tech support annoyances

[redbird]

The actual person I spoke to was very friendly and seemed to be helpful, but in the end the problem is not solved.

This is partly for my own reference:

My Canon MX410 printer/copier/scanner/fax machine hasn't been able to scan since I upgraded this Mac operating system to 10.9 Mavericks. I ETAreinstalled the drivers, and then tried the Canon Website for basic troubleshooting documents, without success. I don't scan much, so I ignored the problem for a while after that. Last week, we poked at the machine and found its serial number, which they wanted for email tech support.

A couple of back-and-forths, including me sending them the long crash dump it produces every time I try to scan (or even open the scanner application on the desktop) and Canon told me I needed telephone tech support, which is available Monday-Friday only. I didn't feel up to dealing with it yesterday, and was additionally annoyed by an email sent at 3 a.m. today asking me to rate the tech support on an open/unfinished call.

I called today after lunch, and followed the tech support guy's instructions to go to Disk Utilities/First Aid and repair disk permissions. That looked promising because it found and fixed a few things, including a couple that looked printer-related (also things to do with Safari and other applications). Then he had me restart the machine and create a new virtual printer, and remove the old ones.

The scanner failed in the exact same way. This is the point where he asked me if there was any useful information in the crash report, and I told him "I'll read it to you until you get bored." Fifteen or 20 lines later, he asked to put me on hold while he "consult[ed] some resources."

He came back and told me to create a new admin user, in case there was something weird about my user account. I did that, tried again (once I'd sat through OSX wanting me to log in with my Apple ID, set up iPhoto, that sort of crap), and got the same problem.


Conclusion from Canon tech support: there is nothing they can do here, and I should talk to Apple. I suspect Apple is going to want money for the call, and I'm not sure it's worth it: I still have a working copier and printer (mostly I use it as a printer), and if I really want a scan of my passport I can take it to the neighborhood FedEx or UPS store.

Before referring me to Apple, the Canon tech asked what version of the OS I had upgraded from. I wasn't sure (I think it was 10.6.8), but I'm not sure that's relevant to anything. If anyone has any practical suggestions, or experience on talking to Apple tech support, by all means tell me.

Comments

[green_knight]

You're on a different continent, but my experience has been that if you take your machine to an Apple Store - or screenshots of the problem, and a good explanation - the geniuses tend to fall over themselves trying to solve stuff.

However.

This sounds as if you have a driver incompatibility. You could try downloading the latest driver from the Canon website (this should have been the first thing); you could also try to remove the driver and use Apple's 'Image Capture' which has a scanner utility and see whether that a) works (sometimes) or b) offers you an alternative driver.

(I'd be happy to take a look at the crash report; but I'm only a fledgling programmer and probably won't be able to say more than 'the people who created the software need to fix this.')

However, the stuff about permissions sounds like bullshit to me.

[redbird]

OK, clarification: I reinstalled the drivers at least three times, and the tech person confirmed that I had the correct file.

[green_knight]

Ok, that *still* sounds like a driver incompatibility issue, only they might not have tested their driver with your current system. This is not unheard of, my negative scanner works fine under 10.8 and crashes spectacularly under 10.9.

If you really need that scanner (or anything else):

Under 10.9 you can partition your hard drive without reinstalling everything; and you can install a second system on the new partition; that way you can have the best of both worlds.

[editrx.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid Mavericks broke a lot of drivers. Elric is a current Apple Expert for Best Buy and is on his way home right now. I'll have him read this and see if he has any insights.

Btw, yes, if your Mac is not currently under AppleCare, then you'd need to pay a minimal fee for a phone consult.

[redbird]

Thanks, if he does think of anything let me know (but don't have him wrack his brains too much: he's already doing this work full time.)

[drplokta]

Skipping major versions when upgrading is not really recommended, and might cause problems of this kind. What would probably resolve it would be to back everything up carefully, and then wipe your hard disk and reinstall Mavericks from scratch. But it's a lot of effort to get a working scanner.

[redbird]

I suspect you're right, and I wish Apple had told me that, instead of creating a set-up where it was easiest to skip straight to Mavericks.

And yes, that would be a lot of effort to get a working scanner.