a troubled relationship
This document recounts my experience trying to install the HP 4100c scanner in a friend's machine running Microsoft Windows ME (Millenium Edition).
Three reasons to do so: (1) I lost an afternoon trying to save my friend's machine from utter doom after HP's software mangled its USB drivers. I want to try to prevent the same from happening to you. (2) I can help you if it already happened to you. (3) The 4100c scanner *does* work in Windows ME, and I'll explain to you how I set it up.
A friend asked me to help him install his HP 4100c scanner in a Windows ME machine. Some HP scanners are tricky to install, because they don't follow the usual USB installation routine of i) connect device, ii) insert CD-ROM if/when Windows asks for it. HP scanners need their software to be installed first, then the machine has to be turned off, then the scanner can be connected. Installation is completed after rebooting.
I happily set out to follow the above process. Being cautious and having been burned before, I set up a "Restore Point" in ME before I did anything, expecting to be able to go back cleanly if anything went wrong. I rebooted his machine, then inserted the HP scanner CD-ROM.
The first thing the setup program did was to inform me it wanted to update the USB components of the system. I was wary of it, because this particular scanner was out a few years before ME. I was a fool and let it do it.
Let me be emphatic about it:
The first sign that something was terribly wrong was that the USB mouse stopped working. The machine would still recognise when a device was attached to an USB port, but no device would work. The system was hosed.
I spent the next five or six hours trying to fix it. I'll save you most of the story. I'll only mention that going back to a previously saved "Restore Point" did not fix the problem.
Here's what I did to fix the machine. I downloaded the program called sj408en.exe from this HP web page. I ran the program and the problem was fixed. Whew!
The instructions in that web page indicate that the scanner software should be installed for it to work. In my case, I had already uninstalled the scanner software in one of the many vain attempts at fixing the machine, but the fix worked anyway. Also, it's supposed to be used only when upgrading from Windows 98, which wasn't my case. Didn't matter.
The HP scanner software isn't needed for the scanner to work. Don't let that CD-ROM anywhere near your ME machine. It's bad for its health.
The green button with a computer sign on the front scanner also works. The button with a printer sign, which is used in Windows 98 to send a scan directly to a printer, doesn't work. I don't think my friend will miss it that much.
The procedures I described above worked for me while setting up the 4100c scanner on Windows ME. I published them on my web site in good faith in an effort to help those trying to do the same thing. Please understand that I can't guarantee that repeating what I did will work for you, will not leave your computer in a worse state that when you started, or will not set your scanner on fire. I reproduced my procedures as best I remember them, but I can't be completely sure I did not make a mistake.
I recommend you to use the web to read all you can about this problem. Talk to HP technical support. Talk to any expert friends you might have. Two sources that helped me a lot were the HP web site and Google . Try searching for 4100c scanner ME and you'll get lots of useful information. Good luck!
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