Anyway, I was referring to the possibility that the CCD might be out
of optical/mechanical alignment with the 'home position', or might
have dirt/dust on that end of the CCD, which might screw up the
pattern detection.

If its out of alignment, there's little I can do; it's a plastic assembly
riding on a polished rod. Not a precision fit, and no adjustment I can see...

I never cleaned the CCD assembly, but what have I got to lose? I'll take some
alcohol to it and see what happens.

The latter is a very common failure mode, BTW. And those tiny clip
down connectors for the mylar film cables pop open/loose *very*
easily, especially with vibration. Back when I fixed Toshiba laptops
for a living, those bloody connectorss were the single most common
cause of screen failures (after accidental breakage), because the LCD
modules use as many as eight of those ribbons to connect the
pixel-drive controller boards to the actual glass, & when one came
loose, part of the screen would go dead. The best fix turned out to be
re-clipping the ribbon firmly & then taping across the clip & part of
the ribbon with fibreglass tape, a procedure that Toshiba eventually
started doing at the factory.

Did Toshiba give you credit for the fix? (c: Well, at least the world now
knows the Lionel designed it! Take note, world!!

From the connector, or from the ribbon itself?

Ribbon only. I'll attempt to test across the connectors next.

My pleasure. Even if it hasn't gotten your scanner going, maybe
someone will have found the discussion educational. ;^)

And with the added bonus of USENET's "forever" archive, your advice is
recorded for future generations (c:

Thanks again,

Sparky