Replacement for Agfa Snapscan e40?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

My Snapscan e40 appears to be close to death. Until recently it has been
working quite happily on my Windows XP Home PC having previously worked on a
W98 system.

As of today, the front screen of ScanWise 2.0 loads and just sits there
saying "preparing to use scanner . . ." or somesuch - and doesn't get as far
as the pre-scan dialogue. Looking in Windows Task Manager, ScanWise is using
99% of the processor time - so it is presumably waiting for some response
which it's not getting from the scanner.

I connected it to the old W98 system to try to isolate the problem. It
behaves much the same - but can be persuaded to do the occasional scan by
powering it off an on (the scanner, that is) once or twice.

I've taken it apart and made sure all the internal electrical connections
are secure.

TWO QUESTIONS:

1. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem is, and how to fix it?

2. Assuming it *can't* easily be fixed, does anyone have any recommendations
for a replacement. I want a good reliable bog-standard flatbed A4
single-sheet scanner for scanning photographs (colour) and sheet music
(black & white). Nothing too fancy, and preferably costing less than 100
UKP.

TIA
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.