Black lines on MPC2800

[Prodigal Son]

I'm the senior tech he was talking about... And I've been digging deep in this. It turns out our showroom machine (though an MPC4000) does the exact same thing.

First of all - prints are perfect, this is no mechanical error. Normal copies are fine, it's only duplex copies that are weird - and only the backside. As some of you have suggested, the first thing I did was to go into copier settings > edit and set 1-2 sided duplex margin to 0. Strangly enough, this does not have any effect at all. I even tried setting it to 30mm just to see what happens but there is still no visible change what so ever which clearly indicates an error of some sort.

I've gone through the usual leading edge registration adjustment (SP1001, SP4010) and also checked sub scan magnification, side to side reg, etc. And as I said - singlesided copies are perfect. Duplex copies are also perfect but only on the front page. On the rear this line always shows, and of course it is the originals paper edge that shows because the image is being moved way to the left. There is a perfect example of this attached...

One other thing I think is rather odd... When scanning (to mail) the same original with duplex setting, there is no movement of the image. They look perfect. So it actually looks as though the scanner is working as it should, which suggests the problem lies in how the machine utilizes the scanned image to make a copy. Again, this points to the 1-2 sided duplex margin. And the fact that nothing happens when I change it's value makes me suspect there is a firmware issue.

Therefore I updated all the firmware to the latest one I could find on Tessa. I even updated the ones that were the same version, just to overwrite any bad firmware in case that could happen. So the entire firmware is updated. Still no progress...

To quote Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager... "Logic can never be flawed" - but where the hell is the logic in this?

[NeoMatrix]

If you done every thing else it sounds like the RDF (Doc Feeder) is lagging ?
Is this a single image copied double side off the glass (Platen)?
I had some R/ADF drive mag-clutchs bind up on brand new machines and lag/drag causing p/j's.

Causing hair pulling out fustration....

HTH
GDM

[Prodigal Son]

Is this a single image copied double side off the glass (Platen)?

Yes exactly. I've only concentrated in copying from the glass and not the document feeder, so far. Figured it's best to get it right from the glass first and go from there. And to make sure I don't accidently move the paper, I've let it stay on the glass and just copied the same image twice, just as you said.

[E Winter]

Have you checked if the machine is shifting the backside in PRINTING mode as well?
I'd also recommend to printout the non-default SMC page and check if there's any suspicios SP setting. You can also scan and post the page so we can take a look as well.

You can also backup the NV-Ram data via SD card and perform an engine reset, try a test run again and restore the nvram data with your backup. I've seen problems disappearing even if it's not logical if you copy this 1:1 backup into the machine.

[Prodigal Son]

Have you checked if the machine is shifting the backside in PRINTING mode as well?
I'd also recommend to printout the non-default SMC page and check if there's any suspicios SP setting. You can also scan and post the page so we can take a look as well.

You can also backup the NV-Ram data via SD card and perform an engine reset, try a test run again and restore the nvram data with your backup. I've seen problems disappearing even if it's not logical if you copy this 1:1 backup into the machine.

Yes, prints are not a problem. I've also compared the non-default SMC to the factory mode setting list and tried to change everything back to factory settings. Still the same though.

Remember there are two seperate machines, the MPC2800 at the customers and our showroom MPC4000, acts exactly the same. To reset NVRAM is a good idea, I think I'll try that this afternoon.

[E Winter]

I've overread that you showroom machine is doing the same issue - that is indeed strange of course. I've checked a brand new MPC2800 and it's doing the same symptome until I set User Tools > Copier Document Server Feautures > Edit > "1sided -> 2sided auto margin" to "0"

[Prodigal Son]

I've overread that you showroom machine is doing the same issue - that is indeed strange of course. I've checked a brand new MPC2800 and it's doing the same symptome until I set User Tools > Copier Document Server Feautures > Edit > "1sided -> 2sided auto margin" to "0"

Very, very interesting... Could you please check your firmware versions on that machine? If I guess, I'd say you probably have an older firmware version than I have on this machine, and that may be the problem... They must have overwritten something.

My versions are:
Engine 1.55.09
System copy 1.24
Scanner 1.24

Not sure which one of these that would contain the 1-2 side auto margin setting...

Edit: Oh, and those firmware versions are for the customers MPC2800, not the MPC4000. Just for comparison.

[E Winter]

Not sure which one of these that would contain the 1-2 side auto margin setting...

probably system copy - our MPC2800 looks up to date except scanner wich is 1.23

I've attached a diagnostic report and non-default scan:

20101105151103293.pdf

The User Settings should look like this (photo taken from a MPC2500 but it should look the same on the new MPC series):

Bild119.jpg

[Prodigal Son]

Yes, that's exactly how my screen looks as well... the settings I mean.

What happens if you change the 1 sided > 2 sided auto margin to 30mm? Do you get a reaction on the copies? (cause I don't)

I'm not ready to abandon my theory about the firmware though... is it possible to "downdate" the firmware, and if so, does anyone have older firmware?


I don't have the diag report and non default settings for the MPC2800 right now, but I'll attach them for the MPC4000 here.

[E Winter]

Our machine reacts like it should if I edit the auto margin value. Usually it's possible to downgrade the FW - maybe you can compare ALL FW versions with the ones on my diagnostic report and try to get different versions via tessa. We're closing in a few minutes but I have these FW versions on my PDA in case you need something via mail.