When I try to re-install my ACER 340U Flatbed Scanner, after upgrading from Win2K to WinXP I get an error 38 in the device manager: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38). I have tried everything to clear this including uninstalling and re-booting 4 or 5 times without the scanner, and then re-connecting the scanner. I have the latest device drivers from ACER/BENQ installed.

William Torbert: I had the same problem, but with a different scanner, Visioneer. The trouble was old entries left in the registry from the original installation. After cleaning out the useless keys, then re-installing, I had a happy scanner. 8-) Hope this helps. Solarian

The driver could not be loaded because a previous instance is still loaded. Restart the computer. shutdown power-off,-wait 45 seconds,then bootup. On the General Properties tab of the device, click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooting wizard.

you should uninstall all drivers for the scanner, and clean the registry of leftover entries, then install the new drivers, then reboot, then connect usb scanner. and of course make a registry backup and a restore point, start-all programs-accessories-system tools-system restore, create a restore point-click next- name it-click create.

I have the same error - trying to use a Canon flatbed scanner and the Black Widow Filmscan 2000. Despite paying £15 for the Filmscan XP drivers, the Filmscan 2000 will install and the driver is correctly allocated in Device Manager (usbscan.sys) But if I try to use the Filmscan I get an error 'Tvichw32.dll is already open' then an ASPI layer error - then am thrown out of the application. If I try to install the Canon flatbed scanner it tries to use the same driver (usbscan.sys), plus the message about not being able to load the device driver 'because a previous instance is in the memory'. If I uninstall the Black Widow Filmscan 2000 driver, the Canon then picks up its own Canon driver and works fine. I have tried all variations, including trawling the Registry for all instances of 'Black Widow' and 'Filmscan 2000' and removed them - to no avail. There are three instances of Black Widow and Filmscan reported under ROOT_HUB in the Registry which cannot be removed. Anyone out there - using the Black Widow Filmscan with another scanner - with no problems ?? Would you mind telling me how - or what procedure you used to install them both and what driver you are using for the Filmscan 2000 ? Thanks a lot.