It sounds like you have all banks turned off. Your scanner has 10 banks of 50 channels each. They are numbered 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 0. Turn the scanner and, after the welcome screen, it should start scanning. It will probably say "all lock out" or "nothing to scan". I have the same scanner, but forget what it says. Now, press the 1 button and you should see bank 1 come on at the bottom of the display. do the same until all 10 banks (numbers 1 through 0) are showing on the bottom of the display. Now, that your banks are all unlocked, you can program it. To do that, consult your manual.