[Canon MP250] Why isn't my scanner working properly?

Hi,
I am looking to solve a scanning issue myself. I have not yet sorted it but I have found the following useful in gathering information

Ubuntu uses libusb to manage usb devices.

It would be useful if you were to run commands in terminal and collect the information provided.

scanimage -L : This indicates if the scanner can be found by Sane
sane-find-scanner : another way to check for information

udevadm monitor Typing in this command, then powering the scanner off and on again will produce output. Taking some of that info and putting it into the next command provides more detail about which back end is used.

udevadm info --query=all --path= {/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.1/usb4/4-2/4-2:1.0} Replace stuff in brackets.

General approach I am using: If those queries produce valid information, then the usb connections between the scanner and the computer are likely to be ok, if not, they will provide useful information to those able to help.

cheers
bob

ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ scanimage -L

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).

ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ udevadm monitor
monitor will print the received events for:
UDEV - the event which udev sends out after rule processing
KERNEL - the kernel uevent

KERNEL[1285469200.804775] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469200.804861] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1/usb/lp0 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469200.804897] remove /class/usb (class)
KERNEL[1285469200.804936] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469200.804984] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2 (usb)
UDEV [1285469200.811133] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0 (usb)
UDEV [1285469200.811211] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1/usb/lp0 (usb)
UDEV [1285469200.813159] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1 (usb)
UDEV [1285469200.830189] remove /class/usb (class)
UDEV [1285469200.869167] remove /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469207.420511] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469207.423374] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469207.423464] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1 (usb)
KERNEL[1285469207.425366] add /class/usb (class)
KERNEL[1285469207.425441] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1/usb/lp0 (usb)
UDEV [1285469207.428368] add /class/usb (class)
UDEV [1285469207.441583] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2 (usb)
UDEV [1285469207.466650] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0 (usb)
UDEV [1285469207.473716] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1 (usb)
UDEV [1285469207.507735] add /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.3/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1/usb/lp0 (usb)

Hi,
The printout indicates that the printer is registering with libusb, which is a good thing. As it is a multi-function gadget, that is not enough.

I found the reference below. It appears to relate to your problem.
I suggest you evaluate the advice and follow up yourself.
The thread indicates that at least one other has found it useful

Best of luck
cheers
bob

David Jones said on 2010-06-17: in Question #114855

The Canon PIXMA MP250 is a wonderful scanner and printer combination, a printer that is compact, elegant and produces high quality prints. Unfortunately printing and scanning is not natively supported by Ubuntu. Fortunately the drivers for printing and scanning are available in deb format. With a few installations and configurations, full functionality of the printer/scanner can be achieved in Ubuntu
Installing the PIXMA MP250 Printer

1. Head over to the Canon driver page and download the printer driver (MP250 series IJ Printer Driver Ver. 3.20 for Linux (debian Packagearchive)) for the MP250 printer series

2. The download will be a tar.gz file, extract the contents of that file, and install the two packages (cnijfilter-common_3.20-1_i386.deb and cnijfilter-mp250series_3.20-1_i386.deb) contained in the extracted folder by double clicking them and following the on screen prompts.

3. Once installed, connect and turn the printer on, Ubuntu should recognize it and suggest the correct driver.
Installing the PIXMA MP250 Scanner

This part is slightly tricky as it involves installing the Sane backends, which is the system responsibly for scanning on Ubuntu.

1. Head over to the Canon driver page and download the scanner driver (MP250 series ScanGear MP Ver. 1.40 for Linux (debian Packagearchive)) for the MP250 printer series

2. Install the two .deb packages (scangearmp-common_1.40-1_i386.deb and scangearmp-mp250series_1.40-1_i386.deb) contained with in the tar.gz downloaded package by double clicking them and following the on screen prompts.

3. Open a terminal and roll up your sleeves, this is where it gets slightly messy. In you terminal copy the following command:

sudo apt-get install libusb-dev build-essential

This will install some required packages for the scanner

4. Now we need to get the sane backend, we will do this via git. If you don’t already have git installed on your pc, run the following command in your terminal

sudo apt-get install git-core

5. Now we will need to fetch the sane backend by running the following command:

git clone git://git.debian.org/sane/sane-backends.git

This will download the sane backend into the sane-backend folder within your home folder.

6. Once the download is finished you will notice that it is an uncompiled package, meaning that it will have to be compiled manually. Don’t worry, as it is quite a simple process to compile and install a package. Firstly move into the downloaded folder:

cd sane-backends

7. No we can run the configuration of the package with the following command:

./configure –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc –localstatedir=/var

8. Once the configuration is complete we are now ready to compile the package by entering the following command into the terminal:

make

This process may take a while

9. Last step now is to install the package that was compiled in the previous step, note this last step requires the sudo (super user) command :

sudo make install

10. The scanner is now installed, however the permissions still need to be set. To set the permissions we will create a new file that will allow usage of the scanner. In the terminal, open Gedit:

sudo gedit

Once Gedit is opened, copy and paste the following text into the empty gedit file

SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, ENV{DEVTYPE}==”usb_device”, MODE:=”0666″

SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”,MODE:=”0666″

Save the file in the /etc/udev/rules.d/ directory, titled 40-scanner-permissions.rules

Your PIXMA MP250 scanner is now installed. You may now fire up the Xsane scanning utility and scan away.

Information gathered from: http://ubuntica.com/pixma-mp250-on-ubuntu.html

   David
   in TN

   Ps this worked for mine I have a Pixma250

I have no idea what to I did or if I did it right but my scanner is still not working. Here are the results
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install libusb-dev build-essential
[sudo] password for ruben:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
libusb-dev is already the newest version.
build-essential is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  sdparm
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install git-core
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
git-core is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  sdparm
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ git clone git://git.debian.org/sane/sane-backends.git
fatal: destination path 'sane-backends' already exists and is not an empty directory.
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~$ cd sane-backends
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~/sane-backends$
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~/sane-backends$ ./configure –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc –localstatedir=/var
configure: error: invalid variable name: –prefix
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~/sane-backends$ configure –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc –localstatedir=/var
configure: command not found
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~/sane-backends$ sudo gedit
ruben@rvam45-desktop:~/sane-backends$

Hi,
What you have done is- as the Hitch-hikers guide explained about planet earth - mostly harmless.
Well, based on the results provided that is. :-)
the commands " apt-get " checked on the versions of three programs and found them up to date.
The remainder failed but...

If you have Ubuntu 10.4 up to date, then you can check the version already loaded.
Check by opening System/Admin/ Synaptic, type in SANE into the search box
and look down the list. If your Ubuntu 10.4 is up to date, Libsane, amongst others, should show version no. 1.0.20-13ubuntu...

However, there is listed in the git repository a later version, 1.0.21, which has changes that look to be the ones that affect your device. See -
 http://git.debian.org/?p=sane/sane-backends.git;a=summary
This is why this backroom upgrade has been suggested.

The fatal message- sane-backends already exists makes me think you may have already created a file there in a previous attempt. ( It's normal to minimise tedious explanation :-))
Please go to Places/Home Folder and look for a directory(folder) called sane-backends and open it. If it looks complete, ie file size is the same as the original file on the git website, then you can proceed with the next step.
But if not, then either rename or delete it and try that step again. ie git clone git://git.debian.org/sane/sane-backends.git
then cd /home/<your home>/sane-backends ( so addressing is certain)
Chances are that the attempt to use command ./configure –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc –localstatedir=/var failed as it was not working with a valid file ( as the file was not present) so do that again.
Then enter
make
Then follow the last steps on Davids list.
If a step fails, then stop and seek further advice, as each depends on the previous step being successful.

Note: Using Gedit , once the text is inputted, Click on File/Save As, Select - Browse in other folders , Click the Hard Disk icon, then click /etc/udev/rules.d/ directory, Then name the file 40-scanner-permissions.rules
Check you are certain about spelling and punctuation in the name before clicking Save.

( Forgive the pedantry, but I dont know what you dont know)
Best of luck
cheers

Well still couldn't get this scanner working in Ubuntu 10.4. So I just moved back to 9.4 and that solved my problem.

Well still couldn't get this scanner working in Ubuntu 10.4. So I just moved back to 9.4 and that solved my problem.