Hey everybody. I have tried to find the solution myself, but am at wit's end. My scanner (CanoScan LiDE 60) suddenly stopped working. I tried reinstalling the drivers and software, using a different USB port, even reinstalling my operating system (it was clogged and cranky anyway). It scans once, then I get the message "Cannot communicate with scanner....." You know the one. Anyway, after hours of trying to find out WHY, I came across info about an STIMON.exe file and its necessity. I find that it is in my Windows system directory, but it's not listed in processes or startup. I never removed it or unchecked it, and the OS was just freshly installed. Could this be the problem with my scanner? And if so, why did it arbitrarily go missing from the processes list and more importantly, how do I put it back? I can only find directions for this for Win98, which doesn't apply. Thanks for any suggestions. I hope I don't need to reinstall the OS again, as Microsoft now makes you have to call for a new ID number every time to activate the system. Besides the problem cropped up both before and after the OS reinstall.

By the way, it IS communicating with the scanner to some extent, despite the error message. I can hear it calibrating upon startup. I also tried to contact Canon, but they don't seem to bother to reply.

Find the file stimon.exe and double click it to see if you can start the scanner manually. If so then you have probably lost the "Run" registry entry that makes it appear in msconfig. It would normally be part of the operating system install rather than the scanner. I'm more familiar with W98SE and the registry entry for that is StillImageMonitor which specifies the path to stimon.exe in the right hand pane. I'd better not give you my registry path because things might be different in XP. Someone on here should be able to wrinkle it out for you though. If you are not happy in the registry then armed with the right information either I or someone should be able to produce a .reg file for you, which you just click on to add it back. DerekW

.... CORRECTION. I've been Googling this and it looks as if the arrangements surrounding stimon are rather different in XP, so ignore the registry references I gave. See if you can run the file manually as suggested (which might work as a stop gap) then await a post from someone more familiar with XP. DerekW

Thank you. I did search for it in the registry, and it's there, but not under a startup heading. I double-clicked on the icon for it in the Windows system folder, and nothing happened. I checked my running processes, too, but it's not there. I don't even know if it's supposed to be running or not in XP. And if it is, what would make it go missing both before and after reinstaling the OS? Everything was very stable until all this started mysteriously. Thanks for researching. :)

When you re-installed the scanner drivers did you unplug the scanner first? If not this is usually the recommendation to avoid it picking up the wrong files. I thought stimon would be just like W98SE which shows how wrong you can be.... DerekW

I tried installing both ways - with it disconnected, then connected. No difference. And the problem came out of the blue. Worked for months, then suddenly stopped. Scans once, then I get the error. I'm wondering if a Windows Update did something....? That's the only thing about my system that would have been added recently, both before reinstalling the OS and after. Googling the problem isn't helping. Yeah Win98 was a little more self-explanatory in some ways, like when you deeded to get to its software innards. I don't even know if this program is supposed to be in the startup menu or running processes or not.