Trying to revive an old LS-1000 Nikon professional film scanner

<p>I am trying to revive it after several years. I used it on a primitive iMac with an Adaptec USBXchange (SCSI to usb). Now it is no more supported by Nikon. Does anybody knows if it can work on a Windows 8 pc? Thanks.</p>

<p>Paul Ferrante specializes in the repair and maintenance of Nikon LS-2000 and LS30 scanners. Perhaps he can help you. You can email Paul at:<br>

paul.ferrante@charter.net</p>

<p>Two possible problem areas would be the original Nikon driver software, if that's what you've been using, and the Adaptec USBXchange SCSI adapter. According to Lasersoft, their Silverfast v6.6 software is compatible with both the LS1000 and Windows 8 32/64 bit. Here's the link:</p>

<p>http://www.silverfast.com/product/Nikon/LS-1000-Super-coolscan-191/en.html</p>

<p>Be sure to read the note at the bottom of the page about the additional v4.6 layer drivers.</p>

<p>The USBXchange hardware is old and there could be a compatibility problem. You might want to consider installing an Adaptec 2906 SCSI PCI card in your computer to replace it,</p>

<p>Thanks Christopher, William. <br>

From the compatibility tab at silverfast.com it seems to work only with Win XP/2000 32bit + scsi.</p>

<p>Roberto, when you scroll down and click on the Compatibility tab, check the top two listings in the left-hand column..</p>

<p>I did, William, but the red '-' on the left means "not supported", whereas the green '+' means "supported". At least that's how I understand it, there is a legend at the bottom of the list.</p>

<p>You're right - sorry about that! Should've put my glasses on...</p>

<p>Well, here's another brilliant solution: Get yourself an old XP machine and use it just for the LS-1000. That's basically what I did with my old Minolta Scan Multi II. You can either network it with your W8 machine and save scans to a shared folder there, or copy the scans to a flash drive and move them over that way.</p>

<p>It's a good idea, William, I'll give it a thought... maybe a virtual machine if I can (there's a utility by Oracle) so not to add further hardware to a list of five pc's :-) Thanks!</p>

<p><em>"maybe a virtual machine"</em> ... I am interested in the concept myself, as I have Windows 8, a copy of XP, and some XP software to run.</p>

<p>http://www.howtogeek.com/171395/how-to-get-windows-xp-mode-on-windows-8/</p>

<p>http://www.vmware.com/products/player/</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Christopher, that's interesting. I'll try as soon as I can find the time and I'll post the result. </p>

<p>VMWare's performance will be significantly better than VirtualBox's (the Oracle utility's), especially when you add the adapter into the mix, but either <em>should</em> work for running an older version of Windows with your USB/SCSI adapter.</p>

<p>Can't beat free if you don't need it to be speedy. ;)</p>

<p>For software you could give Vuescan a try. It should work with your scanner and OS as it works with just about any scanner and any OS. No VMs, no gimmicks. The possible problem of a VM is that while you can get your software working, your VM OS may not support your SCSI card.</p>

<p>Paul Farrante is great. He revived an LS-2000 that was dead for me.</p>

<p>To be honest, the usb/scsi adapter never worked very well, so I think I have to install a scsi card (I only used the adapter on the iMac, but I had a scsi card on a previous Windows machine). I only hope that an old scsi card can be installed on a new machine. But it's good to know there are at least two ways to revive the glorious scanner, a virtual machine or Vuescan driver. Both have pros and cons, since a virtual machine could be used for other purposes as well (ie give linux a try) but Vuescan should be hassle free. Anyway I did some research and found that there's even a free version of VMWare software<br /> http://www.vmware.com/products/ (and scroll down to Free Products)<br /> I'll keep you informed. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Does anybody knows if it can work on a Windows 8 pc</p>

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<p>Might depend on whether you have a 32- or 64-bit version. Adaptec does not provide 64-bit drivers for old cards. My experience: I installed Win7 <em><strong>32-bit</strong></em> for just that reason (LS-2000). Old Tekram SCSI card. 32-bit driver for WinXP works fine with Win7.<br>

Other than that, VirtualBox (already suggested above) could be a solution. I was impressed how seamlessly it works as if it were the "real" system. And +1 for vuescan. <br>

Good luck</p>

<p>You best bet is to use WinXP 32bit with SCSI. Even then make sure your PCI SCSI card will work with XP. Some older Adaptec PCI cards will NOT work with XP SP3. I have a number of them in my storage unit. I would just set up an old box for the scanner. It's what I do with my Minolta scanner. And VueScan will most likely be the only software that will support your scanner.</p>

<p>Thanks Bernard, Anthony! I am trying to resist setting up an old machine just for practical reasons (no empty space left, also I'd like to use a good monitor for my scans). A good solution I think would be a scsi card/cable compatible with both the scanner and my new pc, then I'd use Vuescan. Provided that such a card exists (and doesn't cost a fortune).</p>

<p>UPDATE: I set up a virtual machine (VirtualBox, WinXP 32bit) on my new pc Win8 64bit. VirtualBox is free but an installation cd + s/n is needed for WinXP, which I had. No need for a scsi card for now, since I installed the WinXP driver for my old USBXchange converter. Then I downloaded VueScan and it successfully detected the scanner (via USBXchange). Problem is that when I try and scan, the scanner does stop after the first positioning of the negative/slide (and the related initial buzz-whirr-purr). I contacted Ed Hamrick of VueScan, I sent him the log file and I'm waiting for news. Hope it's not a hardware problem with the scanner.</p>

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<p>Problem is that when I try and scan, the scanner does stop</p>

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<p>If I understand correctly, you are experimenting with a known problem:</p>

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<p>the usb/scsi adapter never worked very well</p>

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<p>A bit of personal experience, that may or may not be relevant. My Epson V700 did not play well with vuescan. Mailed to Ed Hamrick. He recommended changing the usb cable; I was dubious, but bought a semi-fancy (HP) USB cable; problem solved. What I'm getting at is that harware with marginal performance and/or possibly imperfect implementation of communication protocol (USB/SCSI converter) might "work" in some cases, but not with vuescan. <br>

In your situation I would not hesitate, and buy for 10-20(€/$) a basic PCI/SCSI card with the right interface (50-pin SCSI-2), e.g. a Tekram DC315U. I assume you already have the correct cable. Would be interesting if you report on the outcome. <br>

Final note. I've experienced a situation where the motion of the scanning stage of the LS-2000 (assume LS-1000 is similar) is blocked. Fix is easy, and I've already "rescued" another user with same problem. </p>

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<p>Final note. I've experienced a situation where the motion of the scanning stage of the LS-2000 (assume LS-1000 is similar) is blocked. Fix is easy, and I've already "rescued" another user with same problem.</p>

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<p>That's interesting. Do you mean it could be easily fixed at home? As for the rest, I cannot find the old scsi cable, so I'd eventually have to buy one. But as I said I'm in contact with Ed Hamrick, so I'll wait for his final word. Your suggestion seems very good though.</p>

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<p>As for the rest, I cannot find the old scsi cable</p>

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<p>If you are in Europe, I might send you one (surplus for me) for the cost of postage; elsewhere, probably not economical.</p>

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<p>That's interesting. Do you mean it could be easily fixed at home?</p>

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<p>Of course, this has (most likely) nothing to do with your current problem(s): if you hear the "whizz" when the scanner is powered on, it means it initializes properly, resetting the home position of scanning.<br>

But, for the record, here is the information. The translation stage may become stuck at one end of the travel, possibly because the scanner's firmware did not detect the home position and stop when it should; then it cannot even reverse. Open the metal shell (a few screws), which allows to remove the front part of the enclosure. One can then see a small slotted screw head at the bottom front of the scanner. With a screwdriver, find out which direction to turn to make it un-stuck, and turn a few turns more. Voilà.</p>

<p>It would be a good time to check if there any dust on the mirror below the scanning stage. If there is, one can lose a lot of contrast in the dark parts of the film: shadows (slides) or highlights (negative). Google "coolscan LS-2000 cleaning"; e.g.<br>

http://www.vad1.com/photo/dirty-scanner/ls2000-cleaning/<br>

But careful with that front-surface mirror. And keep your scanner under a bag when not in use.<br>

Good luck.</p>

<p>Bernard, thank you very much for your kind offer and for all the info! Yes I am in Italy and I'll let you know if the problem with USBXchange could not be resolved. Thanks!</p>

<p>I just hooked my old LS-1000 up tonight running Win 7 Pro 64-bit, VueScan 9 x64 (9.4.32), and an Adaptec 29160N SCSI card. I've been using the SCSI card and VueScan on this PC with my old (I bought it in 1997) HP Scanjet 5p scanner.</p>

<p>It's working well despite not having a terminator on the string (because of the cable config, the LS-1000 is the last device on the string).</p>