I have an old Microtek scanner (a ScanMaker x6EL) that was given to me
by a friend. I downloaded the driver from the Microtek website,
installed it, and plugged in the machine using the cable that came
with the scanner. The cable connects via the SCSI port, not the USB
port. (I am using an older computer running Windows XP).

Now, when I connect the scanner to the computer, the scanner doesn't
show up on the desktop and is not found by the system when I search
for it. I've connected an external disk drive using the same SCSI
port, so I know that it's not the computer problem.

I did try to install the scanner once before. At that time, I didn't
have the power adapter for the scanner, so I couldn't complete the
installation process. But I'm pretty sure that at that time the
scanner *did* appear on the desktop. (I'm not 100% on this, but 90%).
So I think it may be a problem with the installation rather than any
of the hardware involved. . . but I'm no expert. . . I would be glad
to answer any other questions about the situation to help someone
diagnose the problem.

One more thing: I have e-mailed the company about this, but they have
not responded. Also, there is troubleshooting information on the
website about what to do if your computer doesn't recognize the
scanner, but it tells you to download the driver again and re-install
it. I have downloaded it twice, but it still doesn't work.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 19 Oct 2005 20:38 PDT

Hi fieldlily...

Have you tried running the Add Hardware wizard from the
Control Panel? It should search for newly installed
hardware and may detect it after the fact of the
installation.

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by fieldlily-ga on 20 Oct 2005 17:50 PDT

Hello, sublime1-ga,

Yes, I did. I also uninstalled the driver, downloaded it again,
reinstalled it, restarted the computer, and then ran the "Add Hardware
Wizard" to find it, and it still did not appear. Thank you for your
suggestion. . . can you think of anything else to try?

fieldlily-ga

fieldlily...

Sorry, no. SCSI is a different animal, and easier to troubleshoot
in person, for me anyway.

Hi Sublime1-ga,

Thanks anyway. 

fieldlily-ga

Given that it's a SCSI scanner, before you start worrying about
whether it's seen in Windows, ensure that it's picked up in the SCSI
bios - normally when you start the machine you'll be prompted to press
keys to enter the bios, eg Ctrl + A or Ctrl + S. The scanner should
have a unique ID on the SCSI bus - your card will normally be ID 7 so
avoid that. Also, make sure that the SCSI scanner is terminated - I
don't know anything about the model of scanner or the hard drive you
tested, but some devices have a built in termintator, some do not. On
the off chance the Scanner does not have a built in terminator, if the
hard drive worked then it probably does so put it further down the
SCSI chain from the scanner and you might get both devices picked up.
Also, you mentioned that you tried the hard drive on the same port but
didn't say if it was on the same cable or a different cable - can you
rule the cable out or check for pin damage?
If it's seen in the SCSI bios but not windows, at least you're pretty
likely to be looking at a software problem which is a (very small)
comfort