ok so i'm working with a hewlett packard photo scanner 1000, it's an offshoot of the photosmart series i believe, and it's a compact 6"x8" flatbed scanner (approx. the size of a photo). my problem? it will only scan certain "lines" of the image, resulting in a barcode sort of pattern. these lines run horizontally across the picture, that is, from the top to the bottom of the photo if you've taken it in the wider than it is tall style. they always occur in the same places - a short set of spazzy lines at the top of the picture (left side of image when displayed on cpu screen), stop, then a long line resumes at the opposite end of the photo. inbetween it's pure black, as if nothing had been scanned. the lines at the beginning of the scan are red, and the ones at the end are blue. i did some research, 2 damn hours to be exact, and found that this is due to one of three things: 1. a flickering scanner lamp light, 2. a sticky carriage guiding the lamp, or 3. an insufficient power cube. i think my problem is a loose belt or a sticky guide rod controlling the carriage, because according to the website (http://www.scantips.com/faq1.html#lines) broken carriages show lines at the same places every time you scan, whereas a flickering lamp shows lines wherever it flickers and power cubes show lines randomly all over the image. i haven't personally used this scanner successfully, it's possible it could be a glitch in the hardware, it's been doing this since the first time i tried to use it a year ago and has been idle since. my sister, however, purchased and used it before i did but "can't remember" if it scanned right or not. i think it did, for a couple reasons, but if so i don't see why it would have stopped working. so if this isn't my problem, what is? and if it IS my problem, can anyone give me advice on manually fixing the hardware inside the scanner to fix my flickering lamp or sticky carriage? i have zero experience with hardware, i am a software kinda guy, but i'm willing to take a stab anyway. i have in my posession telecom. tools (and someone who knows how to use them better than i do) - a wire sotterer, some kind of thing to determine a break in a cord, a line tester, etc etc if it's of any relevance. can anyone experienced with hardware maintenance or manufacturing help me, or point me to somewhere that can? or am i chasing a lost cause?

well after some work, i found out where my problem is - it's on the gears that turn the belt on my "carriage". the gears that make the lamp light move across the glass glides for a little while, reverses for half a second, then continues gliding. this happens 3 times every time i scan a photo. is there any way to fix the malfunctioned gear that moves my lamp light that slips back and reverses, then starts going again? if i'm correct, all scanners should scan in one smooth motion.

The software will cause the scanner to 'rescan' when it doesn't get good data, I know that. My old HP scanner would do that a lot before it died completely. I felt it was the lamp, since my scans came out solid black. I tried to find a replacement lamp on Google, but did not have any luck. Since it was out of warranty, I trashed it. What made me mad as that my son didn't tell me about it until AFTER the warranty ran out! My suggestion? Buy a new one. They are cheap. Hope this helps.