Well recently I received for christmas a new scanner. a HP Photosmart C5500 scanner/printer. It seemed good and nice, until I installed it ant tried to scan. It simply... froze. I have no idea what is happening, so I'll just try to include a small list of things:

1. I DID install and even re-install the software that was provided
2. it originally came with a bluetooth receiver thingy so that if my computer uses bluetooth i can connect to it. My computer doesn't so I found an old USB cable. I don't know if this might affect anything but it might be worth listing.
3. well, I can't really think of much else. this isn't covered in teh documentation provided with the device, and the only thing that came with it was the CD for the printer/scanner's software. am I missing something?
4. I don't think this would affect it, but the USB cable I'm using came form my old scanner that got fried along with my old computer and my tablet when I caught a nasty virus. this took down all my hardware, and though I really don't think the cable could have anything to do with it, I feel it's worth mentioning.

so... anyone know how to make stubborn hardware work?

Unfortunately software installation for a hardware device can be tricky. If re-installation did not work for you then I am stumped. Now it is possible that you DO have a bad cable; that is, if by fried you literally mean that there was an electrical surge through the old cable at some point in time. So it may be worth it to purchase or borrow a new cable and see if that fixes the problem.

Does it print? Or does it just not scan?

Is it HP's driver that locks up, or would a basic Windows scan work? (Many image editing programs have a File->Import submenu, try scanning with other items labeled TWAIN)

When i saw the title I KNEW you had an HP printer, their software is always shitty and bugfilled ripoff. Take it back and get you money back, buy another brand.

okay first: I don't know if there was an electrical surge or not, but I'll try borrowing a cable first and see if that helps,
second, skoolmunkee, NO it does not even print.

third: good to know that this isn't just me. so alot fo HP stuff is crappy? I don't think i can get my money back by now, but I do have the receipt. I should probably just take the safe route and do this first, then buy another.

thanks for the advice!
at the very worst, I lost 100$. no huge deal (painful for my wallet, but I'll live), so I'll just go buy another one.

hopefully someday soon I can get myself back up and running. First the scanner, then I need to find me some image software and another tablet.
then again, so far my track record for technology is somewhat... less than appealing.

It's always worth looking for updated drivers on the net man. HP isn't THAT bad. All hardware can have strange issues from time to time, even the best and most expensive.

Lots of things can cause a scanner to freeze: it's a piece of mechanical hardware controlled by its own software and your OS. If something is wrong with the actual mechanical parts of the scanner during the process, that can cause a freeze just as easily.

Was the scanner locked? Some decent scanners have a little switch that locks the lamp in place for when the scanner is transported. If something like that was the case, it could cause issues with your comp when it tried to scan.

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Never forget the mechanical! CD and DVD players suffer from those sorts of issues all the time and they look like OS issues.

well, we did some more fussing with it and we've discovered an interesting focus on our problem: the scanner DOES work now, BUT it does everything except what I want it to:
The scanner/printer can print from the computer, and copy&print images, but it still cannot scan and save to the computer. it's like theres only one direction of communication here...

Have you tried Skool's suggestion?
Often that issue is just a matter of badly designed interface programs.

If you have Photoshop just click on "file", then "import" and see what shows up. If you have a TWAIN option it'll be one of those. As Skool said

HP printers are crap, but HP computers are among the best. If you buy an new one, I highly recommend a Canon CanoScan LiDE for a flatbed scanner and any lexmark for a printer. Either will cost you only about $70 and they're excellent quality.

If it's printing and not scanning, something that I've had issues with HP stuff is that the lamp gets stuck or off it's tracking for some stupid reason. Depending on the model it's possible to just unscrew the scanner bed glass frame and pop the lamp back into place, but that's not always the case. Another issue is that the scanner sometimes wants to save to a folder that doesn't exist on your hard drive. ie: it wants to save to (F: ) when (F: ) happens to be a jump drive that's not connected at the time. Usually that can be fixed by setting the scanner's primary save location to a spot that's actually on your computer.

Its funny because HP kinda first became known for their printers...

I've only ever owned Epson printers... I currently have an epson printer/scanner (rx600, i think). ITs worked out pretty good for me thus far. My only experience with HP is my HP printer at work, which is very decent, but also a high end professional printer that no one would pay what it costs if it didn't work.

Funny how companies sell crap to consumer end users that doesn't even work-- and they know it.

We always purchase Canon printers/scanner units for their ease of use [very easy to replace printer cartridges]. For the previous five years we would literally wear out two printer/scanners per year because my wife was a part time high school teacher and we printed out that much material. This year she isn't teaching school and so it looks like the latest Canon is going to last for a while.

Our desk top, however, is an HP. We are happy with it as well.

Oh mah gawd, I've been using an HP printerscannercopier for nearly five years and I hate its software so so so much. In fact, it's part of the reason I've been taking photos of my sketches or sketching digitally lately - avoiding having to pull up its completely infuriating scanner interface. (Also, my sketchbooks are large and don't fit properly because of the freaking inset)
It is also UNNECESSARILY LOUD and slow and agghh

(And I also used an HP camera for a long time and it was shittyyyy I'm so glad that there's acknowledgment of HP's shittiness.)

Always buy Epson or Canon. *weeps* I'm saving up to replace this PSC.

I have a HP scanner as well. It's not bad, but the softare IS crappy, like Senshuu says. It's borrowed. I had to get it because the power converter on my old one died and I needed a scanner... And I couldn't be bothered buying another one.

But I'm silly because the HP's power converter works with the old one, which is a UMAX scanner. And even though it's a very old (9 years) parallel port model, it's still a fantastic piece of gear and its softwar is way better than the newer HP model. It's even better than the scanner I have at work in my Graphic design job.

My old printer/scanner was an HP and I liked it a lot, but the new one is just awful, both software and hardware. It makes a high-pitched whine when it's plugged in whether it's on standby or not, so I'm always under the desk plugging or unplugging it. If I turn the printer off it starts popping up PC notifications that it can't detect the printer any more, do I want to troubleshoot? And the scanning interface is the worst I've seen, it doesn't remember any settings and is unintuitive to use. It prints slowly, the ink runs out too fast, and when it scans I worry about waking up the neighbors. HP printers have definitely been going downhill.

I miss my canon scanners. :[

Does this cable have filters on each end?

I'm thinking it's the connection. Try looking for a usb/bluetooth adapter.

well, problem still isn't solved. I'm leaning towards buying a Canon (my last one was a canon, and was pretty reliable), but as it turns out the final date at which I COULD return this thing has passed, meaning I'm stuck with it...

The only viable solution is to buy a Epson scanenr and videotape yourself hitting this one with a hammer until it kersplodes.