Mustek BearPaw 1200CS scanner and Windows XP -- carriage failed to reset

[Mithy]

Hello, everyone. I stopped by here looking for tech help, saw it was a friendly, helpful place and decided to register. Please take a look at my problem here and see if you can suggest a fix?



I owned a Mustek BearPaw 1200CS scanner. Used it for several years and it worked wonderfully, no trouble whatsoever and I took very good care of it. Well, I recently gave it to a friend who needed a new scanner but couldn't just rush out and buy one. I used it on Millennium Edition. She runs XP. I figured, hey--it's old, but it's in like-new condition and I used it a ton back in the day. I'll see if it works for her. It's not working.

We found the page from Mustek's European website which contained drivers for XP---web.exe, web02-07, b1200csv17.exe, up.lib.exe, up.lib02-04 (since I can't post links)...


Downloaded all of these drivers and installed them exactly as the page said, and now the device is recognized on her computer, but it gives the following errors:

"power control failure"--a blue light is supposed to come on when the scanner is receiving power, yet on her computer, no light comes on at all

"carriage failed to reset"--the black box inside the scanner that moves during scanning refuses to move back to its proper position

We've tried using the Ulead bundled software that came with the scanner, we've tried using other TWAIN scanning programs. The scanner is DETECTED, but won't do anything. I can't understand why it refuses to work, unless somewhere along the way, the scanner simply died.

I'm hoping you guys can help, because I've done all this reading and see bits about needing the scanner's "firmware"...? I don't want to open up system files and edit lists or anything unless I absolutely must.

Any ideas?

 

[Rabbit01]

I wonder if the power supply might have died? Does it have an external power brick? Do you have a multimeter to check to see whether it's putting out the right DC voltage?

 

[Mithy]

That's very possible, and I didn't think of that. We're using the same old adapter that came with the scanner back in 2002, and I assumed (probably wrong!) that it was still good. It hasn't been used in at least 4 years, and that might be enough to kill an adapter. It's quite literally a small plug to go into the scanner, and then a small palm-sized brick with wall socket plugs on it.

As for a multimeter, I will ask. I don't have one, but her family might.

The bad news is, the money to replace that part could be better used to buy a brand new scanner rather than revive this old one. ^_^; Just my luck, eh? Thanks for your suggestion!

 

[Rabbit01]

If it is indeed the power adapter, then you might be able to find one w/ similar spec and do a bit of splicing and put the old connector on the new adapter. Or save the hassle and get a new scanner. Or even an all-in-one. I have a EPSON scanner, about as old as yours. It works but takes a bit longer to scan compared to an all in one I got my parents almost two yrs ago. Not a big deal when scanning just a few pages, but when there's more, it's nice not having to wait as long.