Scanner only scanning half of image

[bigalt]

So I've got this HP PSC 1610, one of those all-in-one's. The warranty timer hit and the scanner stopped working-- what happens is that there's a big thick black vertical stripe. It's not a clean black, as it's got little green streaks across it.

So the HP support guy said I'm pretty much SOL-- I can pay $30 to have them check it out, but with the chance that they're just going to say it's broken there's no way I'm doing that for a $130 machine.

So while it would be a nice surprise if someone here could tell me a fix (I've googled to no avail), I'd just like someone to support/refute my reasoning here, and tell me whether to open it up and tinker, risking the printing functionality

So cursory examination puts this stripe in the same place no matter the paper size or orientation. It's perpendicular to the scanning bar. The light for the scanner looks even across the whole scanning area.

So what I'm thinking is that the photocells (or whatever the functional piece of the scanning device is) are dead along that stripe. If the default state is black, and then every photon it detects makes it a little lighter, I imagine that a dead diode would give a black image.

However, I know nothing about them. Do these things burn out? The way I imagine them is that there are like hundreds of these little light detecting diodes in an array-- it seems odd that they would burn out all in a row like that. So can they not be getting power for some other reason?

This will probably go into the closet of stuff I might try to fix one day, unless someone can tell me how to fix it easily or that it's beyond hope!

 

[Peter]

Is this a "CCD bar" scanner, or is it using a stationary CCD with the traditional mirror-and-lens arrangement?

 

[bigalt]

hmm I'm not sure-- there is a small bar that moves across the scanning field upon which I had assumed the CCDs rest, but I would imagine that it's the standard setup since it's not too expensive a scanner. So that little bar is just a lamp, and maybe a mirror/lens to redirect the reflection somewhere else?

 

[corkyg]

Generally, that means you don't have enough memory available for the rest of the image.

 

[bigalt]

whoah, memory? like the memory inside the scanner? if some of it went bad, could it possibly still work except for screwups like this? I only ask because when even a tiny bit of my cpu memory is bad, it causes all kinds of catastrophic failures.

here's a picture if it helps anyone's diagnoses:

http://img356.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scannersucksko0.jpg

 

[Peter]

corky, that's a /vertical/ stripe, part of every scanline missing. Definitely not a memory problem.

bigalt, is the stripe sharp and with a digital look to it, or is it fuzzy at the sides in a thumb-in-front-of-lens kind of way?

 

[bigalt]

it's definitely got a well-defined edge-- one pixel is white and the next is black.

 

[Peter]

Then we're probably looking at a defective CCD, or, in case the CCD is in the moving bar, there's a remote chance it's just a loose or defective cable.

 

[bigalt]

maybe i'll wait till my wife leaves town and then open it up and poke around. I don't suppose there's anything physical to see when a CCD goes bad?

Thanks a bunch for the responses!

 

[pkme2]

If you can run the CCD in the open position, you'll be able to see the bar light up across the scanning area. There is a single flat-tape cable that supplies the power.

If the bar isn't fully lit, then its a hardware problem for sure. The cost of the part if defective would cost too much to repair.

My suggestion is another all-in-one or better yet, a stand alone scanner. Your choice.