I picked up a 10 dollar Epson ActionScannerII for the Performa 6200 I
aquired a few weeks ago for $15. I first installed the drivers for the
scanner. The I plugged it in and tried to start the computer up. It went on
for about a half of a second but then the went dead. I turning the computer
on and plugging the scanner into the computer with the computer on. As soon
as I plugged the scanner in the computer lost all power. I am currently
running the computer as stock. It has the modem in the original place it
came in. No ethernet card yet, I am waiting for one I ordered for $4 through
ebay. What could be causing this? I think the scanner would make a nice
addition to the computer and should work pretty well with the 64MB RAM
inside of the machine.

On 10/26/03 11:34 PM, in article 3f9caeee$1_4@athenanews.com, "BigLarryG"
<larryg@netwitz.net> wrote:

> I picked up a 10 dollar Epson ActionScannerII for the Performa 6200 I
> aquired a few weeks ago for $15. I first installed the drivers for the
> scanner. The I plugged it in and tried to start the computer up. It went on
> for about a half of a second but then the went dead. I turning the computer
> on and plugging the scanner into the computer with the computer on. As soon
> as I plugged the scanner in the computer lost all power. I am currently
> running the computer as stock. It has the modem in the original place it
> came in. No ethernet card yet, I am waiting for one I ordered for $4 through
> ebay. What could be causing this? I think the scanner would make a nice
> addition to the computer and should work pretty well with the 64MB RAM
> inside of the machine.
>
>


Make sure the scanner is terminated correctly; that could cause the computer
to die when it's plugged in.

Brian

"BigLarryG" <larryg@netwitz.net> writes:
>
> I picked up a 10 dollar Epson ActionScannerII for the Performa 6200
> I aquired a few weeks ago for $15. I first installed the drivers for
> the scanner. The I plugged it in and tried to start the computer
> up. It went on for about a half of a second but then the went
> dead. I turning the computer on and plugging the scanner into the
> computer with the computer on. As soon as I plugged the scanner in
> the computer lost all power. I am currently running the computer as
> stock. It has the modem in the original place it came in. No
> ethernet card yet, I am waiting for one I ordered for $4 through
> ebay. What could be causing this? I think the scanner would make a
> nice addition to the computer and should work pretty well with the
> 64MB RAM inside of the machine.

You plugged the scanner in after turning the computer on?

Don't do that. SCSI is not a hot-pluggable technology. All SCSI
devices must be plugged in and turned on before you boot the
computer. You can sometimes get away with powering them off/on while
the computer is on, but you should _NEVER_ connect or disconnect a
SCSI device while the computer is turned on.

That being said, there are two things that usually cause most SCSI
problems. An ID conflict and a termination issue.

The scanner's SCSI ID must be unique. There's usually a control near
the SCSI port where you pick an ID from 0 to 7. 0 is usually used by
your internal hard drive, 3 is usually used by your internal CD-ROM,
and 7 is used by the computer itself. Pick something else for the
scanner. If you have other SCSI devices, make sure every one has a
unique ID.

The other issue is termination. SCSI is a single chain of devices.
Each end of the chain must be terminated. In a factory
configuration, the chain runs from the computer to the CD-ROM to the
hard drive:

Computer --- CD --- HD

In this configuration, the ends - the computer and the hard drive
must be terminated. If your computer boots, it's probably done
correctly.

When you attach a SCSI device to the back of the computer, the
computer's internal termination should disable itself. Whatever
device ends up at the end of the chain must be terminated. If your
only external device is the scanner, the SCSI chain will look like:

Scanner --- Computer --- CD --- HD

The HD will still be terminated, as it was before. You will have to
make sure the scanner is terminated. There may be a switch on it to
turn termination on. If not, then you will have to attach a
terminator to the SCSI passthough port on the scanner. Use an active
terminator (although passive ones often work, they don't always.
Active termination is more reliable.) Depending on what kind of SCSI
connectors are on the scanner (DB-25, Centronics-50, micro-50, etc.)
an active terminator will cost between $10 and $50.

If you have another SCSI device (like a hard drive or a tape drive),
terminate whichever one is at the end of the chain. If your SCSI
chain looks like:

Scanner --- Device --- Computer --- CD --- HD

then terminate the scanner.

If your SCSI chain looks like:

Device --- Scanner --- Computer --- CD --- HD

then terminate the device and do not terminate the scanner.

Hope this helps.

-- David