Depends on whether "acting up" is a problem with hardware or software. If you're sure it's hardware and it's out of warranty, just throw it out. HP generally has only a 90-day warranty on the product. In general scanners aren't worth fixing, considering the replacement cost. I know this was an expensive scanner in its day, but you could replace it with something comparable for less than $150.

If you think the problem might be software, remove it and reinstall it. (You might try downloading the newest drivers from hp.com.) If that doesn't fix it, see the above paragraph.

I realize there may be more to this than meets the eye. I think it's a SCSI scanner, and if you're using it on that old tower, you probably don't have the USB interface that the new scanners require. But still . . . if you need a replacement SCSI scanner, you can get something secondhand that's comparable to the HP and costs less than $100.

If you want a quote on repairing the scanner, call an authorized HP dealer. I'll bet you'll be shocked at the price.

You are correct about the scanner being SCSI (and very expensive in its day). Is there any way to hook up a SCSI scanner to a laptop? Does hp or anyone recycle stuff like this? (I hate just throwing stuff like this into the trash.) I do want a flat bed scanner (new) that will do legal size documents. Any suggestions?

I've always liked Microtek scanners; they're solid and they last. Here's a link to a legal-sized scanner that has both SCSI and USB interfaces: http://www.microtekusa.com/smx12usl.html . It costs $300-400 but is likely a solid product.

You can get a parallel-to-SCSI or USB-to-SCSI converter from specialty stores on the Web. I've never used one and wouldn't trust it to do the job properly.