Problem scanning.

Gday all. I have a Lexmark 1185 scanner, one of those all-in-one units.
But lately whenever I scan I get multicoloured lines going through the scan, whether there is paper in it or not or if the resulution is at 70 or 300 d.p.i.
Here's a screenshot of what the lines look like in a scan (cropped a bit):



I contacted Lexmark technical support, but they gave me a load of unhelpful crap. Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone know of a solution?

I hope I'm not giving you the same unhelpful crap. My guess, possibly the motor having trouble moving or dust in the optics. You could try cleaning it with compressed air or with a Q-tip and alcohol. If still under warranty I think they can repair defective parts. Otherwise you are better off buying a new scanner.

Perhaps, but I don't have any money.
And I think the warranty papers went into the bin the day it came home.

It sure looks like Motor trouble.
Or the Worm gear that pushes the scanner bar along it's path.

Are you able to watch the bar move smoothly along the length of the Glass?

The bar moves absolutely smoothly along the glass. When I scan at 600 dpi it slows down to a crawl, still smoothly at that speed. No jerks at all.

Actually, I just noticed that there is a peculiar cracking sound just before the lines occur. It sounds like glass cracking just before it breaks. It happens every time the lines appear. What could this mean?

HMM.

MAybe the glass is not seated properly.
possibly pushed down in some areas..
Or the scanning bar is pushed up, and making intermittant contact with the glass.
Does the glass lift out of the scanning bed? Maybe you could pull it, clean it, and out it back.