i have a problem with scanned pics from books, they are bad
this is what they look like, the first 2 pics posted in the thread here below
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … 859#159859
any help to remedy this problem will be very appreciated
First of all Mal, I wouldn’t be suprised if my own scanner was struggling at 7 years old - technology is quite ‘disposable’ nowadays. 
Having said that, i’d go through some of the ‘usual suspects’ i.e. settings in the software you are using, update the drivers and make sure the glass surface is clean. Also see if you can see if there’s any dirt on the scanning lens as it is a regular pattern that is showing through on your scanned pictures.
I’ve got quite a few ‘bits’ attched to my computer system (extra controllers, web-cam, 2 printers, wireless router/switch etc) and it is my 5 year old scanner that gives me the most problems! 
Sorry I can’t be of any more precise help than that.
I’ve an idea why this is happening, and it’s happened to me before, but I’m not sure if I’m right or even if I can explain it so it makes sense, but here goes…
The print you’re scanning is probably, due to being relatively old, not all that detailed and if you got a magnifying glass to it I would imagine it’s kinda made up of a lot of printed “lines”. The scanner also scans the thing in line by line, and I suspect what’s happening is that as the lines are at different spacings that the funny pattern on the scan is emerging due to them not lining up.
As to what you could do to try and get rid, you could try scanning at a different resolution (your scanner might call it something in pixels per inch like 600x1200 or it might just call it something like “normal”, “fine”, “super fine” or something).
Failing that a newer higher resolution scanner might help as if you scan with something significantly higher resolution than the print then the lines won’t matter as much.
That’s my best guess, anyway. I could be way off target on it though…
Paul
thanks gents for the replies.
marcus, i aint ever updated anything, the scanner goes through win xp scanner & camra wizard, so i will get the thing updated for a start!
paul, i will try scannign at different res, and yes, the book is old! you might be right. i will try different pics at different resolutions and see.
dont say i might have to part with cash for a newwer model! 
Mal:
dont say i might have to part with cash for a newwer model!
shhhhh, don’t let my scanner hear you say things like that 
it’s an Epson GT5500 that (according to Google) was launched in 1997 , I think I bought in early in 1998 !!! - and it’s still working perfickly
im thinking “settings” den! think positive ! 
The standard XP drivers are not always the best ones; my graphics card (although it is crap anyway) is one example and ‘funny old thing’ the XP driver for scanner simply doesn’t work at all.
Have a look at http://www.driverguide.com or http://www.download.com; both are free but might require you to register. Driverguide was the only place I could get a working driver for my scanner.
yes mt, this scanner being old, has drivers for 9x & nt, which is why i didnt load the drivers, good ole xp just worked! i also thought i might try scanning thriough a programme instead of through the xp wizard!
What make and model is it Mal?
I’ve encountered a similar problem before Mal, that was down to the wrong ‘Image source’ setting (on the software that came with the scanner)
You needed to match up the setting to the type of picture - B&W, colour, reflective etc - particularly for glossy mag/book pics or photo prints
How I found out was to scan a pic on each setting to find the one that worked.
Jules