MX-3501N losing print jobs

[Jules Winfield]

I don't usually work on Sharps (this particular machine is the only Sharp I have ever worked on), but I'm stuck with the following problem. Print jobs sent to the machine never make it to the machine. Windows spooler shows the jobs as "printing" and then they disappear from the spooler as per normal operation. The actual printer never sees the print job as far as I can tell. They don't show up in the spool queue or in the list of printed jobs. I was told that there was a Call for Service Code U2-05 error on the panel earlier, but it had been cleared. I can ping the printer and web into it normally. The only documentation I have for this machine is a list of simulations. I tried sim 16 to reset the U2 code, but this seemed to have no effect on the printing issue. Does anyone have any advice for this problem? (No sales pitches for manuals, please. This is just an office machine that was given to us and is for light internal use, so I'm not looking to spend money on this thing just yet). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wazza]

A number of issues here to consider....

Does the machine have User Authentication activated?
If so, the machine is most likely deleting the print jobs due to an unauthorised print user or pin number not installed within the driver.

You say you can ping and use the web page. Have you tried printing to the machine via the web page. This will print without using any drivers to rule that out.

Regarding drivers.... have you checked that the IP address is correct within the port settings. Does the printer 'data' light flash at all when spooling? If there is no 'data' light flashing on the operation panel, the machine is not even getting the print job.
If that was the case, you can almost totally rule out the machine being the problem. More like a network, driver, cable or port setting problem.

Use your laptop/notebook computer with a cross-over cable and try printing that way. With that setup, you are using the network card, but not the clients network. You can confirm the NIC is working.

Does the machine show a 'maintenance' code? If SNMP is activated on the port settings and you have not changed sim 55-03, sw9, bit 5, the machine will not allow network print jobs as the spooler is detecting a problem with the printer (even though it is just a simple maintenance code). The spooler stops all printing, but copy & scan works fine.

Make sure you have the latest firmware installed. Earlier versions than 0209J0 had issues with some network spooling and/or ripping.

A recent U2-05 code would not cause a printing issue in most cases. That is usually caused by a new HDD or MFP. The machine is detecting a new part which has not had a clone reinstalled on it with correct S/N and client data, or an incorrect eeprom on the MFP. Resetting this does not clear the network card data, just user addresses for scanning and user accounts etc etc.

I'd try a network card reset within system settings. Re-enter your network card settings and try printing again. I'd also try an NVRAM clear with sim 67-17. This will fully clear all network settings and user accounts. Make sure you have a device clone and storage backup before doing this, just in case.

I honestly dont think the problem is with your machine. If the data light is not flashing and the machine is not getting any print jobs at all, the problem is somewhere else.

[Jules Winfield]

The sim 67-17 reset did the trick. Thanks, that was just the answer I was looking for.

[wazza]

Sweet.