USB Problem or Software Conflict?

mccoady · 31st January 2006

I recently posted another thread about trying to install two scanners(HP 2175 All-in-one and Epson 3850) on the same computer without any success. The Hp 2175 I've had for awhile and have never liked the HP Director software and it leaves a streak on large scanned prints but the printer part works fine thus the reason I need another scanner. The Epson tech gave up after a couple of hours and believed there must be a software conflict and it was suggested here maybe trying another HP scanner would let two scanners co-exist on my computer so that's where I'm at now.

I bought a HP 4850 scanner and tried installing it along side my current HP 2175 all-in-one but I'm getting the same results as with the Epson. Of coarse both will work if they are the only ones installed at one time but when both are installed neither will work, I keep getting a communication error. Now I must point out if you go to Paint you can select either scanner and both will work. I called HP support and got a very good tech and he said in general you should be able to run more than one scanner at a time on a computer regardless of brand, you can even mix brands. He did say though sometimes there are software conflicts. The HP 2175 uses an older software called HP Director and the HP 4850 uses a newer HP Solution Center.

He said he had been taught to always install older software before a newer software which is actually what I had done since the 2175 was already on my computer when I added the 4850. After doing this though the newer software HP Solution overrode the HP Director and both scanners appeared in the former which is how I liked it anyway since it is much better software. Anyway since that didn't work he had me uninstall both scanners and fully install the 4850 first and then using Windows Hardware Wizard took only the drivers off of the 2175 install disc so we wouldn't be installing both old and new softwares, but I still got the communication error as before. He said the only thing left to try was to reverse what we just did and fully install the 2175 first and then just take the drivers off of the 4850 and he was pretty sure that would work. I didn't try that though because I really didn't like that option because that would leave me with HP Director as my software which I've have never liked.

Well as an after thought he said you could try one more thing, unplug the power from the 2175, unhook the USB from the 4850 and then reboot which I did. Before I hung up with him I tried it but still no go, but I forgot to plug the USB back in. After plugging it back in the 4850 would scan although if I plugged the 2175 back in (power) neither would work again. His thinking in my trying this was maybe there was a usb conflict or congestion so does this confirm this? Unfortunately I had already hung up but did call right back and got some gung ho kid that I'm not sure if he new what he was talking about or not, he kept leaving the phone to go ask other tech questions. He said if I bought a HP 4-port usb 2.0 hub with Quad TT (model DM866A#ABA) that this would definitely work, (my usb's are 1.1) and I wouldn't have any trouble running both of the scanners together. He did said he need to check something on my computer before I bought it, he had me go to "System Information" and then "Conflicts/Sharing" and then wanted to know what was listed under IRQ.Well I have IRQ 5 listed 4 times I guess are usb ports, is that right? Anyway he says that's your problem you should never have a 5 after any IRQ's, you have something wrong with your computer. I think he is full of it but hey I don't know alot about these things, is he right?

Bottom line does this now sound like a usb problem and if so does the HP 2.0 hub he was trying to sell me fix the problem? Do I have a problem with my computer since the IRQ listings have a 5 after them? If a new 2.0 hub will fix this then I will go get one, thanks.