I have just plugged my old lide 30 into the usb port of my macbook air, what else do I have to do before I can scan?

I suppose you have a l&te 2010 Macbook Air... - Plug the Macbook Air to a power outlet
- Plug the Macbook Air USB software reinstall drive that came with your Mac (in the little black cardbox) in any USB port - After the initial screen, go to "Utilities" in the menu bar and then choose "Reset Password" - Follow up the process and you should be OK.
Hope this will help. Cheers.

Make sure the USB cable is properly connected at both ends. Close the Canoscan software and then reopen it and try again.

To be clear, under the scanner, you have already peeled the seal stickers off, and slide the unlock slider from the lock icon to the unlock icon.

If your switch is firmly in the "unlocked" position and still get the error, then plug your USB cable into another port on your computer and restart. Make sure you are NOT using the USB ports on the FRONT of your computer and DO NOT use a USB hub. If the error continues, then there is a malfunction in the scanner and must be replaced.

I had this problem with my old Canon scanner and my new Canon scanner. I mistakenly threw my old scanner away, believing the problem to be terminal, only to find the new scanner demonstrates the same problem. The problem appears on whatever computer I install the drivers on (I have 3 computers). Constantly unplugging and plugging the scanner back into the USB port eventually sorts the problem out, i.e. the scanning arm will go to the 'home' position and stay there waiting for some scanning action.
I presented this problem to technical support of Canon, and this was their response.....

*************************
Thank you for contacting Canon.

It appears that your Scanner is receiving commands from your PC to scan. That means that the scanner can only operated when a command is given by your PC, the scanner can not operate all by itself.

In that case we suggest you contact the manufacturer of your PC or Microsoft for further assistance in solving this problem with your operating system.

I hope this information is of use to you.

*************************
Well there you go, the biggest example of 'pass the buck' you may have ever seen.
Having been a software enginner and using computers for the last 25 years, I sort of don't believe this - AT ALL. My only conclusion is to get a new scanner and make sure it isn't a Canon.

If you find out the answer to this problem, and I haven't thrown my scanner away by that time, then I'd be interested in it.

Install drivers

Did you restart your computer after you downloaded your drivers and software? Did you select the correct operating system? Make sure the USB cable is plugged into the computer and the scanner...Open the toolbox and click scan or save and check to see if the scanner makes any noise or lights up...If you are using Windows XP then make sure you have downloaded the "TWAIN" driver and the "WIA" driver (two seperate downloads)

I found this scanner at a garage sale today, and had trouble finding this info myself. Finally stumbled upon this site ( http://cadwell.livejournal.com/39545.html )

I'm using it on a Powermac G5 but both the driver and toolbox app say they are univeral binary. Hopefully this gets you up and running too:

CanoScan LiDE 30 on Mac OS X 10.5
This technical help may seem completely out of place on this art blog but after scouring the internet for 3 hours trying to set my 6 year old scanner up on my new MacBook, I found this info half way down a lengthy comments section of a random blog. So I thought I'd post it here (slightly altered) as a message in a bottle to anyone else in need of it.

How to set up CanoScan LiDE 30 on Mac OSX 10.5
STEP 1:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=351&modelid=6623
STEP 2:
Select MAC OS X
STEP 3:
Download BOTH:
LiDE 20/LiDE 30 Scanner Driver Ver. 7.0.1.1aX
(Mac OS X)
lide20lide30n670un676un1240uosx7011aen.dmg
CanoScan Toolbox Ver. 4.1.3.0X
(Mac OS X)
CSTb4130MXE.dmg.gz
STEP 4:
INSTALL CanoScan Toolbox Ver. 4.1.3.0X
STEP 5:
INSTALL LiDE 30 Scanner Driver Ver. 7.0.1.1aX . Make sure Applications>CanoScan Toolbox 4.1>Plug-Ins is selected as the install location.
STEP 6:
You will be asked to RESTART. You should.
STEP 7:
When you run CanoScan you can choose Photoshop as the default program to open the image in once it has scanned. You do not need Photoshop to open using Rosetta for this to work.
NOTE: If you want to scan directly from within Photoshop CS3, you need to copy the driver 'ScanGear CS 7.0X' which is found in Applications>CanoScan Toolbox 4.1>Plug-Ins into the photoshop pluggins folder, Applications> Adobe Photoshop CS3>Plug-Ins>Import/Export. You also need to open photoshop in Rosetta mode. Apple + I on the photoshop icon and select 'Open using Rosetta'. I would not recommend using this method though.
STEP 8:
Go to System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items and remove both of the following:
N067U_ButtonManager.app
N124U_ButtonManager.app
STEP 9:
SCAN.

the solution is here:
http://cadwell.livejournal.com/39545.html

(at least it worked for me, OS X 10.5.5 / LiDE 20)

Has your scanner been working before?
If so, has anything changed since then such as new printers or other devices added to the computer, or upgraded to a new OS?
Which OS are you using?

When exactly does the error occur?
Does ScanGear open?
Are you able to preview?


Try connecting the USB cable to another port on the computer (directly to the computer...not through a HUB or any other device). Bypassing a hub, which would have to be a powered HUB, or other devices would rule out any issues with those devices.

Ultimately trying the scanner on another computer would rule out issues with the scanner as well.

try installing software with superuser credentials.