I recently purchased an HP PhotoSmart Scanner. I was about ready to install the ISA card when I realized that I did not have a spare slot available (my modem is using it). I read your review. You had problems with installing Adaptec's PCI card. AdvanSys also has a PCI card. Was there a problem with the PCI card? Or your computer? Or was it because of HP PPS? I don't want to buy a PCI card and find out that I can not use it. If I can not use HP PSS I would like to return it as soon as possible, therefore a quick response would be APPRECIATED.

-- Rogelio C. Rodriguez (rhorcr@gateway.net), January 25, 1999

Answers

Rogelio- Sorry for the slow response, we've been bogged dealing with other scanner reviews (Minolta and Nikon)! The problem was with our computer, not the card or the scanner. (In fact, the same card is now happily residing in our new PC.) The problem was that we had another PCI disk-controller card installed that was already using the IRQ or DMA channel the PCI SCSI card needed. (They seem to want to install on IRQ 12, which can be shared, but not if you already have two cards currently using it.) For me, the innards of PCs are always perplexing (I'm a Mac guy), so my usual suggestion for the non-gurus is to pay to have a competent computer store install the card for you. (Which probably also means buying the card from them as well.) Check your current IRQ assignments, and see how many cards you have piled up on IRQ 12. If only one, you're

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), February 01, 1999.