[PLUG] Scanner Issue

[Fred James]

Rich Shepard wrote:
>    To take pressure off John and his monitor I've a question for you hardware
> gurus about my HP 5200C scanner. What might make it produce garbage rather
> than clean text and photos?
>
>    A few weeks ago I asked about an issue scanning color photographs. Today I
> tried scanning a technical paper and saw gibberish in black and white rather
> than color. The last time I scanned paper it worked just fine.
>
>    Has anyone ideas about what might have gone wrong, and whether it could be
> fixed? Or, should I just replace it with another legal-size flatbed scanner?
> (Note: I don't want a multi-function machine as I already have two printers
> and a fax machine here.)
>
> Rich
>   
Rich Shepard
<http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?tmp_task=solveCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=61254> 
(assuming that is a good match to your machine) doesn't seem to address 
what you are describing.
    Are there any error message ... I assume not since you didn't 
mention any, but I thought I'd ask anyway?

OK then, this only a scanner with no other capabilities (copy, print, 
etc), so one cannot test other function like the copy function output.  
But what you have noticed is that the quality of the scan output has 
deteriorated.

Has anything changed between the time of acceptable and unacceptable 
output?  The usual stuff ... OS, driver, interface, cable, etc?  On the 
subject of interface and cable ... have you unseated, cleaned, and 
reseated these connections?  If not, can you, and if yes, then was there 
any change in the operation or output?

If all of the above is good, except the output continues unimproved ... 
one might not be faulted for suspecting the lamp.  Or maybe dirt/dust 
inside the scanner (low probability, I think)?
Hope that helps
Regards
Fred James