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msuper69 · Sep 2, 2004, 10:27 AM

Everything else is fine and dandy except for this one problem.

I have a Canon 9900F scanner and if I try to do a scan as soon as (or within a few seconds) the initial Canon menu appears (where you select the type of material to scan), the G5 will turn itself off, just as if I had selected shutdown. It does not perform a shutdown of the OS, the whole system just turns off. This happens whether I use the Canon Toolbox or import within PhotoShop.

A little background:

I have a Cube that is running the same version of OS X (10.3.5), the latest Apple updates and the exact same Canon software (which is the newest available from Canon). It works just fine on the Cube. No problems.

The G5 is configured exactly the same as the Cube as far as OS, Applications and Canon software.

I've tried using both the Firewire and USB 2.0 connections but the result is the same on the G5; it shuts itself off.

I've done all the usual stuff:

Repaired disk using Disk Utility.
Repaired permissions using Disk Utility.
Trashed the Canon preferences.
Created another user.
Did an Archive and Install.
Did an erase and Install.
Reset the PRAM.
Reset the PMU.

Nothing helps. I've talked to both AppleCare and Canon. Canon says that the latest drivers should work fine on the G5.

My next step is to do a backup and complete reinstall of OS X and the Canon software on the G5 to see if a minimal install will make any difference.

If that doesn't help, then the only recourse I can see is to ship the Mac off to the repair shop. My guess is there is a hardware problem. I doubt if it's either the Firewire ports or the USB ports as I use these for other devices all the time. I'm afraid it's probably the logic board.

Now somebody please tell me they have seen this problem before and that they have an easy fix.

P.S. I should mention that I think (but I'm not positive) that this is my first attempt at using the scanner on the G5; my previous scanning was all done on the Cube.

Detrius · Sep 2, 2004, 06:29 PM

Are you connecting the scanner directly to the machine? Is it bus powered? Have you tried connecting it through a hub instead?

Try looking through the logs. BTW, do you get the spinning gear on shutdown, or does it just instantly go down?

msuper69 · Sep 2, 2004, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by Detrius:
Are you connecting the scanner directly to the machine? Is it bus powered? Have you tried connecting it through a hub instead?

Try looking through the logs. BTW, do you get the spinning gear on shutdown, or does it just instantly go down?

It's connected directly to the G5, no hub. The scanner is self-powered via an AC brick so I had not given any thought to connecting through a powered hub. I could try just for the heck of it. Can't hurt.

There is absolutely nothing in any of the logs.

It powers off just as if I had pulled the AC plug.

Thanks for the input!

Detrius · Sep 3, 2004, 02:03 PM

The instant power-off implies that it's probably the hardware telling the machine to shut down.

BTW, is the scanner USB 2.0? Do you have any other USB 2.0 machines you can hook it up to? Any difference between a USB 2 and a USB 1 hub (if you have both)?

It's possible there are problems with the USB 2 related circuitry on either device. I saw a memory card reader last week that would crash any USB 2 Mac, but not USB 1.1 Macs.

If the scanner does crash other USB 2 machines, it's the scanner that is the problem. If it does not, you may have a bad logic board.

msuper69 · Feb 8, 2005, 07:17 AM

The scanner is now working perfectly.

No hardware changes. Perhaps the 10.3.7 update fixed a corrupt file somewhere.

Anyhow, I'm sooo happy

Thanks for the advice all.

ChrisB · Feb 8, 2005, 10:08 AM

I'd run TechTool Pro hardware tests (if you have an AppleCare CD it would be on there) just in case. You could have a motherboard issue that may pop up again.

Detrius · Feb 9, 2005, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by ChrisB:
I'd run TechTool Pro hardware tests (if you have an AppleCare CD it would be on there) just in case. You could have a motherboard issue that may pop up again.

I see you are an IT manager. Have you EVER had TechTool Pro fail anything other than a hard drive?

I've had TechTool Pro pass RAM that I knew was bad--because it failed Apple Service Diagnostics. I had a G5 that had three bad RAM modules (out of eight) installed, and TTP passed it.

ChrisB · Feb 9, 2005, 05:58 PM

Actually I have had Tech Tool fail RAM before - it was one of the last DIMMs in sequence, so the system hadn't really touched it yet (last 256MB of 1GB of RAM - slot D), and Tech Tool didn't like the results of the tests it ran on it, so I popped it in slot A and within 3 or 4 seconds of boot I got a kernal panic. Replaced the DIMM, and everything was fine. Apple Hardware Test CD confirmed the issue.