Zoffix Znet

This is a small write up on how to get Benq (Acer) SZW 4300U scanner working in Ubuntu. Rather, this is just how I managed to get it working, so I hope there aren't many missing steps for someone starting from scratch.

First, download either u176v046.bin firmware file or u222v067.bin firmware file. Try using the u176v046.bin file first, as many report the u222v067.bin, suggested by snapscan page, doesn't work (worked for one scan for me, then I had to switch back to u176v046.bin). If you don't trust the files I'm giving you, you can obtain these files from the scanner's driver CD/download in the BIN directory.

I copied my firmware file to /usr/share/sane/snapscan, and I had to create the snapscan directory up in there (example below assumes you're in the directory with the firmware):

sudo mkdir /usr/share/sane/snapscan/;
sudo cp u176v046.bin /usr/share/sane/snapscan/

Open up /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf in your favorite editor:

sudo pico /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf

At the top of the file, you should see something along these lines:

# Change to the fully qualified filename of your firmware file, if
# firmware upload is needed by the scanner
firmware /usr/share/sane/snapscan/your-firmwarefile.bin

Make the filename/path of the line that reads firmware /usr/share/sane/snapscan/your-firmwarefile.bin point to your firmware file. Make sure the line doesn't start with a hashmark (#); if it does, remove that character. Following our example, this line should read:

firmware  /usr/share/sane/snapscan/u176v046.bin

Save changes and close the file (if you're using pico editor, press CTRL+X, it will ask you whether to save the file: press "Y" and hit ENTER)

The scanner started working for me now using simple-scan. I noticed that sometimes it says it can't find the scanner, and unplugging the scanner's power and then plugging it back on seems to help the problem.

If you're still out of luck, check out Snapscan page on SourceForge.

• A.N.

  Thu Apr 5 09:59:06 2012

  Thnak you.
  
  I am on Ubuntu 11.10 and the first firmware file worked for me.
  
  I copied the firmware from the original driver disc. There are other firmware files there I guess for other models of Acer scanners.
  If anyone finds this blog post via google and is looking for those, send me a message to a%lkhime%y shift-2 y%ahoo.co%m (remove %) and I will share.

• Zoffix Znet

  Sat Mar 31 20:09:13 2012

  Confirming that I got this to work in Ubuntu 12.04. In fact, it seems to work better than ever, I'm not even getting any glitches saying scanner wasn't found :)

• Zoffix Znet

  Tue Mar 13 07:04:27 2012

  I don't know. Last I checked, the only thing I found for Windows was a paid-for driver support.

• Keonakhone

  Tue Mar 13 05:21:31 2012

  I need to download drivers scanner benQ szw 4300u for windows 7. how to download
  if you have this drivers please send to me by this e-mail : k e o n a k h h ( a t ) s c g . c o . t h
  Thank you

• Александр

  Wed Mar 7 15:38:05 2012

  Большое спасибо! Сканер работает.
  Вы, молодец!

• Ashraf

  Sun Jan 1 15:22:07 2012

  thanks that worked for me