Scanning issue

[AlwaysOnAuto]

My wife is scanning some old photos and asked me to help.

I've scanned a photo of her parents on my HP Photosmart C7280 All-in-One printer.
When I look at the scan it is covered with what looks like lint/fuzz all over the dark areas of the print.

Is it possible the scanner is picking up dirt that was on the equipment that printed the photo?

I've cleaned the bed glass of my printer/scanner and it looks pristine to the naked eye, even under close scrutiny with a flash light and magnifying glass.

Any help would be appreciated.
I feel like I'm chasing a unicorn about now.

[NorthernFocus]

Posting an example would help.

[Shadowman]

Sounds like you are getting pixelation during the scan, check the quality settings.

[Geoff F]

Have you checked with another image to see what that one is like?

I'm not familiar with that particular scanner but scanning photos and expecting high quality results does take a bit of skill. What sort of adjustments do you have? Auto settings can produce many problems.

What does the original photo look like if you view it under magnification?

My initial guess would be that either the black areas in the original have started to deteriorate or your scanner is failing to deal with larger black areas, possibly because it requires different manual settings.

I use the Epson Perfection V800 scanner which can produce good results when the correct settings are used; but that machine comes with a fairly high cost price.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I've scrubbed the platen glass with a clean micro fiber cloth and the results are now satisfactory. Seems the platen has some scratches that don't show up under visual inspection but do when the scan feature is used.
Thanks for the replies.