HP psc 2175xi scanner setup problems

[Lee535]

I just bought a HP 2175xi (printer-scanner-copier) and can't get the scanner to be recognized by the computer. The PC is a Gateway 500 mhz (4 years old) running WIN98SE. The print and copy works ok. I keep getting a message when trying to scan that there is a communication problem and says to check cable, etc. In the control panel, under scanners and cameras, the scanner seems to be recognized. I've tried removing the software and reloading but no change. Tried a different usb cable - the HP site says some old usb controllers may cause a communication problem -- tried adding a new usb 2.0 PCI board but when connecting the psc2175 to it, the system becomes so slow it's not useable. I talked to HP customer service - he walked me thru loading the software again - had the 2.0 usb connected -- took a long time to load software and system was too slow when we finished so don't know if the scanner would have worked as I gave up waiting. He kept saying the problem was the processor in the PC was too slow and I should upgrade it. A 500 mhz Pent III with 384 MB RAM is too slow to run a scanner?? Has anyone else heard of a problem like this with a psc scanner? Should WIN98SE be able to handle a 2.0 usb board? (The box of the usb board lists 98se and higher.)

Thanks for any responses.

Tim

[glc]

USB 2.0 and 98SE is possible, but it's not going to work well. You might want to see if Gateway has an updated bios for that computer.

[Lee535]

I was assuming if the BIOS couldn't see the 2.0 usb card as a 2.0, that it would see it as a 1.1 usb -- I don't think I need 2.0 for the HP psc 2175 -- but I guess that's not a good assumption. It does appear the bios in my Gateway can't use 2.0 usb at the fast speed. I reloaded the software again -- I now have the 2.0 usb card in -- the HP psc connected to it - the printer works fine -- but the same problem is still there for the scanner with the different usb controller -- so I'm thinking there may be a driver problem. I'm not sure about a bios upgrade -- I'm still trying to figure out what bios I have. I don't think Gateway will provide much free advice on a computer out of warranty.

[Fraughton]

I've run an older hp printer on a 500mhz celeron system and had the same performance issue. The printer runs your processor at 100% during the entire print job. Sometimes I couldnt even move my mouse while printing. I had this problem with win98se and xp on the same machine. I was hoping that xp might fix the problem.
I came to the conclusion that the printing software just needs more juice than a 500mhz cpu can provide.