MG3250 Printer throws up error message - Scangear cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons

[thebellywelly]

Hi

I have an MG 3250 printer running off an HP Pavilion Laptop using Windows 8.1. Every time I try to scan  I get an error message that 'cannot  communicate with scanner for these reasons...........etc'. The only way I can get the printer / scanner to work is by going through the Control Panel / Hardware & Printers route. This seems terribly slow and time consuming. What is wrong and what needs to be done to correct the problem?

Thanks