Got a computer issue that doesn't make sense.

[John Schmidt]

Was trying to scan some papers to send to my tax guy. My HP printer kept telling me I'd lost connection with the computer, it would feed the document and go through all the various steps before the actual scan. Then would finally show the "lost connection" message. So after a few attempts I decided to go into the control panel and see if it would initiate a scan by pulling up the "devices" and go to the printer. I reset all the parameters, put the document in the feeder and the fool thing worked fine, allowed me to same the scan where I chose. Something is haywire, if it will feed and scan via computer commands, why won't it do so from the printer? Obviously the connection is good plus I've checked it out twice which is no fun since it involves crawling under the desk, an exercise my body no longer appreciates.

There was no CD that came with the printer which is roughly 5 years old and has worked flawlessly all this time. It did do this one other time about a year ago and started working correctly suddenly so have no history re. what the cause was. If I knew where to hit the darn thing, maybe that would help. 

Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe I might go on the HP site and try downloading the OS again or see if any updates are available.

[Serk]

Scan to computer (Where the scan is initiated from the scanner, and activates the scanning subsystem on a computer) is, in my experience and opinion, a lot more finicky and complex than scan from computer (Where you initiate the scan from the computer.)

With it initiated from the computer, it's generally a simple "Here's the scanner, go talk to it" but with scan to computer, the scanner has to know WHICH computer is the one you want the scan going to, you generally need to have the vendor's software installed and configured, with that computer being designated as the scan to computer recipient.

I'll put it this way - I've never gotten scan to computer working properly for my own setup. Admittedly, I played with it for all of 5 minutes probably a decade ago and just initiate the scan from my computer now since it works...

If you really want the scan to computer functionality, you'll likely need to download an application and driver from the vendor. Not guaranteed that'll make it work, but it's generally the bare minimum for such functionality...

...re-read what I wrote, hope it makes sense, gets kinda mumbo-jumbo'ely in there I realize...

[John Schmidt]

Serk, I understand what you're saying. The issue for me is that it has always worked for me in the past(scanner to computer) with the exception of a year ago when it quit for a short time...then went back to normal. I guess my question is...why now after all these years? I'll keep messing with it just to see if I can get it to work again. 

[Jersey mike]

We’ve had a couple HP printers over the years and had that same cannot connect to issue and often happened at the most inconvenient times.

We found that it would occur when the computer was not shut down and was allowed to go into sleep mode. It seemed activating the printer after the computer was woken up would bring up the connection issue. Also the connection issues would happen if the printer was not turned off an allowed to go into its own version of sleeping.

The only thing which seemed to help (sometimes) would be to clear the cache, and shut down the printer and computer and fire them back up. This was a real pain in the backside at 10pm when the kids were trying to print out stuff for school. So many times I’ve wanted to smash that printer on the floor but was oh so hopeful it would just stop acting up. Now it sits in the same spot and hasn’t been used in years and the disk is long gone and my desktop computer sits on a shelf in storage waiting to be just another thing to get trashed.

So many times we sent them to school with either stuff saved to a portable memory stick to give to the teacher or emailing their work directly to the teacher. Sometimes they could get a teacher to print their work off the memory stick from the school printer. Funny thing is my desktop was an HP also and the printer and computer just never got along.

[scooperhsd]

Yes, the "Sleep" from computer sounds like the issue.

either turn off sleep, or reboot PC before trying scans. Also, what type of connection are you using from printer to PC ? If network, then check that things are OK (maybe ping the printer from your computer), but there isn't anything comparable for USB. Maybe try printing something first before scanning.

If all else fails, disconnect the printer from the computer, and remove it, then do a setup like you just were connecting for the first time again.

[bassman]

M'be check for latest firmware, software etc. updates on both printer and computer?

[Jersey mike]

Yes, the "Sleep" from computer sounds like the issue.

either turn off sleep, or reboot PC before trying scans. Also, what type of connection are you using from printer to PC ? If network, then check that things are OK (maybe ping the printer from your computer), but there isn't anything comparable for USB. Maybe try printing something first before scanning.

If all else fails, disconnect the printer from the computer, and remove it, then do a setup like you just were connecting for the first time again.

Yeah, I failed to say the printer was hard wired to the computer, but it also had Bluetooth capability which rarely worked as well. Computer was running on Windows, just can’t remember what version it’s been so long.

[..]

We found that it would occur when the computer was not shut down and was allowed to go into sleep mode. It seemed activating the printer after the computer was woken up would bring up the connection issue. Also the connection issues would happen if the printer was not turned off an allowed to go into its own version of sleeping.

The only thing which seemed to help (sometimes) would be to clear the cache, and shut down the printer and computer and fire them back up.

My EPSON does the same. I just restart the laptop with the scanner/printer plugged in and then restart the scanner/printer.

[scooperhsd]

It's amazing how many times rebooting can often resolve an issue, even if it isn't a "computer" per se.... I have a Dish SuperJoey that is being balky on some particular situations with its paired Hopper w/Sling .