LaserSoft Imaging

Hi,

I recently purchased SilverFast Ai Studio in advance of the delivery of a new Nikon LS9000 ED. I pre-purchased SilverFast on faith based on my previous experience with SilverFast and an Epson 4870. The Nikon LS9000 has just been delivered and I have installed my new copy of SilverFast. The version I was sent was 6.4.1.r9c for Windows.

After installing SilverFast I use the standalone SilverFast Launcher. The application just sits there displaying the "Searching Devices" message. This is very disappointing as this is a very expensive piece of software.

I should point out that Nikon Scan 4.0.2 works perfectly.

I have tried the following steps to try and resolve this problem:
# Used a different FireWire cable.
# Connected the scanner on a different FireWire adapter.
# Installed the most recent SilverFast version 6.4.2r2 for Windows XP.
# Ensured that the Epson 4870 was powered off at all times.
# Ensured that there were no other USB or FireWire devices connected.
# Ensured that the LS9000 was 'ready' before starting SilverFast.
# Installed the Scanner and the 6.4.2r2 version of SilverFast on a completely separate machine using different hardware.
# Verified that the ASPI Layer is operational. Adaptec ASPI version is 4.71.2
# Verified that the hardware was installed correctly in Device Manager. The Nikon Super Coolscan 9000ED was identified correctly and is using Nikon Driver version 4.0.0.0 with no conflicts.

Nothing worked! SilverFast simply cannot detect the LS9000! Nikon Scan however worked correctly in all cases.

What can be wrong? Does the "SilverFast NikonM" software actually support the LS9000? Has anyone else got an LS9000 working with SilverFast?

I also tried connecting my existing Epson 4870 using a Firewire connection and verified that my SilverFast Epson version was able to detect the device, and that worked, so it can't be the 1394 connection per se.

I am using Windows XP Professional with SP2. The system I use for driving the scanners is an Athlon XP 3200 on a Gigabyte motherboard. My primary System that I have also tested this with is also Windows XP Professional with SP2, but that machine is an Athlon 64 on an MSI motherboard.

SilverFast just does not work. What can I do?


(Note that I have sent a 'Problem Report' to Support and hopefully they will reply soon. But I thought it worthwhile to ask here as well and provide an update of my own attempts to resolve the issue.)

Best Regards,
Trevor White

It just goes to show that perseverence and methodical problem solving can sometimes be the answer.

I have fixed my problem with SilverFast and the LS9000

It turned out to be the Adaptec ASPI Layer

I had begun uninstalling and disabling hardware and software that I thought may have had a conflict with SilverFast. I then remembered that IEEE1394 is a subset, or is it superset, of SCSI. Anyway, I think it's based on SCSI. As I noted in the post above my Adaptec ASPI Layer was valid and was version 4.71.2 However, just for the exercise I uninstalled the ASPI Layer by deleting the files ASPI32.SYS, WNASPI32.DLL, WINASPI.DLL and WOWPOST.EXE, and then re-booted the machine.

To my great relief, SilverFast started up immediately and recognised the LS9000 after a short delay. This was GREAT NEWS

To confirm the problem I then re-installed the ASPI Layer, which installed the abovementioned files into \WINDOWS\SYSTEM and \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 etc. After this SilverFast would not start and just sat at the "Searching Devices" message.

I then remembered a problem I had read about that indicated that some ASPI problems can often be resolved by placing a copy of WNASPI32.DLL in the directory of the executable that is trying to use the ASPI Layer, or even to use a different version of WNASPI32.DLL altogether (I believe the version provided by Nero is quite good). Anyway, I tried this by copying the Adaptec version 4.71.2 of WNASPI32.DLL into the SilverFast executable directory. And it worked!!!!

I cannot tell you just what the problem was, or why SilverFast would run without an ASPI Layer installed, and would hang when the ASPI Layer was installed in it's default locations. But in any event I have the LS9000 working and I can't tell you what a relief that is.

Best Regards,
Trevor White

Dear Trevor

thank you very much indeed for your detailed description of the trouble you were facing

Unfortunately, threads like this are rarely actually seen by LaserSoft Imaging staff, because we intended the imaging not to provide personal support, but intended it to serve as a platform for imaging professionals for exchange of experience and communicating ideas [ viewtopic.php?p=9763&highlight=9763 ].
It is that we "only" check from time to time if new threads have been opened which remain unanswered.
As you did a follow-up post shortly after the first, we only came to see your entry by a search for something different.
Actual support can only be given by using the support form - but this is just to clarify -, as far as I understood you contacted SilverFast support that way already. Well done.

Having said this, I feel I need to acknowledge that there are known to me two typical kind of problems that might be relevant in a case like yours:

(1) There is a common driver conflict between Epson and Nikon drivers.
(2) There seems also to exist a problem with SilverFast and AMD64 CPUs, if they are installed on a mainboard with an Nvidia chipset (often called nForce).

ad (1):
As you powered off your Epson scanner before starting your computer, the operating system won't load the driver and no problem should occur then.
BTW, the driver conflict is kind of tricky: It doesn't seem to occur with all such setups (possibly firmware of scanners has to be taken into account, too), but fairly often.
However, if Nikonscan did work, and SilverFast didn't, we can rule out this phenomenon as the source of the trouble, because if it occurs, both scanning software solutions are effected just the same.

ad (2):
Gigabyte AFAIK has become the biggest producer of mainboards meanwhile. Their success are based upon producing good mainboards, and the Nvidia chipsets for AMD64 processors are performing extremely well.
For whatever reason, users told of complications with SilverFast which we unfortunately weren't yet able to reproduce.

So, I am extremely pleased that you drew up the connection of the Windows HAL devices for firewire and SCSI, and found a solution to this.
This is pretty cool stuff!

I don't know whether there will be success in applying your findings to other trouble some AMD64 users are facing, but at least it is a point to start.
Thank you very much indeed!

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

Hi Sonny,

Thanks for your comments. I also hope that this info may be of benefit to other users facing similar problems.

Also, just for your information, I never received a reply from SilverFast Support to the official problem report that I raised on the 12th of July. So it's a good thing I solved this for myself.

Best Regards,
Trevor White.

Dear Trevor

I ran a search for the email address you are using for this forum in our trouble ticket system, and didn't get a hit.
So I guess your support request did never reach us, actually. Usually, it is best to contact us by using the problem report form: http://www.silverfast.com/problemreport/en.html

But for something completely different:
The solution provided by yourself above did help other customers with that problem (I had received some positive replies already).
So, please accept my gratitude. Again: Many thanks!

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

I had the same problem on my LS 4000. All of a sudden, the day before it worked all right, it sopped working and the scanner was not recognized by SF anymore. I only removed the aspi32.sys from the windows folder and SF worked again.
I have no other SCSI device installed, so why would I need that ASPI driver anyways?

i believe that the firewire drivers use the scsi interface. THat is why you need aspi installed. Run ASPICHK to verify aspi is ok (available from adaptec website) and that you have consistent versions installed. When you deleted ASPI from the windows directory, you probably forced SF to use a local version somewhere else. A search will find it.

Do you have other firewire devices ?

Frank

I had installed the latest ASPI driver from Adaptec and I ran aspichk, everything looked ok but SF DID NOT find the scanner. It worked yesterday though!
Only when I removed the aspi32.sys did SF find my scanner again. When I run aspichk now it correctly reports that aspi32.sys is not installed.

I have no other FW devices. This is very mysterious and it is not the first time this happened. Can't remember though waht fixed it last time.