How to Troubleshoot a Canon Scanner

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with your Canon scanner, from it not properly installing, to the computer being unable to recognize it, to spots on your scanned images. Canon makes a wide variety of scanners, both for home and office, and they all work differently, which makes generalized troubleshooting difficult. There are some Canon-specific resources, though, and one well-known troubleshooting issue that all Canon scanner users should know about

 Download the manual for the specific scanner from Canon's download library. Canon's library gives consumers access to manuals and guides for nearly every product in their line. The search system is easy to use. Search by the product type of scanner and then select the name of your specific product. This is a good resource to keep on hand for troubleshooting.

Use the Canon scanner section of FixYa (see Resources). FixYa is a popular computer site that offers troubleshooting advice on all kinds of systems and products.

Find your scanner on FixYa by first selecting the type of scanner. Canon scanner types are divided into film scanner, flatbed scanner, pass-through scanner and path-through scanner categories. Once you click on the scanner type, a list of scanners will come up. Find the model number of your scanner on the list.

Click on Troubleshooting & Support beneath the scanner name. A list of user-asked questions will appear. It is possible that your question has already been asked and answered. If not, you can click "Post a New Problem". This will allow you to enter your question and get a response from someone who knows how to fix the problem.

Deal with one of the most common Canon scanner issues. Users of many different types of Canon scanner have gotten the message "cannot communicate with scanner". Often, this error is a cable issue and can be fixed by replacing the USB cable that is connecting the scanner to the computer with a high-quality cable