SF 6 locks up creating overview prescans on DigitDia 4000

[Ironhat]

Hello,

using SF AI v6.4.3r6 with Reflecta Digitdia 4000 on 2 Windows PCs (checked with Win ME and 2000, USB 1 and 2), I get the following problem using the overview function (SF is set to use Batch Scan and Document Feeder):

After configuring the magazine correctly and then pressing the scan or rescan button in the overview window, the scanner starts, fetches the slide - everything normal. Then the lamp unit moves until it reaches the end-position and the status LED on the scanner turns off. That's it. Nothing happens (even after waiting 30 minutes). SF locks up and everything can only be reactivated by turning off the scanner and restarting SF.

I'm not sure whether this is a HW or SW problem. CyberView SW with overview is working fine. Also SF is working fine in regular BatchScan mode without using the overview window.

Is this a known problem? What to do about it?

Regards
C.

[LSI_Noack]

Dear Ironhat

not a common problem, as it seems. I had about a dozen requests from customers in the last week about how to set this or that in SilverFast which were obviously using SilverFast latest release and a Digitdia scanner without such serious trouble.

Often things like these are based on hardware / driver incompatibilities, if I should judge from my experience.
I suggest you want to try to work without another scanner, printer-scanner-fax, webcam or digicam with webcam functionality, or graphics tablet to find out about this.

There might be another thing which yet has to be examined. Did you install the 1.05 firmware? This perhaps can be the reason for the behaviour described. If so, downdating should sufficiently solve the issue until we were able to find out more about this.

Please also note that it seems that that firmware release does not identify itself correctly in the SF_Logfile.

Best regards
Sonny Noack
- Manager Technical Support, LaserSoft Imaging AG -

[tobbbie]

Hello ironhat,

...I had identical problems with FW 1.05 which cannot generate a slide preview with SF.
It starts normally with adjusting the focus and so on and then it says
"Cannot start scanner" (it does NOT hang though).

I reported this some 10 days ago to SF with the FW 1.05 attached.

Firmware 1.04 and older does not have these problems.

Could you please take a chance and read/comment my post related
to the batch-interface quirks?

bye
tobbbie

[Ironhat]

Thanks tobbbie,

in the meantime after getting no reply from lasersoft for a week and no real support from reflecta (they told me that it has to be a Silferfast AI related issue - I felt like a punching ball) I did some intense internet search and already found the solution on my own in another private forum on DigitDia and Silverfast:

It seems as if Silverfast AI V6 doesn't work well together in the configuration with Firmware 1.05 and Digitdia 4000 as it is currently delivered by reflecta.

I wrote another mail to reflecta and received a copy of Firmware 1.02 and 1.04. Downgrading to one of these, I was able to get the prescan overview running.

Other than Sonny Noack is stating above, this seems to be a common problem, because meanwhile I found some more users complaining about exactly this issue with FW 1.05 in other internet forums.

Concerning your batch-interface quirks: I can confirm most of it from my own experience. A very nice summary that the guys at Silverfast should take seriously if they want to avoid dissatisfied customers.

Sonny Noack: I didn't install the 1.05 FW by my own, I just took the scanner as it was delivered "out-of-the-box". For me it seems as if there is some upside potential in improving the communication/cooperation between lasersoft, reflecta and PIE