At 18:19 13-07-01 -0700, Pat Perez wrote:
>Since you're using W2K, what does the Event Viewer say? In my experience
>with Win NT/2K, many repeatable errors can be diagnosed with info from the
>event viewer logs,
Unfortunately NikonScan leaves no tracks in Event Viewer (Win2K/SP2). When
I first updated to NS version 3.1 it ran fine within Photoshop 6.01. Now
after three weeks it has intermittent problems. After three or four scans
NS "winks" out of memory and takes Photoshop with it. This occurs a few
seconds after closing NS in order to work on the image that it transferred
to Photoshop. There is a lot of disk activity and then both applications
disappear. There is no BSOD, no Event Log entry and no NS temp file
remaining either. A look at Task manager shows that there is now
considerably more free RAM available than there was before both
applications started up, approximately 50% more in fact.
I don't do the three or four scans all at once. After each scan NS is
closed and then the file is saved in Photoshop. Then NS is opened again for
the next scan. There's no other way to do this with TWAIN without clogging
RAM memory and thrashing the disk.
Scenario: dual 933 MHz P3 CPUs, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM, 133 MHz FSB, nVidia
GeForce2 GTS graphics, two 528 MB swap files, on separate physical disks,
most partitions are NTFS, two HDDs (IBM 27 GB and IBM 75 GB on independent
controllers--one is ATA 66 and the other on its own ATA100 controller), no
background applications running during this process (no taskbar applets,
etc.), Photoshop scratch area is on a partition with more than 12 GB free
and unfragmented space, system TEMP folder has more than 1 GB available to
it on a different partition than the aforementioned. This is an ideal
environment for Photoshop and for scanning yet NS is becoming more
unreliable each session.
> and frequently are the result of driver conflicts,
I have ruled that out definitively.
>In my day job, I manage desktop support for a large company,
I worked for six years as a senior technical writer on the NT Server
Resource Kit Team in Redmond so I'm no stranger to PC and OS innards. I am
highly competent to troubleshoot and fix an NT or Win2K system at any
level. I know crappy memory management when I see it and that's what
NikonScan has. Vuescan has no such problems but I prefer to work with the
more visual interface of NS if possible--when everything is working right
it saves me a lot of image tweaking time in Photoshop.
>If you'd like to contact me off list for more advice troubleshooting, feel
>free.
>From: "Darrell Wilks" <wilksd@home.com>
>Subject: RE: filmscanners: Which Buggy Software?
>
> > I have read that NikonTech has told someone they are the only one having
> > problems. This may be just a rumor, or not, so here is my short story.
> > NikonScan 3.1 crashes regularly when saving a scan. Usually I can get at
> > least one scan saved, but then trying to
> > save a second scan sometimes works, occasionally not, a third scan fails
If the Nikon tech actually said that then s/he is either a fool, rank
beginner/trainee or a liar. A brief perusal of this list's archives will
verify that there are a lot of users with NS problems. Actual scanning
results are su[perb and ICE^3 works beautifully. The problem area is the
software.
>to
> > save with greater frequency than a failed second scan save, and a fourth
> > scan save is hit or miss.
Precisely what I described above except that NS 3.1 worked well for the
first two or three weeks and is now gradually getting worse. I haven't
added or removed any applications or hardware during that time so that can
be ruled out as a causative factor also.
> > Anyway, Windows 2000 reports the error (NikonScan has reported errors and
> > will be shut down OK?) clicking okay shuts it down. Restarting NikonScan
>3.1
> > allows me to scan and save a couple more, then crash and restart the app
> > again and so on. My record is 4 saved scans in a row.
That's my record also. However, on my system NS doesn't report any errors.
It just quits instantly and removes itself from memory. And when it does
that it takes Photoshop along with it. I have never succeeded in getting NS
to run stand-alone. It will scan but "winks out" when I try to save the file.
> > software is stable. All drivers and BIOS is up to date. Windows 2000 is
>SP2.
Same here, USB (for Wacom tablet and Logitech cordless mouse), video
drivers and BIOS all at the latest rev. levels.
> > Nikon tech support walked me through scan, with crash and all. Oddly, the
> > tech had me install a "generic printer
> > driver" and try to scan again. Weird. Of course that didn't work, so we
> > tried deleting and reinstalling this and
> > that, you know, the old "maybe the dll files corrupt" thing.
Where does Nikon find those people? I shudder to speculate. In the vast
majority of cases system DLL files do NOT become corrupted especially in
Win2K because of system file protection. While it's a valid troubleshooting
technique to explore the possibility it is typically not the answer. What
is the answer? NikonScan has a bug is the answer. Nikon needs to keep
working on it until they get it right.
Cary Enoch Reinstein aka Enoch's Vision, Inc., Peach County, Georgia
, http://www.bahaivision.com/ -- "Behind all
these manifestations is the one radiance, which shines through all things.
The function of art is to reveal this radiance through the created object."
~Joseph Campbell
