Hp Scanjet 3970 - Help Required

murphydavid

HP SCANJET 3970. Trying to scan usually produces one of about 3 error messages but every now and then it lights up and the scan bar traverses but the scan produced is a mass of dark coloured patches.
I bought it in the USA (because it was so much cheaper there) so can’t return to the shop.
Its brand new and never worked.
Further details. The required specification is fine for my computer and it says it runs with my Windows 98 SE. I have obtained a transformer power pack of the correct voltage (240v ac to 12v dc). The HP software disc (there was only one) installed fine. I can’t be sure if I should have had a separate driver disc – anyway no separate drivers have been installed. When first attached to the computer via USB1 I saw the new hardware installed OK message thingy. I thought there might be a conflict of devices so I rebuilt my software from scratch (Format c: etc) and with only windows 98 installed and only the one device in the USB ports it still produced the same result. I tried emailing the HP technical help but they did not reply. I do not have access to another computer on which to try it out. I can’t return it to HP and say it is broken because I’m not sure that it is. Any Ideas please?

Thanks