HP Scanjet 4850 and SL

I have had it! Before the August release of Snow Leopard I had a working HP Scanjet 4850 scanner which is about three years old. Since I installed Snow Leopard, I now have a large paper weight. HP has been promising for months to have an update for the scanner drivers (along with many other models) with their own deadline coming and going, and to date has delivered ZILCH. I have tried removing all HP software and drivers, then reloading everything and the same result, no scanner recognized.

Today, I tried something different, I moved the scanner over to the netbook with Windows 7 Home Premium on it. Not only did it recognize the scanner, but installed the drivers automatically. Unfortunately, this will have to do for the time being, since neither Apple or HP seem to be interested in anything but selling new hardware and software. I have poured over their support sites on a regular basis for an answer, and nothing other what I have tried.

This experience has made me resolved in one thing, I will never buy a HP product ever again if this is how they support their products.

MacFriar

Ian c solved it for me - try using preview.

Or image capture.

Was not recognizing the scanner in either program. Believe me I tried it before my rant.

MacFriar

But why should we have to find a work around - HP should have dealt with this - or Apple - but they haven't

I just assumed that using Preview was the new way of doing it (works better and more flexibly than the old HP drivers did anyway).

If I could get SL to recognize the scanner, I would be happy using Preview. One less bit of software to worry about.

MacFriar

I know someone with an all-in-one HP printer/scanner. It didn't work when first confronted with OS X Leopard, but her genius son performed some magic to get it to work. She now has Snow Leopard, and I think it's still
OK. If you can hold fire until tomorrow before defenestrating the beast, I'll see if I can make contact and get the details on the fix they performed.

Alan I would appreciate this too - I have my own PSC 1410 and also Raymond's Deskjet F380 [ which appear to be identical to my PSC , just about 1 year younger :) ]

But I still think that HP should be facing up to this and actually doing something rather than keep saying that they will produce drivers . We've been waiting too long . OK HP want to sell stuff , but by b........ us about like this, all they are doing is ensuring that we won't buy HP equipment again .

I was in France and hooked up to brand new Printer I haven't used before - a Canon and bless it - my MBP recognised it instantly and I was printing without having to look for Drivers - whereas I'd had to for my own printers [ HP and and elderly Canon iP 1600 though actually getting the printing Drivers was no problem - it's this total lack of a scanner driver that is the problem ]

I've asked the question, and await the outcome. It may simply be that they found a working driver somewhere.

Have you downloaded the latest HP drivers from Apple:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware...

Unfortunately, I got those also.

MacFriar

Seems to be a slightly newer version of mine (4.0.2 against my installed 4.0). Thought these were supposed to come up on Software Update now?

Never buy a HP product they never bother updating drivers, I gave up on them years ago for pulling this stunt.

They don't update the driver because you will have to then go out and buy a new one.

In reply to a post by jackrobin:

Have you downloaded the latest HP drivers from Apple:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware...

I just for my own information rechecked the equipment these drivers are for, and unfortunately they are for printers and printers with scanners in them only. None are for any of the Scanjet stand-alone scanner series. I will work on getting a replacement in the next several months, but it sure as hell will not be another HP product.

MacFriar

Sorry for the delay. I've finally heard from my contact. Apparently they were able to get a driver for their HP printer/scanner from the Apple site, so I guess you have already exhausted that avenue.

I think the key scanner software requirement for successful OS X use is a TWAIN driver. HP seem to have been an early advocate for the TWAIN standard, but I get the impression that their implementation is very patchy.

For future reference, I have had an Epson Perfection 3170 Photo for several years. It had worked well with Tiger and Leopard, and it ran fine as soon as I installed Snow Leopard. It has an EpsonScan driver, but I don't use it as I find Preview works very well. Its only issue has been a broken bit of plastic inside, but I resolved that with a judiciously placed screw!

Alan,

My next consideration for a scanner will either be Epson or Canon. I tend to favor Epson since I have had very good luck with their products for photo work.

MacFriar

In reply to a post by MacFriar:

Alan,

My next consideration for a scanner will either be Epson or Canon. I tend to favor Epson since I have had very good luck with their products for photo work.

MacFriar

Hi there,

I recently purchased an Epson SX515W All-in-One scanner/copier/printer to use with my 2002 G4 Quicksilver, running 10.4.11 and I can't recommend the printer highly enough.

I'm not sure if the SX515W is available where you are, but IMO it's definitely worth a look-see.

I will look into it, and I have access to the model numbers conversion for US and Europe. Like I said previously, I like Epson products, especially for my photo work.

MacFriar

I too feel aggrieved that Apple and HP did not work together on this issue before bringing Snow Leopard out. I have an HP PSC 1350, which is a scanner/copier/printer.
The latest drivers on offer from HP only really address the printing. True (as someone else has said), you can use Apple's 'Preview' to scan, but it doesn't have the same properties. One of the features I used most was 'HP Device Manager' and its scan to OCR function. The results obtained using this and 'ReadIris 11' were very good and results using a scanned preview image have been dire.
Sadly HP doesn't make any mention of a new (Snow Leopard compatible) 'HP Device Manager', so I downgraded to Mac OSX 10.5 where I have more functionality.
I will upgrade when either my printer packs in, or HP update their software and drivers for the PSC 1350. Sadly, I think the former is likely to happen first. In which case MacFriar, I will join you in waving goodbye to Hewlett Packard.

I had the same issue and have made the same decision. No more HP products for me!
The scanner was good but is not for everyone. Sad with HP and Apple sometimes.
Nonaki

Info I've gleaned for the 54XX series scanners, might not work for the 4850 though the list of supported scanners has ranges either side.

http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/

This site lists several binary packages which should make your scanner work for you, too � after you installed them in the following order:

gettext
libusb
SANE backends (installs all, even though you may only need the HP 54XX one)
SANE Preference Pane
TWAIN SANE Interface
After installing all these, go to the SANE Preference Pane and disable all the backends you don�t need (at least that�s what I did; it works for me, but I don�t know if it�s necessary). Next I clicked on Configure and then OK; without this step, apparently, the SANE/TWAIN interface is not activated. After closing the preference pane and entering my password to store the settings, I opened Image Capture. A preview dialog popped up and my already connected scanner did a quick preview scan. From there I was able to scan the document on the flatbed.

If this does not happen for you, make sure your scanner is properly connected. By going to the Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info, you get access to the System Profiler. One of the last entries in the left column under hardware should be USB. After selecting this entry, the right panel should show the USB Device Tree. Make sure your scanner shows up in that list.