Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

  • Congratulations Mike Lewis on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Unusual Scanner Problem

Status
Not open for further replies.

lsadie

Technical User
Jul 15, 2003
4
US
I was given a hp scanjet 5400C flatbed scanner. I installed it and began using it the other day with no problem. But, later on in the evening it began doing something strange. Anytime a colored photo was scanned, the whole screen had a tealish-green tint. This tint covers the pictue, too, even though you can still see the picture. If I make it a black/white picture, there is no problem. If I put a white piece of paper on it to scan, it, too, is all green. I have adjusted the color in so many ways and have tried everything I know of. I uninstalled it and then re-installed the program to see if that would help, but there was no change. Has anyone ever had this problem? Have I done something wrong? Any suggestions on what to do?
(This is a used scanner where the owners' niece spilled liquid white-out on it. They cleaned it up, but decided to get a new one anyway. I don't see how this would make a difference with the scanning. Like I said in the beginning, it did scan well in the beginning. It was hours later that it started the colors.)
Any help would greatly be appreciated!
 
Tinting of a monitor in either Red, Green, or Blue usually is consistant with a problem known as a dead electron gun. This is a problem with your monitor, not the scanner. It's probably just coincidence that it occured a few hours after installing the scanner. Sometimes you can get the eletron gun to fire again by slapping your hand against the top or sides of the monitor (I'm not pulling your leg, totally serious here). If that doesn't work, you can verify this is the problem by hooking a different monitor up to the PC, if the green tint goes away, it is definitely a problem with the monitor (fix is to throw the bad monitor out and buy a new one - it's not worth having it repaired). If it stays, post the results and hopefully someone else may have a different solution. Good luck.
 
The only things that are tinted are the scanner pictures. I can print anything else, even saved photos, with no problem. ??
 
Are you sure your color cartridge is good in all colors? sdlomi2
 
I understand that your computer works without problems on other applications, right?

If the tint is evident only on the scanner application, then obviously the scanner is faulty.

If the cable is ok and there are no bent pins on the connector, then I'd suspect a failure of the scanner's internal electronics. These are usually not possible to repair to the component level, but who knows?
 
My printer cartridges are fine. I guess it must be the scanner. Thanks for your responses.
 
Thank you, tterk. I have already tried all of that, though. I guess I will contact HP. :0)
 
I've had quirks with my HP Flatbed scanner where now I always check via a thumbnail everything I copy- as sometimes the scan comes across with streaks, etc. Also of course, it sometimes just ups and says it can't find the network scanner, so I unplug it, unplug the USB cable, plug them in again and it works fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top