gorlinj
asked on
Phaser 840 not printing correctly
Hey guys, I need some serious help here.
I have a phaser 840 with 3rd party ink (don't know if that makes a difference). It has a second 500 sheet paper tray. Whenever i print anything (from a pc or from the printer) and it comes from the main tray it comes out all distorted and faded (i can't almost tell what it says). When I print from the second tray or from the manual feed it print perfectly for the first half of the page, then for the second half there seems to be a big circular part missing. There seems to be like a big hole in the bottom half of the page with no ink at all, just white. Although there is the rest of the image around this "hole".
Please advise, I can attach pictures if necessary.
Thanks
I have a phaser 840 with 3rd party ink (don't know if that makes a difference). It has a second 500 sheet paper tray. Whenever i print anything (from a pc or from the printer) and it comes from the main tray it comes out all distorted and faded (i can't almost tell what it says). When I print from the second tray or from the manual feed it print perfectly for the first half of the page, then for the second half there seems to be a big circular part missing. There seems to be like a big hole in the bottom half of the page with no ink at all, just white. Although there is the rest of the image around this "hole".
Please advise, I can attach pictures if necessary.
Thanks
ASKER
Hey,
Thanks for the fast response.
First of all i have no idea what to check or to clean but i amanged to find the drum i think and fix that. I don't know what the transfix roller is though or where it is. What is interesting is I enabled the duplexing mode and now sometimes it comes out alright, other times it is the same problem. I know have two links to images of the problem:
http://webmail.yeshivaatlanta.org:52080/tektronix%20printer.jpg
http://webmail.yeshivaatlanta.org:52080/tektronix%20printer%20001.jpg
Please advise.
Thanks
Thanks for the fast response.
First of all i have no idea what to check or to clean but i amanged to find the drum i think and fix that. I don't know what the transfix roller is though or where it is. What is interesting is I enabled the duplexing mode and now sometimes it comes out alright, other times it is the same problem. I know have two links to images of the problem:
http://webmail.yeshivaatlanta.org:52080/tektronix%20printer.jpg
http://webmail.yeshivaatlanta.org:52080/tektronix%20printer%20001.jpg
Please advise.
Thanks
ASKER
Sorry, I forgot to include in my last post that when i disable duplexing the machine gets a jam right when the paper comes out everytime and once i enable duplexing again it james alot of the time and when it jams the image is distorted while when it doesn't jam, it comes out alright.
Thanks again
Thanks again
Those images are very odd indeed. First the good news: it looks as if the printhead is OK - but remember my warnings against 3rd party ink.
I have never seen a problem like yours, so I'm guessing. Have a look at the following 2 areas.
Open the exit cover again, and lift up the blue flap inside. Some Phaser 840s have a blue "blade" below that. If it is there, unclip it from its 2 support clips, and have a look at the bottom end of the blade. There should be a clear plastic blade at the bottom. This should be perfectly straight and clean. If it has any bends or kinks, it needs to be replaced. If the blue blade is not there, in its place you'll see half a dozen or so black fingers, with blue bits at the bottom. If they're not OK they may need to be replaced. In that case get a technician to install the blue blade instead.
The second area to check is the maintenance tray (the black tray inserted from the front panel. Take it out and look at the blade behind the roller. It's a metal blade with a clear silicon rubber strip at the top. Is the clear strip OK? It does not really matter if it is dirty, as long as it's there and nice and straight. Also look at the 2 black pins at the side of the tray which lift the roll up. If the underside of those pins is not straight, build them up with a small metal tube or a cable tie.
As for your jams, they're probably caused by either a sticky solenoid or a faulty clutch, both inside the right-hand cover. You can fix the solenoid yourself, but the clutch would need to be replaced,
I have never seen a problem like yours, so I'm guessing. Have a look at the following 2 areas.
Open the exit cover again, and lift up the blue flap inside. Some Phaser 840s have a blue "blade" below that. If it is there, unclip it from its 2 support clips, and have a look at the bottom end of the blade. There should be a clear plastic blade at the bottom. This should be perfectly straight and clean. If it has any bends or kinks, it needs to be replaced. If the blue blade is not there, in its place you'll see half a dozen or so black fingers, with blue bits at the bottom. If they're not OK they may need to be replaced. In that case get a technician to install the blue blade instead.
The second area to check is the maintenance tray (the black tray inserted from the front panel. Take it out and look at the blade behind the roller. It's a metal blade with a clear silicon rubber strip at the top. Is the clear strip OK? It does not really matter if it is dirty, as long as it's there and nice and straight. Also look at the 2 black pins at the side of the tray which lift the roll up. If the underside of those pins is not straight, build them up with a small metal tube or a cable tie.
As for your jams, they're probably caused by either a sticky solenoid or a faulty clutch, both inside the right-hand cover. You can fix the solenoid yourself, but the clutch would need to be replaced,
ASKER
I have tried all that u have mentioned and nothing seems to work. An interesting note however is that when i play around with the Collation and duplexing settings I can get it to print sometimes but it only works when it spits out the page then takes it back in again then spits out the correct page. What is this called/where is the setting? I still don't know why, but it jams everytime i print but when i reset the printer (power cycle) it will work for the first page or two, then jam. If it helps i can tell you that when it jams there is nothing at all on the paper and when it doesn't jam there is at least something on the page either the correct image of the ones i attached above. Is this printer worth fixing, are there parts I can buy and easily switch out, can i take it somewhere to fix where it won't put a hole in my pocket? Also take a look at post
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21193979/TEKTRONIX-PHASER-840-Won't-print-properly-from-paper-tray.html which is talking about the same printer, (a coworker posted it ). When i try printing from the main tray (built in one) its really weird. But if you look at the other post it says that the printer would work correctly if manually fed but now since it has been moved and all, that doesn't work either. Sorry if this is confusing but I would really like to resolve this issue as these are great printers.
THanks
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21193979/TEKTRONIX-PHASER-840-Won't-print-properly-from-paper-tray.html which is talking about the same printer, (a coworker posted it ). When i try printing from the main tray (built in one) its really weird. But if you look at the other post it says that the printer would work correctly if manually fed but now since it has been moved and all, that doesn't work either. Sorry if this is confusing but I would really like to resolve this issue as these are great printers.
THanks
ASKER
IN addition, I don't know if this makes a difference but on the configuration page under Installed Ram under Memory Slot 1 it says SDRAM / non-parity/ 64MBytes then under that it says something weird: VwTRfRHlHwV,,TTv. Any ideas of what this is? Could the problem be related to faulty ram?
That could indeed indicate the RAM is stuffed, which in turn could cause very unusual printing problems.
I missed your earlier post when I replied to the last one.
I'm not sure if this is relevant, but here are a couple of things about how the printer operates. First of all, when it receives commands telling it where to put things on the page, these get "painted" into an internal bitmap (part of the memory). Then, when th eprinter receives the PostScript "showpage" command, the current contents are put on the paper. That is why faulty RAM can cause weird prints.
Then the printer prints, it first paints the image onto the drum. Just before that finishes it picks paper. If a jam occurs at that stage, the printer is left with an incomplete image on the drum, so, after the jam is cleared the printer "wipes" the drum clean on another sheet of paper and then *reprints* the page. That is the only way it can gurantee you will get every page correctly. Hence, after clearing a jam you may get a partially completed image - the incomplete image is in narrow vertical strips, and may even be fully finished depending on just when the jam occurs. The next page will be a reprint of the (hopefully) complete page.
When duplexing, the printer always prints page 2 first, ejects the paper three quarters, pulls it back in and then prints page one. Hence, if you're duplexing a single-page document, it will first print a blank page 2, and then page 1. This need to be done to keep the correct page sequence through a document (page 1 needs to be at the bottom in the output tray). With multi-page documents it continues in this way, always printing the odd-numbered page before the even-numbered one.
I made comments on the other question you listed. If this is the same printer, it certainly looks as if it has several problems - at least a jamming issue and a weird imaging issue. I'm not sure if it is worth fixing, and it seems the only way to find out is to get a technician to look at it; These printers are now 5 years or older, so repairs quickly cost more than the printer is worth. Anyway, the techo would need to be one who understands these printers. They are not even remotely like lasers or even inkjets.
I'm not sure if this is relevant, but here are a couple of things about how the printer operates. First of all, when it receives commands telling it where to put things on the page, these get "painted" into an internal bitmap (part of the memory). Then, when th eprinter receives the PostScript "showpage" command, the current contents are put on the paper. That is why faulty RAM can cause weird prints.
Then the printer prints, it first paints the image onto the drum. Just before that finishes it picks paper. If a jam occurs at that stage, the printer is left with an incomplete image on the drum, so, after the jam is cleared the printer "wipes" the drum clean on another sheet of paper and then *reprints* the page. That is the only way it can gurantee you will get every page correctly. Hence, after clearing a jam you may get a partially completed image - the incomplete image is in narrow vertical strips, and may even be fully finished depending on just when the jam occurs. The next page will be a reprint of the (hopefully) complete page.
When duplexing, the printer always prints page 2 first, ejects the paper three quarters, pulls it back in and then prints page one. Hence, if you're duplexing a single-page document, it will first print a blank page 2, and then page 1. This need to be done to keep the correct page sequence through a document (page 1 needs to be at the bottom in the output tray). With multi-page documents it continues in this way, always printing the odd-numbered page before the even-numbered one.
I made comments on the other question you listed. If this is the same printer, it certainly looks as if it has several problems - at least a jamming issue and a weird imaging issue. I'm not sure if it is worth fixing, and it seems the only way to find out is to get a technician to look at it; These printers are now 5 years or older, so repairs quickly cost more than the printer is worth. Anyway, the techo would need to be one who understands these printers. They are not even remotely like lasers or even inkjets.
ASKER
Whats interesting is after readin some posts on tek-tips.com i got some ideas to tka ethe thing apart and look for a preheat sensor of somekind so i disassembled and fiddled with it and believe it or not i got at least 10-15 pages perfectly with awesome color and everything! There were indeed no jams. Could there still be a ram problem or is this insufficient data? Lastly, is there anyway at all the know which sensor it is triggering, diagnostic mode as the call it in outher forums, or possible a way to disable them and the paper isn't physically getting stuck so if a triger its pulled it may work right? IT just baffles me to know that i got it to print something and now its jamming again. I believe it could the sping loaded sensor on the top cover or the preheat exit sensor. Finally, if i switched out the ram from a working machine would that be evidence enough to know if that was the problem?
Thanks
Thanks
OK, maybe it's not a RAM problem. And as you suggested, swapping RAM with another 840 will settle the issue.
You can get a better idea of where the jam problem occurs, by doing the following:
On the printer's front panel select Menus. Scrollto Troubleshooting and press Select. Then, hold down the Left arrow button and press Select. That will enter a Service menu, in which you will find a Fault History. Please list the top 5 faults and 'll try to give a better idea about the problem
You can get a better idea of where the jam problem occurs, by doing the following:
On the printer's front panel select Menus. Scrollto Troubleshooting and press Select. Then, hold down the Left arrow button and press Select. That will enter a Service menu, in which you will find a Fault History. Please list the top 5 faults and 'll try to give a better idea about the problem
ASKER
Last five faults:
5:22,600.01:184524
4:22,600.01:184523
3:22,600.01:184522
2:22,600.01:184521
1:22,600.01:184520
By the way current print count is 184524
Plase advise,
Thanks again
5:22,600.01:184524
4:22,600.01:184523
3:22,600.01:184522
2:22,600.01:184521
1:22,600.01:184520
By the way current print count is 184524
Plase advise,
Thanks again
Error 22,600 indicates one of 2 problems: a worn drum maintenance clutch, or worn lift pins on the maintenance drawer. Both are simple things. I mentioned the pins in an earlier post. The DM clutch is the clutch at the bottom front inside the left side cover. It cannot be repaired, so you'll need to source one from a friendly Xerox techo.
ASKER
COuld you please specify the exact part/parts that i would need to purchase and where i could do so online?
Thanks
Thanks
ASKER
Also,
Is it easy to switch them out by myself or is this impossible and only a technician can?
Is it easy to switch them out by myself or is this impossible and only a technician can?
Part number of the clutch is 401-0807-02
It is very simple to replace, but I cannot tell you where to buy one. You can start with your nearest Xerox repair shop or go to
http://www.office.xerox.com/userdoc/P8200/8200_Web/partslist/
The maintenance drawer (have you checked the pins yet?) is part no 436-0359-01. Replacing it takes 10 seconds.
It is very simple to replace, but I cannot tell you where to buy one. You can start with your nearest Xerox repair shop or go to
http://www.office.xerox.com/userdoc/P8200/8200_Web/partslist/
The maintenance drawer (have you checked the pins yet?) is part no 436-0359-01. Replacing it takes 10 seconds.
ASKER
I have ordered the clutch part and it should be here tomorrow. What does this clutch control? Does it just control the paper trays or does this control the actual drum and this controls every page that goes through the printer? I replaced the drawer with a working one so that can't be it. Another interesting observation, when I use manual feed and I turn off duplexing the page goes through all right but half or it is distorted (see above). When I turn on duplexing and do manual feed i get the paper jam error. Now i have a new list of errors:
page count: 184586
5:22,600.01:184586
4:22,600.01:184585
3:22.200.06:184584
2:22,400.08:184583
1:22,600.01:184582
Do you think this problem will be sloved with this new part? How do I go about switching it out? Is there a guide online I could follow or just some advice before I do it?
Thanks
page count: 184586
5:22,600.01:184586
4:22,600.01:184585
3:22.200.06:184584
2:22,400.08:184583
1:22,600.01:184582
Do you think this problem will be sloved with this new part? How do I go about switching it out? Is there a guide online I could follow or just some advice before I do it?
Thanks
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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BTW, the drum maintenance system is used to oil the drum prior to each print cycle. This is done by lifting the maintenance drawer so the maintenance roll contacts the drum. And that's why both the drawer or the clutch can cause the problem.
ASKER
I installed the part successfully and this printer works perfectly now!! Thank you so much for your help!!!
However, while I would strong;y recoomend using genuine ink, that does not seem to be your problem. The big "circular hole" could be caused by damage to the drum or the transfix roller. If you open the exit cover and lift the blue flap you can see the drum at the bottom of the well. When the printer if off it can be turned by hand (after removing the side covers). The transfix roller is located at the front of the front of the well, above the drum. The paper passes between them once the image is on the drum.
Can you print out the Diagnostic Pages (on the front panel select Menus, Troubleshooting, Print Diagnostic Pages) and let me know what they look like? There will be a page showing each of the jets (they are numbered). Let me know how many are missing.