Question on Canon MG3150 Printer

[Dr Rock]

Greetings.

Apologies if this is not the right place to post this, it seemed to be the closest match.

I have a Canon MG3150 printer. It's fairly old, true, but I have noticed the scanner has stopped working altogether (by "not working" I mean my Mac Mini can't see it at all anymore for the SCANNER - printing works fine).

I've contacted Canon support and they basically told me it's unsupported on my OS (10.15) and that's that.

There is nothing wrong with the printer but I wanted to know if anybody knew of a work around to get the scanner working again. Really annoying.

Colin

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Printing in support through a more generic system called CUPS that allows macOS to print to a variety of printers without even needing specific drivers from the manufacturer. Specific drivers are needed to be able to do extra things with the printer like seeing ink/toner levels and so on.

Scanning, however, is entirely dependent on the manufacturer drivers to work since there's no generic way of doing this and it might way from one model to another from the same company. To that end, if Canon doesn't have drivers for Mojave, then you are out of luck and your recourse is to look to upgrade to a newer printer that does everything you want and will be supported for a while.

I have, an equally old Canon multifunction laser printer that is getting into this state. Thankfully I have printer drivers from Canon, but the scanning and other stuff stopped a while back. However, this printer has a USB port (one that requires a VERY old USB drive as well) so I use that to scan files and then manually transfer to my Macs.

 

[IWT]

Hi Colin

There was an almost exact post a few weeks ago. The "problem" is related to Apple not recognising the Scanner part of your printer. There is a workaround which works. It was posted on our Forums and I even used that post as a solution to another OP.

I remember you Opened Finder > Go > Go to Folder - then there was a lengthy string which took you to a Folder where all you had to do was Double Click your Printer's name.

Trouble is, I can't find the blessed thing. Ashwin, can you recall this? Or anybody else?

I usually store these but must have forgotten to do so. I'll keep searching the Internet. Sorry about this, Colin

Ian

 

[Dr Rock]

Hi Colin

There was an almost exact post a few weeks ago. The "problem" is related to Apple not recognising the Scanner part of your printer. There is a workaround which works. It was posted on our Forums and I even used that post as a solution to another OP.

I remember you Opened Finder > Go > Go to Folder - then there was a lengthy string which took you to a Folder where all you had to do was Double Click your Printer's name.

Trouble is, I can't find the blessed thing. Ashwin, can you recall this? Or anybody else?

I usually store these but must have forgotten to do so. I'll keep searching the Internet. Sorry about this, Colin

Ian

If anybody has a workaround like that I'd be well pleased.

I've done a fair bit of internet searching already and found nothing (or driver's that don't apply to me).

If someone can send me a link to this article or a workaround that would be awesome.

Colin

 

[ferrarr]

If you look in System Preferences > Printers & Scanners, then select Scan, do you get the option to open your Scanner?

Also, have you tried Image Capture to access the scanner?

 

[Dr Rock]

This is all I see in there; there is no scan option.




Historically I've gone into preview and under the File menu option to access the scanner and use it from there. That option is greyed out.



I've removed/added the printer again too and it made no difference.

Image capture shows 0 devices.

Colin

 

[ferrarr]

I've removed/added the printer again too and it made no difference.

I have the feeling the scanner part of the AIO is dead.

Are you using this with Wi-Fi, or with USB cable? Maybe try it directly connected to your Mac? Which year Mac Mini do you have?

 

[Dr Rock]

I have the feeling the scanner part of the AIO is dead.

Are you using this with Wi-Fi, or with USB cable? Maybe try it directly connected to your Mac? Which year Mac Mini do you have?

It's connected over WiFi

Canon have told me directly it's "not supported" on this version of the OS.

Mac Details below:

 

[ferrarr]

If you connect it to your Mini with USB, and it still doesn't see the scanner, then the scanner has died.

 

[Dr Rock]

If you connect it to your Mini with USB, and it still doesn't see the scanner, then the scanner has died.

Nope, nothing wrong with the scanner. I Can scan from my iPhone just fine which is insane.

Colin

 

[ferrarr]

I have an Epson XP-620 and I have two instances for it. One is for AirPrint, which it looks like you are missing.

See if anything from VueScan will work?

VueScan Downloads - Alternate Versions of VueScan Scanner Software

Software and drivers for film scanners, document scanners and flatbed scanners, including HP, Canon, Epson, Nikon and Brother scanner drivers.

www.hamrick.com

 

[chscag]

Greetings.

Apologies if this is not the right place to post this, it seemed to be the closest match.

I have a Canon MG3150 printer. It's fairly old, true, but I have noticed the scanner has stopped working altogether (by "not working" I mean my Mac Mini can't see it at all anymore for the SCANNER - printing works fine).

I've contacted Canon support and they basically told me it's unsupported on my OS (10.15) and that's that.

There is nothing wrong with the printer but I wanted to know if anybody knew of a work around to get the scanner working again. Really annoying.

Colin

You might want to give Vuescan a try. It's not cheap but they do have a trial period:

VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows, and Linux

VueScan is the easiest way to get your scanner working on macOS, Windows and more. VueScan includes a driver for your scanner even though it isn't support anymore.

www.hamrick.com

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Nope, nothing wrong with the scanner. I Can scan from my iPhone just fine which is insane.

You can scan from your iPhone because your Canon uses AirPrint for wireless scanning. You can scan from your Mac using AirPrint also, it's just a matter of setting up your scanner and your Mac to recognize each other wirelessly via AirPrint:

Scanning with AirPrint

You can use AirPrint to transfer the data scanned by the machine directly to a Mac.

oip.manual.canon

Also, there ARE generic scanner drivers that MIGHT work to have your scanner work via a wired connection. I haven't checked this myself, so you will need to check in your device's manual to see if it supports SANE. SANE is an open source scanning protocol used by many scanners. If your device supports SANE, you can try generic drivers:

Free SANE drivers

ellert.se/twain-sane (unreliable link removed)

SANE: Supported Devices

Snac - Mac OSX GUI for SANE scanimage

SANE Plus Snac: An OS X Scanning Solution for Unsupported Scanners

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjbnye7uj6egxrx/SaneScanner.zip?dl=1

If you can't get any of the above to work, as a last resort you can try:

VueScan ($40)

VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows, and Linux

VueScan is the easiest way to get your scanner working on macOS, Windows and more. VueScan includes a driver for your scanner even though it isn't support anymore.

www.hamrick.com

 

[Dr Rock]

Outstanding suggestions here. Thanks.

I will try the AirPrint route and perhaps VueScan (it's not that pricey for the basic version, about €20)

 

[chscag]

I suggested VueScan because it's well supported and only on very rare occasions that it won't work with a particular printer. As mentioned above, they do have a free trial period.

I can't add anything regarding AirPrint. You'll just have to try it to see if it works for you. Let us know.

 

[Dr Rock]

Well I managed to screw that up. I was looking at the web page for the printer (as opened form the printers/scanner section in settings) and experimenting and i turned bonjour off. Now I can't see my preinter anymore and I can't add it back. Suggestions?

Can't seem to get AirPrint to work. I don't know if it's releated but under sharing you can share printers but not scanners. I see comments online that you should be able to tick off the sharing fo scanners. Maybe that's a reason?

Anyway, any suggestions on getting Bonjour back or undoing what I've done? I can't use the printer at all now.

 

[Dr Rock]

OK, had to do a factory reset on printer and reconnect. That seems to have sorted it. Note to self, don't do that again.

Any insight on the missing "share scanning" option on the Sharing Settings page?

Colin

 

[pm-r]

If anybody has a workaround like that I'd be well pleased.

I've done a fair bit of internet searching already and found nothing (or driver's that don't apply to me).

Have you tried using VueScan.app???

VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows, and Linux

VueScan is the easiest way to get your scanner working on macOS, Windows and more. VueScan includes a driver for your scanner even though it isn't support anymore.

www.hamrick.com

- Patrick
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[chscag]

Already been suggested to him by both myself and then later, Randy.

 

[pm-r]

Already been suggested to him by both myself and then later, Randy.

Sorry I missed those comments, my Mouse failed to stroll down so I could see them.

Probably assisted by the rheumatoid arthritis in my hand which has flared up recently...

But I haven't noticed a reply from the OP whether they tried it and whether it worked or not.
Probably not by the sound of things but worth a shot.



- Patrick
=======