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TICKET ARCHIVE -> not scanning after u/g to Leozard

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 5, 2008 - 11:33 am

After upgrading from 10.3.9 straight to 10.5.1, my HP PSC 2350, or perhaps the software that drives it, doesn't do its scanning function (printing is still OK and copying is a stand-alone activity).

HP have a lovely form to allow customers to express problems, which I have done, over this, whereas Apple . . . this isn't Apple, is it?

Also, why do so many "hits" I get on google from macosx dot com come out at 250Kb (or 248 or 249 . . .)?

earthsaver - Mar 6, 2008 - 4:02 pm

Looks like the driver/software was updated in October, probably for Leopard compatibility. Have you updated?

- Ben

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 8, 2008 - 3:14 am

I clicked on "driver / software" and it took me to an HP page. It offered me the new s/w, warning that it was large. I then wrote to them:
"as the link above advises, the download is 183Mb, and I only have dial-up, which runs at 30 to 40Mb per two-hour slot, and the ISP (or, in fact, both ISPs, as I am registered with two, as an insurance against ISP problems) disconnects automatically at the end of any two-hour slot.

Even if downloading could be paused to cope with this problem, which it can't, as far as I've been able to find out, it's a bit of a mammoth task. I would be prepared to pay a certain amount for this update on a CD. Is that a possibility from HP, or am I condemned to trying to cadge it off someone in a Mac and/or HP self-help website?"

I'll write again in a few days, a week at the most.

earthsaver - Mar 8, 2008 - 7:56 am

Though you should be able to pause and resume simply by pressing the X in the downloads window to pause and then the orange curled arrow that replaces it to resume. However I appreciate your concern and I wouldn't prefer that option if I could get this download on CD. Actually my greater complaint is that I'm finding HP scanners like yours to require HP's software and be incompatible with Mac OS X's built-in Image Capture utility, which is also so much easier to use.

For a faster response, I suggest calling HP: 800-HP-INVENT (800-474-6836).

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 9, 2008 - 11:31 am

I went over to my sister's; she has broadband and I have a memory stick, so I have now transferred the 182Mb .dmg file to my desktop.

Among the HP instructions is:-

"Install the printer software. If there is other HP hardware that needs to be re-installed, install it afterwards."

and I've written to HP:-

So, "Install the printer software". Well . . . yes. Does this mean double-clicking on the .dmg file and following the instructions? It is a bit like having a recipe for a cake and coming across the phrase "Bake the cake". All the rest of the instructions you gave are incredibly detailed and fool proof. I feel a bit of a fool asking . . .

I'm waiting for their answer. I'll tell you what happens next.

Cheers
NB

earthsaver - Mar 9, 2008 - 11:53 am

I'm not surprised that HP's instructions aren't particularly detailed at that point, but truthfully, had you downloaded it on your own computer, the disk image (dmg) file would have opened automatically as part of the download and you would have been presented with whatever's inside it. So, yes, naturally, you need to open the file.

Further instructions should be obvious from there on. Also, generally, when faced with a choice between opening something and asking about it, I suggest opening to discover on my own. Since the first choice is not deleting, there doesn't seem to be anything to lose by trying. And I think you're more likely to get help from Google than HP in such situations, even on dial-up. (Sorry I didn't notice until now that you're in the UK, where a USA toll-free number isn't much help. Contact numbers are 0870 010 4320 in warranty and 0906 477 0 477 out of warranty.)

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 11, 2008 - 9:29 am

Your advice, "there doesn't seem to be anything to lose by trying", is for the stouter-hearted than me. I have visions of the computer getting its knickers in a twist, and only professional (and expensive) expert help being able to cure it.

Anyway, I've now started to go through the intricate deleting process HP instructed me to follow, and came to a halt late on. I've written to HP:-
- - -
'I got down as far as "On the right side beneath the white box select Repair Disk Permissions . This process may take several minutes." at which point the process stalls.

The bar showing how far the process has got start off goes blue to about 20% of the way across and stops. The app says that there is 1 minute to go . . . but continues to say it while the bar sits at about 20%. I've left it for 15 minutes, but nothing changes.

I've done all the steps above, so I now have no printer; please help with a suggestion.'
- - -
I find it a bit worrying. Having said that, I have no idea what disk permissions are, nor why they break and need repairing. The stout-hearted adivice would probably be "Just ignore it!", but then why ever repair them in the first place?

Windoze has a process called de-frag; how to place files of different and often-varying sizes onto disc-space needs forethought and periodic defragmentation can be part of that process -- is there something similar for OSX? Is it repairing permissions? If it isn't done ever, performance will degrade, won't it?

Thanks for your help so far.
NB

earthsaver - Mar 11, 2008 - 10:04 am

You've run into a problem that many PowerPC Mac users (including me) have experienced. Repairing permissions is not the quick process it's supposed to be. Permissions are the operating system's way of attaching privileges to every file and folder, denoting what users and/or groups of users have access to them. However, the repair feature in Disk Utility only applies to applications that were installed with the built-in Installer application, which leaves "receipts" of these installations in a special folder so Disk Utility can find the applications whose permissions might be corrupt and repair them if necessary.

I just downloaded your installer to check; it does not use Mac OS X's Installer, so there's probably no need to repair permissions. If you wanted to ever, just to see if anything else got fixed (which is possible), I suggest running it when you go to bed or go away for a while so you don't get impatient while it seems to take forever. The log unfortunately doesn't tell me when the process completed when it ran this past Sunday; as I install and delete a lot of software, I have Macaroni set to repair permissions weekly, just in case.

As far as defragmenting is concerned, basic file defrag has been built into Mac OS X since 10.4; the system automatically defrags files up to 20 MB without user intervention. The closest thing to this for the whole file system is DiskWarrior, which rebuilds the volume structure completely.

Now, last I checked, you were busy installing the updated driver and software for your unit. Why now are you following HP's lengthy removal process? Unit still didn't work after you installed? I may not be able to help further and will reopen your question for another tech to address if that's the case.

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 11, 2008 - 11:16 am

To answer in reverse order, why the lengthy removal process? Because someone from HP prescribed it. I'm the sort of cook that likes to improvise, but only from a position of knowledge; once I'm fairly familiar with a recipe, I'll try variations, but in this case, it's something I've never done before and don't expect ever to do again . . . so I'm following it step by step.

I could just double click on the 182Mb .dmg file, and all the files HP are telling me to delete would be overwritten or superceded, but then why are they telling me to delete them? I'm worried chaos may result if I ignore their steps.

Re fragmentation, WOW! So I lived for years on 10.3.9 without it? WOW!

Re macaroni, I have YASU, which I run unsystematically, but regularly.

Re permissions, it's genuinely hanging, it's not slow. I just went out and did some gardening. Beforehand, I clicked repair in disk utility and it immediately said "less than 1 minute" and in about one second, the bar went 20% (or so) blue. It was still there when I came back in nearly an hour later. With YASU, it always takes 4-5 minutes. (With YASU now, it also hangs, but then I imagine YASU just calls disk utility . . . or they both call the same thing.)

From your explanation of permissions, I wonder whether the problem is that I've deleted a file HP told me to delete, but there's a receipt for it in the receipts folder, a situation it can't cope with.

Is this repair process writing a log? Would that be interesting? Do you know where I can find it? I wish customers got manuals with their computers. I can do that sort of thing; read manuals and act on them. What I'm weak at is going to 30millionbillion web pages and trying to find the wheat in all that chaff. It's probably a generation thing. I'm 58, more a "manual generation" than an "internet generation" . . .

earthsaver - Mar 11, 2008 - 1:25 pm

I think it'd be best to just install the software. If you want, follow the rest of HP's instructions except for permissions, and I think you'll be okay in the end. Give it a shot and let me know what happens.

Nick.s.barnett@btinternet - Mar 13, 2008 - 12:43 pm

OK, I've done it and it worked. Thanks for your patience. This one can be closed.