Ricoh Aficio SP c811dn - myriad of "replace", "insert", "low" errors, stumped techs

[FalconFour]

Well, I've got a head-scratcher - hopefully! Hopefully, rather, the generous and oft-underappreciated techs browsing this board enjoy a good head-scratcher...

Background
Our office has a Ricoh Aficio SP c811dn color laser printer, a pretty basic setup with just the base unit and an extra paper tray. At first glance it seemed to be a first-gen color laser printer from the early days, a massive behemoth of a machine. I was completely blindsided when I pulled out the control unit and found a hard drive, then a northbridge and southbridge, and what appeared to be (and was later confirmed to be) an x86 CPU - it's got a freakin' PC running the printer! Opening up the controller box, I was then pulled into a world of fascination when I saw an uncountable number of drive motors and sensors, a complex orchestra of printing madness that is an absolute miracle it works, and works as well as it does...

I dug into it and found it has 167,000 pages on it (about 100,000 in color mode since our users don't seem to like hitting "properties" to adjust the modes), has had every "counter-based" part replaced at least once, and had a run of SC340 (TD sensor output error) codes (don't have the materials with me at the moment, had to back-Google that - I just remember it was related to TD, had a "0", and started with "3") about 10,000 pages ago, about the time when the techs (and hence, our office) gave up on the printer and replaced it. We kept the Ricoh around as a backup.

Problem
For all that technology, it's begun to stump me as to why the heck the printer does what it does. It works. But it only works when you override all the supply and wear indicators in service mode! It prints with as-designed quality after the first 2-3 prints that come out with huge (but fading) black cloud-streaks across the width of the first few pages. It shows all toner levels as "full" at all times, but insists the transfer belt, fuser, PCUs, all need to be replaced "now"...

Diagnostics already performed
In diagnosing the problem (with the guidance of the 750-page service manual), I turned off the supply/detection overrides and let it detect itself. It immediately lit up errors like a Christmas tree: all the toners were at "low" (admittedly, they are old, but only one or two are near-empty), and the only component that didn't claim "Replace Now" was the waste toner bottle (the only "OK" on the screen)! In fact, it didn't even detect the PCUs at all - it said to "properly install the Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow units" - all 4 of them at once! It wouldn't let me go any further than that if I enabled those detections.

I checked all the wiring I could find back in the controller area. Both the I/O board and the one below it (forgot its name) have their jungle of connectors fully seated. All wiring going to each sensor is seated. The PCUs don't have any damage to their pseudo-RJ45 connector pairs nor their spring/contact pairs. The image transfer belt looks a bit worn, but clean. Belt cleaner assembly was a disgusting mess of toner everywhere, but still producing good prints after the belt traveled around it once or twice (though the streaks would come/go every 20-25 continuous prints or so, and reappear again on the first pages whenever the printer is idle for a while). Waste toner bottle is about 75% full (and oh my god, how does this thing waste THAT MUCH toner?!). PCU drums look clean and the PCUs themselves look pretty new. Curiously, though, the printer's "location" setting was set to 2: EU, instead of 1: NA (and this was brought to my attention by the "*" non-default option indicator on the printout), but even after a NVRAM upload-and-clear, I wasn't able to change that to the right setting (so I re-downloaded the NVRAM from that backup) - and it still did exactly the same thing. Finally, all the identification info for the various components is blank as well - "empty string" for anything text, and a blank serial number, for all 4 toner bottles - but they had installation dates. I believe the tech also replaced the sensor board as well, to no avail. It's reporting version 1.07 of the firmware, and various other firmware versions for the individual components. I have had nothing but failure trying to find firmware updates for this thing...

Finally...
The only clues to something being wrong are the TD voltages reported on the print. If I remember correctly, it was the TD "minimum" voltage that was reported for the Black PCU, that was out-of-place from the rest. I believe it was around 2.5 volts while the rest were near 3.0-3.1v. Being that I haven't yet been able to find a definition for the term "TD" (Toner Density?), I had trouble finding the sensor to check.

So, our distributor/supporter was stumped, and I'm getting there myself. I plan on tracking down the old PCUs stocked back in the printer-supply area and seeing if a different PCU provides a different error message (perhaps removing black will show "install Black" instead of "install K, C, Y, M", if Black is corrupting the others?), but I hope someone here can give me a "oh, I know how that happened" kinda direction! Any and all possibilities, I'm open to - provided they're not "shotgun" solutions like replacing a controller board as a "might be" But any direction would be much appreciated, because this Ricoh thing... holy CRAP, I have an HP Color LJ 1600 sitting on my dresser 5 feet away at home that may as well just be a single module in this Ricoh! Hard to believe this thing really needs to be as complicated as they designed it when it was built in 2007... :/

[mikadonovan]

Since you have print quality issues, maybe you should replace the units that it's calling for. They don't last forever. But, since you have the service manual and are intent on doing this anyhow, just reset the pm counters to clear those replacement alerts.

[FalconFour]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I know we need to replace the belt and empty the waste toner, and replace the black PCU, but I need to make sure this is actually repairable first; from what I understand, these parts had already been replaced (the printer had been malfunctioning this way before I started here) but still doing the same thing.

I cleared the PM counters for the PCUs, which were at ~80,000 (K) / 60,000 (colors), no change. Also set the "new" flags for the units as well, and it didn't even make the motions to initialize them.

I did a little more searching and found 2 other cases of similar issues:
Set Magenta PCU correctly error
And no resolve to this one:
http://www.copytechnet.com/forums/ri...correctly.html (reset and replaced everything I could think of, too)
(edit: found these on other sites...)
http://forums.linux-foundation.org/read.php?30,10250
http://beta.fixya.com/support/t7207877-ricoh_sp (I hate FixYa, but this is just for gathering instances of the problem)

Amusingly, I found all of those results without once ever mentioning the model number c811dn - I just searched for "set the PCU correctly". Perhaps this model has a defect that causes the PCU detection to go haywire?

Also found that if I remove any PCU and close it up without that one installed, that missing unit then becomes the only error (as I predicted in my first post): "Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow" becomes just "Black" (with the same error) when I remove the black PCU. But the same happens for any other PCU as well, so it's not limited to just the black one... they all do the same thing.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the old PCUs from replacement, so we may be looking at buying a new one - black, at least, to get the quality back again. Hopefully that will change the message from K/C/M/Y to just C/M/Y, then I'll know we need to replace all 4 and be done with it.

Out of curiosity, I unscrewed the ID sensor bar to examine/clean it, and found that its shutter-door was sliding rough, getting stuck when I tried sliding the solenoid "naturally", and the solenoid might not be getting it all the way open... *might* be related, but I figured I should mention it!

[FalconFour]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I know we need to replace the belt and empty the waste toner, and replace the black PCU, but I need to make sure this is actually repairable first; from what I understand, these parts had already been replaced (the printer had been malfunctioning this way before I started here) but still doing the same thing.<br><br>I cleared the PM counters for the PCUs, which were at ~80,000 (K) / 60,000 (colors), no change. Also set the "new" flags for the units as well, and it didn't even make the motions to initialize them.

I did a little more searching and found 2 other cases of similar issues:
Set Magenta PCU correctly error
And no resolve to this one:
http://www.copytechnet.com/forums/ri...correctly.html (reset and replaced everything I could think of, too)
A couple results from the wild internets:
OpenPrinting User Forums :: Printers from the Ricoh family and OEMs :: set PCU
beta.fixya.com/support/t7207877-ricoh_sp (I hate FixYa's SEO spamming, but it's just another result in the list)

Amusingly, I never searched for the model number - only the error. They just happen to all be c811dn models... perhaps there's a flaw in this model that causes the PCU detection to go haywire?

Also found that if I remove any PCU and close it up without that one installed, that missing unit then becomes the only error (as I predicted in my first post): "Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow" becomes just "Black" (with the same error) when I remove the black PCU. But the same happens for any other PCU as well, so it's not limited to just the black one... they all do the same thing. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the old PCUs from replacement, so we may be looking at buying a new one - black, at least, to get the quality back again. Hopefully that will change the message from K/C/M/Y to just C/M/Y, then I'll know we need to replace all 4 and be done with it.

[FalconFour]

Well, not sure why my last reply is being held for moderation after it disappeared and was re-posted... (edit: basically said, OK, I tried that, still the same result. Also linked to 4 other forum threads - 2 off-site so maybe that caused the deletion - showing only the C811DN having the same "set PCU" error, so maybe this is a common flaw in this model) I just found a little extra piece of info as well. It's not detecting toner bottle replacements (still says "low"), and it threw up "replace toner now" messages for empty bottles as well as - consistently - the Yellow bottle, which is actually full. So it would say "Replace: K, Y" (black is low/out, but yellow is not), or "Replace: C, K, Y" (cyan is also low/out, but not yellow). I replaced C, M, and K, and now all 4 toner bottles are full. But it still shows all 4 levels the same: low. Something's weird with this thing...

I'm still concerned about the firmware. Could someone with TESSA/ricoh-support.com access check on these firmwares?

System	1.07	Engine	V1.21:01	NIB	6.05.5
BIOS	0ABEP046	RPCS	3.4.19.7	PS	1.02
PCL	1.08	PCLXL	1.08	PDF	1.02
FONT	1.00	FONT1	1.00	Net File	2.06.1
Printer	1.07	WebSystem	1.03	MIB	051130000

(All others are "No String")

edit: Wow, thanks. Can't believe I got -rep'd on the OP for being an "end user". Sorry I didn't dedicate my entire career to servicing these things; quite frankly I enjoy learning all aspects about everything technical, and not just fixing a printer, or fixing a PC, or fixing a network. So I didn't go through your expensive training and bookwork to get a little certification to occupy a 8.5x11" square on my wall. Does that make me an "end user"? Y'know, I'd like to think that being able to describe the entire technical process from the common controls used in the "print" dialog, to the print spooler subsystem, to the service/driver interactions, to the TCP/IP connection and transfer process, to the electrical signals used in Ethernet, the language used in the embedded controller on the printer, the formatting and laser "video" process, the development and transfer, and finally taking out the printed sheet from the printer DESCRIBING these operations... I dunno, I'd kinda like to think I deserve better than being called an "end user", aye?

[mikadonovan]

That's a whole lot of writing, and I'm still a little fuzzy on what your basic issues are. How about a one paragraph synopsis for us simple folk?

[FalconFour]

Haha... OK, I'll try:

Printer isn't detecting any of its modules properly. Only way to get it to operate is to use SP3-901-1 ("New PCU Detect") = 0 (Off). Toners show no serial number or identification info, always reporting "Low" with erratic "toner out" errors every now and then. Hence the printer also had SP3-045-1 (Tonner End Detect - misspelling and all) = 1 (Off) as well, always reporting full toner. If both "Detect" options are re-enabled, the printer won't attempt to initialize, it shows an error of "Set the PCUs correctly" for all 4 colors that are installed properly. If one PCU is removed, the error changes to just that one (or more) colors, as appropriate - e.g. the K+C+M+Y error turns into just "K" when Black is removed, or "K+C" when Black and Cyan are removed. The printer also has a strange non-default "Area Selection" option of EU instead of NA that can't be changed. NVRAM clear had no effect (and was restored). All connections have been inspected and cleaned where applicable to no effect. RFID board for the toner bottles seems to be new, also looks in perfect condition and plugged in securely. I set the PCU "new unit" flags and ran initialization sequences, no change. Other threads have reported the same exact issue with this same model (the only reported instances of a "set PCU correctly" problem are with this model), replacing the controllers and units didn't help. Firmware is dated 2007, version 1.07. About 160,000 pages on the printer, and this issue (all at once) evidently started around 150,000 pages with an SC360 (TD sensor (Vt high) error 1: K) error that was logged 5 times over 1 day.

And the best part is, the printer operates just beautifully if you ignore all the errors, perfect color and completes all operations successfully with no errors or jams. Except for the worn transfer belt and worn/streaked black drum.

[FalconFour]

Well'p, got the thing all finished up and buttoned up, put back in service... sadly I still couldn't find a solution to the "set PCU correctly" problem, but that's what SP3-901-1 ("New PCU Detect") is for! It also doesn't receive the results of any RFID tags (serial numbers, dates, all information on bottles is blank), but it also no longer needs the toner-end override either - hence, it no longer overloads the toner after each job.

I ran an engine memory clear, then re-entered all the factory values from the sheet and the non-default values list. That was a pain, but it was worth it! The thing prints and runs beautifully now, just with no detection of "new" PCUs or RFIDs. Strange.

20110812133353.jpg

Man, I love the print quality on this thing. /drool

Not bad for an "end user", methinks.