Dimage Scan Dual IV
Film Scanner
I should tell you a little about the Computer I use to drive this scanner. It is a Home built Computer, the Mother board is a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP with VIA KT333 chipset. Processor is an AMD Socket A Athlon XP 2000+. Ram installed is 512 MB DDR . Hard drive is a Seagate 40 GB. This motherboard has USB 2.0 on board. I had cooling problems and the CPU got over 60C. This over heated CPU caused USB problems and random lockups with the Scan Dual IV. Make sure your Case fan, CPU heatsink and fan, Power Supply fan and Case vents are clean and clear.
When installing software, you should (must) turn off any virus scanning or ad aware software that is running on your computer. Virus scanning interferes with the installation process.
There is a later version software available on the KonicaMinolta Web site. The Software that came on my CD is Version 1.0.0. the Website has a later version currently Version 1.0.1.
The software is in three parts, you must download all three
parts to the same folder.
The most recent downloads also have an all in one download.
Link to Minolta software downloads. Links are prone to change.
Software & Drivers
Also Manuals and FAQ.
The main difference I have found in the Version 1.0.1, is they fixed the transferring of the scanned data via the TWAIN interface. Version 1.0.0 would not transfer the data until the TWAIN interface was closed. Version 1.0.1 transfers while the TWAIN is still running.
Manuals for Dimage Scan Dual IV in PDF. They require the Acrobat Reader.
Instruction
Manual (2.68 MB)
Product Announcement (85 KB)
Some Quirks
1. One big quirk, is the fact that sometimes the Scan Dual IV
will scan holder after holder of slides without any problems at all, then for no
known reason it will lock up in the middle of scanning a slide. When this
happens the front LED will Blink, Off for 1 sec, then 5 rapid blinks, repeat. When it does
that, the only way to get out of the software and the lock is to unplug the
power plug in the rear of the scanner. Then close and restart all software.
This seems to be partly a USB problem. You may have to reboot the computer also.
2. Another is the "change slides, stick in the slide holder and you get 6 frames on the screen" and the scanner pulls the slide holder in until it makes a terrible noise that sounds like it is stripping gears. Sometimes the Cancel button works, but when Cancel does not work, the cure is close the front door (that will give an error message below, allowing the software to be closed), unplug the power cord in the rear, close all software. When you plug in the power again, turn on the scanner and open the door to let the slide holder out.
 |
This is the error message you get when you unplug the power cord in the rear of the scanner when the scanner locks up. Click OK and you can close the software. |
 |
Insert the slide holder to the leading edge of the second slide opening in the slide holder to solve the sudden 6 frames instead of 4 frames. The scanner does not always detect the slide holder correctly and defaults to the 6 frame film strip holder. See No. 2 in Some Quirks.. |
3. The power button on the front of scanner does not work nor does the Eject button when the scanner locks up. Unplug the power cord in the rear, see No. 1.
4. This Scanner seems to be sensitive to the USB. A cable that is too long will cause improper operation of the Scan Dual IV. Problems with the USB ports on your computer will cause improper operation of the scanner. Also bad USB drivers will cause many strange problems.
5. Another strange quirk is starting the scanner via the TWAIN interface in ThumbsPlus 7. When the Scandual 4 has not been used for a while, the scanner will sometimes hang and the initialize does not complete after several tries. To solve, run the DiMAGE Scan Dual4 Utility and scan one frame. Everything will then work in ThumbsPlus 7. ThumbsPlus is a professional image catalog program, available at http://www.cerious.com.
For those that want to see, here is an inside view of the Scan Dual IV Film scanner.
Addendum:
I purchased this Minolta Scan Dual IV scanner on March 2, 2004, received it
March 4, 2004 and it broke on July 18, 2005. (One year Warranty)
The scanner would no longer initialize. I spoke on the phone to a service tech at the Konica Minolta Support center in New Jersey, who asked that I package the scanner and send it to him for inspection. They paid for the shipping, which is unusual.
I expected a email or phone call from the technician, which I never got. Instead I received in the mail a letter from the Repair Center asking for $140.73 to repair a scanner that originally cost me including shipping, $284.99 one year and four months ago.
To be fair, the charges in the letter states the standard repair charge for the Scan Dual IV scanner is $120.00 plus Tax $10.73 plus handling $10.00 for a total of $140.73.
The Latest update (6/8/2006)
The ScanDual IV Scanner is now discontinued. Konica-Minolta sold the Scanner business to Sony on March 31, 2006.
Konica-Minolta statement to customers.
Sony Repair for the Konica-Minolta Scanners, Cameras and Related Products.
Page last edited: April 26, 2015