Digital BW, The Print

I have the Nikon Coolscan IV version 3.1.2 (driver)
I'm using a PC with Windows XP.
Digital ICE is turned OFF.

My problem is when scanning black & white negatives the scans come 
out with a dark band (as much as a 1cm width when viewing the 
preview images) that spills from the outer edge onto both short ends 
of the frame, as if too much light was reaching that part of the 
frame or something.  

I am choosing Monochrome Neg and Grayscale when scanning.  The dark 
bands appear in the small          s, previews, and actual scans.  

As I crop when I shoot, the edges of my images are very important to 
me.  I cannot afford to crop out this darkened edge.

This problem does not happen with slides or color negative film.

Can anyone help?