[Seeker]

OK, here we go.
I'm not totally dumb when it comes to computers, but I really need some advice here.
We have an HP Scanjet 5100C. There are no drivers available from HP for XP. (Upgrade to XP version is available, but not full XP new install version.) There are WIA drivers for this scanner, but they are very limited in function and quality.
On HP's forums several guys suggested downloading the drivers for the 5200C and then installing the XP upgrade for the 5200C. HP said not to try it as it was "not supported". We ignored HP and did it anyway. Everything worked fine except sometimes the computer did not find the scanner, an occasionally we would get odd error messages. We don't know if the errors were related to the scanner or not. Generally everything and everybody was happy.
Then after six months of use, our registry went caput and the machine would not boot, not even in safe mode. We rebuilt the hive just to get the system up and backed up all our data. Then we did a format and reinstallation.
The question is: Should we set up the scanner with the same drivers and configuration again, or is it likely/possible that that was what caused our problem?
Apparently for the 5100C which is a parallel port unit, the software somehow "fools" the port into thinking its a SCSI port.
Dell Dimension 4600
XP HE
2.6 P4
1 Gig Ram

I will not buy HP again.