Problem with scanner - blurred portions of image

[Perene]

I have a scanner (also printer) here, called Epson XP-204. It has been used for years and many scans. Recently I noticed, while using Adobe Photoshop 2015 (this problem also occurs in the Epson app for Windows 10-64) that some parts of the image were blurred, opaque.

This is the image:
https://goo.gl/xaP3Oj

I tried re-scanning it, this time inverting the page of the book, so as to see if other portions of the mirror (from the scanner) were affected. If not, then I would know this is from the book itself:

https://goo.gl/cayJLv

As you can see by comparing the two images, the 2nd one is clear in that are where you can read: 7. UNITAU, meaning that it is indeed a flaw in the scanning process, I am saying that the scanner isn't working properly as it should, creating this blur.

In both scenarios I scanned at 600 DPI.

The question is: can this be fixed or I'll only solve my problem buying a new scanner?

 

[corkyg]

600 dpi is very high res for plain text. Try it at 400 or 300 and see if it is clearer. BTW, since it is plain text, have you considered scanning directly into a word processor or PDF file that can be edited?

 

[Perene]

The problem was solved by putting some weight above the scanner. It seems the page wasn't properly aligned, as pointed by the user Solandri in his post:

If that were true, there would not be any shadows around the edges of the paper in your scans. But there clearly are shadows. This is telling you the paper is not sitting flush against the glass, and you "need to put some weight above the scanner for the page to settle down."

In your last picture, if you look at the edge of the paper under the page number "138", you can see it's curved and the shadow disappears. This indicates the paper has lifted slightly off the glass and is sticking to the scanner lid instead of the glass. And that corresponds exactly to where the text is blurry.

Edit: Looking at the picture of your scanner, it's hard to tell but it looks like the right side hinge for the lid is missing a plastic spacer which is present on the left side. This is probably causing the lid not to lay flat against the glass. The paper gets sucked up against the lid in some places by static, resulting in blurry regions. Places where the paper stays flat against the glass remain sharp.

I said in response:

Well, it seems you were right, but that was the 1st time ever something like this occured to me. I never had to put any weight above the scanner like you see here:

https://goo.gl/8u90cd

However, that was necessary for the image to get rid of this problem. Compare the two images:
https://goo.gl/19Bwb2

I said that was unnecessary because I didn't see how the page wasn't properly placed aganst the glass. At least I couldn't see how it wasn't that way, judging from how it laid against the glass without any sign of lifting itself up.

 

[corkyg]

That makes sense. Some papers that have been folded with a crease need weight to flatten them. The scanner lid is not always heavy enough. The same thing applies to a copier.