scanning quits

[jeffreyg]

I am using SilverFast Ai6.6 with an Epson 4870 and Photoshop CS4 on a Mac with Leopard 10.5.7. I recently developed a problem with scans not being done and freezing both PS as well as the computer. If I manually shut down and restart everything again it all works fine but may do only one but sometimes four or more scans before it happens again. I am not using SilverFast as a stand alone but it does work okay that way. I open it by file>import>silverfast(epson) and after scanning the image opens in ps as a ps file. LaserSoft suggests uninstalling SF and reinstalling. It was something of a hassle wit Epson to get it to work the way I just described. Has anyone run into this and/or any suggestions for a remedy? It's no fun shutting down and restarting.
Jeff

 

[Jostie]

Disk warrior

Hi
I find that running disk warrior monthly seems to solve minor software crashes/hanging problems.

 

[Rudeofus]

The kind of problems you describe indicate a hardware problem to me, could be faulty memory chips, poor connections on the USB side, could be anything. First thing I would do is perform a full hardware check on your mac. Your manual should tell you how to start hardware diagnostics during the boot sequence. It should be something like holding down the "C" or the "D" key while the computer starts. Make sure you run an exhaustive test, since this also checks whether your memory chips are good.

 

[Worker 11811]

Also consider out-of-memory problems. Adobe is not known for being the friendliest of programs when it comes to memory usage. Adobe is a memory hog!

It could simply be that Adobe is hogging up all your memory and there isn't enough left over for Silverfast to do its job with.

As you say, Silverfast works well when it is used stand-alone. This would tend to rule out problems with the scanner or with Silverfast. If everything else on the computer works as you expect it to my focus would then be on Adobe and whether it is "playing nice with the other children."

Go to your System Profiler (Apple > About this Mac... -- Then click on the "More Info..." button.) See how much memory is available in your computer. Don't just go by what you remember. It is remotely possible that you have some failing memory. Using System Profiler will help verify that the computer is reading all the memory it's supposed to be.

After that, go to Adobe PS and see how much memory it's set to be using. (Photoshop > Preferences... > Performance) Don't let Photoshop use up more than 50% to 70% of your available memory. Adjust memory settings accordingly. Try lowering the settings so as to allow more free memory for Silverfast to run properly.

While you are there, check your scratch disks. Be sure you have enough free space on your scratch disks. Clear up some space and/or re-designate a new scratch disk that has more space on it.

Update/repair system permissions: /Macintish HD/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility -- Then choose your main hard drive from the list on the left panel and click on the "Repair Disk Permissions" button.
Many people say that it is smart to repair permissions two or more times in a row until the computer comes back and says, "Permissions OK..." two times in a row. (Personally, I'm not sure about that.)

After that, check your installation of Silverfast and/or Photoshop. Reinstall if necessary.

If you're still having no luck, I would do something similar to what Rudeofus says. A full system checkup might be in order.

(P.S. - Holding down the "C" key during restart tells the computer to boot from the CD drive instead of the internal hard drive.)

 

[jeffreyg]

Worker,
Thanks for the suggestions. i have ample memory (4Gig) with almost 2 dedicated to PS and over 400 free space and all the rest is up to date. I spoke with SilverFast and they had me eliminate preferences, and check (under "general">"options") reopen SF after scan, show image after scan and realtime correction. I briefly tested after and it seems to work as before -- reopen was not checked so I don't know if that or the preferences was the problem. They also highly recommended using it as a stand alone. when i first started using SF, it was with PS CS and on Tiger. When I switched to Leopard and CS4 it worked and the problem just started a week or so ago. We will see. Worst case I will use it as a stand alone.

 

[Worker 11811]

Ditching your prefs file(s) is always a good thing to do when you have trouble. If there is a bunged-up preference somewhere or if the prefs file has somehow become corrupted it can cause troubles much like you describe.

You can just go to your preferences folder inside your library folder.
("Macintosh HD > Users > {Your UserName} > Library > Preferences" or sometimes it is "Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences") Look for the preference file for the offending program(s) and copy them to your desktop and rename them " {original filename}-old".
When you restart the program, the system will recreate a default prefs file for the application and you will start fresh as if you just installed it. If the problem goes away, you can safely trash those prefs files and delete them. If the problem does not go away, you can put everything back the way you found it and you will not have lost your settings for that program. (Unless you don't care. Then just trash the old prefs file(s).

I use VueScan to scan with. It only works as a standalone and I kind of prefer it that way. I can scan several files and save them in a folder before I go working on them with Photoshop.

Photoshop is a great program but Adobe has a very long history of being heavy-handed in their programming and system resources management skills. I can tell you stories from as far back as 1990 where Adobe has made one-sided moves that have botched up many a user's computer system. Adobe has gotten somewhat better over the years but they still use up lots of memory with their program(s) needlessly and they do a lot of things "their way" when it is clearly not in the interest of the user to do so.

Whenever you have trouble with your computer using Photoshop or any of the other CS modules, suspect Adobe first.

 

[mrred]

Try vuescan, as it will tell you if you have a hardware problem. It's free for 30 days. Elimination is the key at this stage.

 

[Worker 11811]

Ed Hamrick, who writes and sells VueScan seems to be a really good guy. I had a problem with VueScan about a week after I started using it. I sent him an e-mail. He replied to me in less than a day and he had a solution to the problem less than 24 hours after that.

Hamrick sells the "Pro" version of VueScan at $79. LaserSoft sells a comparable version of Silverfast for more than $100 and their top version is over $500.

Now, I'm not familiar with all the features of SilverFast because I don't use it. However, I have found that VueScan does everything I need it to do and a bit more.

I have also found VueScan capable of producing better scans, out of the box, than I could get with SilverFast.