eS 6530C "Toner Cartridge not Recognized"

[blackcat4866]

It could be any combination of colors showing this message. We noticed that the sub-hopper was completely depleted of toner in the colors that pull the message. The toner cartridges are in various stages of fullness, all have toner. All you need to do to resume is open and close the upper front door. You might get 10 minutes before the message re-occurs.

Three of us have beat our heads up against this problem. The machine has had numerous new toner cartridges, Various parts then a whole new sub-hopper, PWB-F-LGC, NVRAM, EPU PWB and the entire EPU harness with modular connector. All the sensors and motors relating to the toner system check out OK in the 03 mode. All sensors change state, all motors rotate on command.

Two of us went at this problem as a harness problem, with the intention of pinning out however much harness was required. Quite a lot of wire harness it turned out. We started at the toner motor assembly with sensors S8 - S11 and M15 - M18. Since the connector is all the way on the inside of the rear frame, we removed the short harness from the motor assembly and plugged it into the union connector to get some additional length. All the leads pinned out fine to the PWB-F-LGC CN312. Next we made sure that there were no shorts between the various leads: no crossed wires. Next we checked for any shorts to frame ground. Here is where it got interesting. With CN312 unplugged, no shorts. With CN312 plugged in, all the 5vdc leads to all the sensors and toner motors short to frame ground!

Next we unplug all the other leads from the PWA-F-LGC, excepting CN312, and the short is gone so we can be sure its not in any of the CN312 harness or the LGC board. As we plug connectors back in the short resumes with the connection of CN301, which goes to the power supply. Unplug CN404 at the power supply and the short is gone. Could it be the 30mm long bit of harness between CN301 and CN404? Well ... no.

There are also four leads from CN301 that go somewhere else that you cannot readily see. The circuit diagram directed us to CN431 on the PWA-F-FIL. When unplugged, the short is gone. My theory is that CN404 at the power supply is the path to frame ground. Actually its CN431 pin3 that is the shorted 5vdc lead. Replacing the Filter PWB solved this one. Additionally we needed to run 03-216, 03-217, 03-218, 03-219 in 10 second increments to replenish each sub-hopper. If you don't you'll get the toner message several more times until the sub-hopper is replenished. You can pull the toner cartridge to view the toner level in the sub hopper. It should be about 25mm from the top of the opening.

It was a totally unexpected result, and I doubt I'll ever see it again. =^..^=

[michaelc]

Nice to post this as you never know some one else may have the fault. Nice one blackcat

[blackcat4866]

Well it came back last week. And I'm embarrassed that it was so simple. Since the scientific approach wasn't working I took a try at the intuitive approach.

So I'm watching the toner motors not-turn with the toner door keyed. Then I removed one of my paper interlock keys ... but nothing changed. The display still said (Toner not recognized). The hopper motors continued to run. And the toner motors continued to not-run. The manual revealed that the microswitch interlock is SW3 (aka: toner motor interlock switch).

Upon closer examination the lever on the microswitch was banged into an "S" shape. The other clue was the absence of the audible "click" you would expect to hear from a microswitch. When I measured resistance at the F-Logic board it read 1.8 ... 1.5 ... 0.6 ... 2.8 ohms. It was floating all over the place. With the actuator re-formed it read a nice 0.1 ohms closed.

SW3 toner motor interlock switch.JPG

So simple. =^..^=

[Dredd]

Don't be embarrassed, its only simple now because you spent the time fixing it. Some of the hardest jobs i've done could have been fixed in minutes, but needed to have hours spent on fault finding.

Thanks for sharing, you could save the next guy hours of work.

Jason