeds in the same class of device and design. Do I think it's "time to replace?" No- o o oo!

The 8800F's driver history goes as far as Windows 7 or 8. The Canon forums make it clear that Canon never updated its drivers for Windows 10. Both Canon and Win 10 8800F owners say "It SHOULD work in Windows 10."

And, it does -- just a bit weirdly.

I probably configured it to Nuance PaperPort 14 without thinking of taking notes. But on another Windows 7 machine, it was always set up as TWAIN. My Win 10 system is a dual-boot Win7/Win10, and I had it set up under Win 7 -- no problem. Then I got the drivers and configured to Nuance. I THOUGHT it was set up as TWAIN. My recollection, anyway.

Later, I installed Corel Draw X6. Also some nuisance items, like the invisibility of the Menu toolbar because the text color and menu-bar color are the same. You have to run the mouse across the screen and "File," "Edit" and "View" show as gray on blue. So Corel needs configuration to "Acquire Source" or the scanner. Started with TWAIN -- no go -- scanner unresponsive. Tried it with WIA -- fine -- works like a champ.

Behind all this, I was cleaning up my Event Logs by correcting error sources, and discovered in conjunction with the comments at the Canon forum that the scanner connection throws two simultaneous red-bang errors, both documented to trace directly back to the driver problem with Windows 10. So I would either disconnect the scanner to get rid of the errors, or live with them.

And those drivers that throw the errors? They are related to the WIA driver.

Is there ANY remedy for these bothersome things, other than buying new software (Corel) and a new scanner? I know it's been almost 8 years on these Canon puppies, but they're as good as new, take a licking and keep on ticking. At least the scanner works under WIA in Windows 10. I suppose I can live with the invisible menu toolbar.

We should start a pity-party forum for folks who expect to get full use of their investments, no matter what OS.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Uhh, are you seriously considering buying new hardware, because your current hardware, though apparently working (?), throws a few errors in the Event Log, due to outdated / patchy drivers?

OCD much, Bonzai?

Edit: I mean, for a HDD, or other storage device, if it were throwing errors that indicated that the data stored on it were at risk, sure, go ahead and replace that. But a scanner? It's not like those "red bang errors" are going to lead to the scanner's demise, are they?

 

[corkyg]

Larry makes a good point. My Epson V600 is a few years old, but works perfectly. I do not use their scanware, but use a current TWAIN driver along with Irfanvu. I can also scan directly into PDF with Nitro Pro. As long as it keeps working, I see no need to replace it. It works with 7 and 10 equally well.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Larry makes a good point. My Epson V600 is a few years old, but works perfectly. I do not use their scanware, but use a current TWAIN driver along with Irfanvu. I can also scan directly into PDF with Nitro Pro. As long as it keeps working, I see no need to replace it. It works with 7 and 10 equally well.

Thanks, guys -- Larry -- Corkyg. You're right about that.

It was more of a rhetorical question, though.

It is true that these 8800F scanners we have are ~7 years old. But it seems like yesterday when we bought them.

The biggest mystery about this was the "TWAIN" versus "WIA" issue. It works fine as a WIA scanner, although the software interface is slightly different.

I remember an HP 1000c inkjet printer -- wide-format, capable of 11"x17" pages -- which I bought in ~ 1997. Parallel interface! I then had the darndest time with an add-in I/O parallel card to make it work properly. this was of course when motherboards stopped featuring the parallel LPT1 port. I think I squeezed about 12 years out of it. Such a shame, though. It was in perfect working order when I decided that there wasn't a machine left in the whole house where it would be either conveniently useful or just "useable."

Meanwhile, I'm watching these errors, and I think they only occur at boot-time, or when I turn the scanner on. I'm running the scanner through a KVM USB3 port. But why the scanner would configure as TWAIN under Windows 7, and only WIA under Windows 10 -- a bit puzzling.

 

[corkyg]

Just to clarify - my scanner is always OFF unless I want to scan something. Maybe that is why TWAIN works in W10. ??? Fact is, it is probably only on maybe 2 or 3 times a month. It is never on during any boot up.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just to clarify - my scanner is always OFF unless I want to scan something. Maybe that is why TWAIN works in W10. ??? Fact is, it is probably only on maybe 2 or 3 times a month. It is never on during any boot up.

No -- it's the other way around. TWAIN won't work in Win 10. I still need to test the Win 7 installation, but I thought for sure TWAIN worked.

Just a minute .. . Yeah. Interesting. I checked my logs again. The Event ID 7034, Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service terminated unexpectedly, hasn't occurred since 2-27-17. That was about the time that I discovered the problem with TWAIN, and I went through all the software (Corel, Nuance, etc.) and configured to WIA. These are paired with an Event ID 1000 Faulting application name: svchost.exe_stisvc, which had been identified as related to the CanonScan driver. It also last occurred on the 27th. And I've been scanning daily on the Skylake since then.

Now it almost seems like a joke with a woman's explanation of why she didn't take her car to the mechanic sooner: "I thought it would fix itself." In my case, I just decided it was nothing to worry about, but it fixed itself.

UPDATE: Nope. It didn't "fix itself." I found a new WIA red-bang in the logs. But the scanner works and no problem.

 

[bruceb]

Try reinstalling the Windows 7 driver from Canon and then set it to run in Windows 7 compatability mode. Also look at this link for more info:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/f3eac9c5-d08f-40a4-a6ef-42e8fff2ed8f

One thing they are suggesting to use NAPS2 scanner software (free) which will work with your unit.
https://www.naps2.com/

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Funny. I wonder how I missed that two-post Answers.Microsoft.com thread.

But I don't have the problems of the OP in that MS thread with Windows Update and scanner failure. No reason not to reinstall the driver in the compatibility mode from "run as administrator," though.

As to NAPS2. Does that provide an actual "driver" compatible with the scanner? Or does it replace the interface between the scanner and software that can use it? Can it co-exist?

UPDATE: The driver reinstall went smoothly. Rebooting the system and using the scanner doesn't seem to throw the errors anymore. I'll probably watch it for a few more days before declaring it "solved."