WHEN I LOAD EVERYTHING INTO THE COMPUTERAND GO TO USE THE SCANNER I GET OPEN DS FAILED, COMMUNICATION ERROR. EVERYTHING IS HOOKED UP RIGHT.I HAVE A DELL 4100 866MHZ PETUIUM 3 PRECESSER, 128MGS OF RAM. I ALSO HAVE 20 GIGS OF HARD DRIVE. I GOT THIS COMPUTER BECAUSE MY OLD COMPUTER DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH SPACE TO PUT THE SCANNER IN. I BOUGHT THIS BRAND NEW A YEAR AGO AND HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO USE THIS SCANNER SINCE I GOT IT. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO WITH IT IF I CAN'T USE IT. I SPENT MONEY THAT I REALLY COULD HAVE USED FOR SOMETHING ELSE OR A DIFFERENT SCANNER. I HAVE THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SCAN AND CAN'T. I HAVE CHANGED THE MODE FOR THE PARALLEL PORTS AND THE SCANNER STILL WON'T WORK. I DID THE STEPS 1 THUR 7 ON THE PAPER THAT CAME WITH THE SCANNER AND THE SCANNER STILL DOES NOT WORK. PLEASE E MAIL ME WITH THE SOLUTION OR TELL ME IF THE SCANNER HAS A PROBLEM. AND SHOULD BE SENT BACK TO YOU. THANK YOU. JACKIE MORRIS AT JMORIS1375@AOL.COM

This might be a stupid question but have you installed all of the driver files for the scanner ?

AND I LIKE TO SHOUT ALOT>>>>>>SO PLEASE LISTEN TO ME

i have an hp 5p and had same problem. first thing to do is check the device mangager...hold down the ALT key as you click on my computer, it will open the device manager, check to see if there is anyting with a exclaimation mark next to it, that is a start to find out if you have a conflict with another device, if the scanner or scsi is fine, then go to the properties in this same device manager for the scanner and click on update drivers. sometimes that is all that is wrong. I wish you luck, i know it seems like a real pain in the ass, but trust me, once you locate the problem, and get it fixed, you will be thrilled with the scanner and yourself that you got it fixed. you'll be able to scan right into email and everything! again, good luck! delete all of the scanner files, and any program that goes with it (ie. --paperport, etc.) then reinstall all the software, if it still doesn;t work, you will have to open up your tower, and pull the card out and reseat it, then restart your pc and see if it will pick it up. sounds like alot of s--- to go through, but trust me, if you do this and it works for you, you will have your scanner up and running.