HP Photosmart "currently in use with another task" error.

[Yenroh]

I'm sure you're all sick of seeing these questions, but I haven't found a reliable solution among any of the answers presented anywhere else on the internet.

I have an HP Photosmart 5514 printer, part of the 5510d e-All-In-One B111 printer series, and it currently will only let me scan a single document (with multiple pages). I have it connected via USB connection, not the network. My current operating system is Windows 10, 64-bit. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the most up to date drivers many times, using many different methods: part of the HPSolutionsFramework, manual driver installation on its own, and even with the HP Support Assistant device detection method. I have tried the most common answer of "unplug the device, restart computer, plug it back in". I have also tried the HP Print and Scan Doctor to see if there is a driver issue but it clears every checks and nothing appears to be wrong. To be clear, restarting my computer DOES "fix" the issue, albeit temporarily and is not a permanent solution to my issue.

Explanation of the issue:

I launch the HP Photosmart 5510d series application software and click on the "Scan a Document or Photo" button. When the window pops up, I click on "scan document to file" and proceed to scan my document with however many pages, adding each page as I go. When I'm finished, I hit "save", save my file and click on "done". When I proceed to scan another document, hitting the button causes nothing to happen but an error sound. When I run the HP Print and Scan Doctor and try to do a test scan after it tells me everything is fine, I get the error message:

"The HP Scan application is currently in use with another task or another user on this computer. Please wait until the other task is complete and then try again."

To be quite clear, there is no other task that I am aware of besides the fact that somehow the software doesn't appear to be letting go of the scan. There are no other users that use the computer besides me. There are no other hidden applications running. I've gone through task manager to kill all HP related processes to see if anything is stopping it from running again. The only luck I have is with restarting my computer, but it would be silly to mass scan documents and have to restart after every single one.

This was working correctly on my other hard drive with the same version of Windows 10 installed on it. Installed Windows 10 on a new drive and it doesn't appear to want to work after 1 document.

If anyone has any assistance in this matter, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Drakster · Accepted solution]

Hi @Yenroh,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I see that you're able to scan wirelessly with your HP Photosmart 5514 Printer. I would be happy to look into this with you and please remember to return to this thread and mark 'Accept as Solution', if I have successfully helped you resolve the issue. If you wish to say 'thanks' for my effort to help, click the 'thumbs up' to give me a Kudos.

Generally, the reason why you would get "The HP Scan application is currently in use with another task or another user on this computer. Please wait until the other task is complete and then try again." is because the network signal is loosing connection and freezing the scan task or the previous scan operation never ended.

Please try the steps within these guides: 

• Network Scanner Connection is Lost (Windows)
• 'Scan Cannot be Performed Because Another Program or Computer is Using the Networked Device' Message...

TIPS: 

• Move the printer and router closer to improve the signal quality.
• Change the wireless channel on the router.

Ensure your router and firewall are not blocking these ports.

• Scanning: UDP port: 427 TCP ports: 9220, 9500

Please respond to this post with the result of your troubleshooting. I look forward to hearing from you. Good Luck! 🙂

[Yenroh]

It appears as though something must have been screwy with the network and it was causing the application to freeze up. I am currently not experiencing the issues reported before.

[Green8]

We geting the same error with Windows 10 & the HP Scan & Printer Doctor didn't fix it either

& we're using direct USB connection so we don't have to worry about WireLess Network problems as well

re I get the following message - "The scanner is currently in use.

Please wait until your previous task is complete and then try scanning again." I have a HP Officejet 6500A.

What causes this and how do I get rid of it so that I can scan another document?

[kevin-t]

Hello,

Thank you for posting in this thread. Unfortunately based on when the last response was made, I have closed this thread to help keep comments current and up to date. We recommend starting a new thread for your issue. 
To be more helpful with your post, you can add key information if you desire: 
1. Product Name and Number (please do not post Serial Number)
• Example: HP Pavilion DV2-1209AX or HP Deskjet 3000 Printer CH393A
2. Operating System installed (if applicable)
• Example: Windows XP, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit
3. Error message (if any)
• Example: ""Low disk space"" error in Windows
4. Any changes made to your system before the issue occurred
• Examples: Upgrading your Operating System or installing a new software; or installing new hardware like a printer, modem, or router.
If you have any other questions about forum posting, please feel free to send me a private message!

Thank you