Add a new Bamboo pen to Splash Wacom Tablet

November 13, 2014 8:23 AM

I have a Bamboo Splash Wacom Tablet CTL571 running on Mac OS 10.6.8. I lost my pen and bought another pen, the Bamboo LP170ES which supposedly works with Splash. I reinstalled everything but the pen does not work. Is this a simple case that I got an incompatible pen? I know it is not the one that originally came with the Splash but the research I did do said it was compatible. I evend downloaded the legacy driver from Wacom for Splash to be safe, though I installed everything first (including ArtRage and Sketchbook Pro). I am off to work now but will monitor any wise input and take a crack at this later. Any thoughts appreciated.
posted by chicaboom to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: I feel like Wacom should pay me for customer service, since I answer these questions a lot. Or at least send me some plastic nibs for free.

Anyways I find the wacom drivers very persnickety. As in, sometimes I just unplug my device, plug it in again and then need to reinstall the driver. Or if I boot up without the device plugged into USB, then I'll need to reinstall the driver. Or if I bring the computer out of hibernate mode, the whole thing won't work. And sometimes the pen just takes the day off.

So I would try a sequence like:
reboot computer (nothing plugged in)
reboot again with tablet plugged in, pen away from tablet
re-install the driver
wait for a minute
try the pen
re-reinstall the driver
call wacom tech support

I'm not being tongue in cheek; I've had to futz around with the driver installation / plugging sequence to get things to work. Be creative and call customer service if it doesn't work.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:02 AM on November 13, 2014

I think you purchased the wrong pen for your Wacom Tablet. It seems like the Bamboo "Splash" Wacom tablet is a revisioned version of the Bamboo "Connect".

I think you need to get a pen that works with the Bamboo "Connect" because it seems like Bamboo LP170ES is for the Bamboo "Create," which is a different line of their bamboo tablets.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 5:06 PM on November 13, 2014

Best answer: So specifically, you'd want to get the Wacom LP170G pen.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 5:18 PM on November 13, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks all. I contacted Wacom and they sent me the driver (which was for a higher OS so didn't work but it was the right idea but St. Peepsburg beat them to the punch). I found the right legacy driver and the pen seems to work perfectly and even has eraser...though I have reservations about it and woulda/coulda/shoulda bought the LP170G Pen perhaps. I may anyway. I do think the pen should work with the Wacom but then again, I just may be crazy.

Thanks all. Much appreciated, as usual.
posted by chicaboom at 9:59 PM on November 15, 2014