IR3100cn Unusual Image Distortion

[D_L_P]

Couple thoughts. 1st, The scanner frame might have got bent in transport, its just natural to push it around with your hands on the scanner. I haven't seen it on a Canon before but have on a couple Ricohs. There is one front corner of the scanner that is unsupported, and we had to pull up on it and warp it a bit to get rid of some lines/weird shading just on the top half of the copy.

2nd, I'd still try swapping out the memory. Once we had delivered a copier and it was working beautifully. We put an ip address in and rebooted, boom wouldn't boot up. Long story short, we narrowed it down and just had to replace the memory sticks. Another time we had one that wouldn't print more then 50 without jamming, but only when printing PCL/PS. After swapping many, many parts, it is now working fine and has every original part except the memory. I remember on the way to OfficeMax thinking this is a waste of time, but we put it in and away she went.

Does this have the external parallel cable running from the scanner to the main controller? Try swapping/reseating that maybe.

[PCTech]

Hi D_L_P thanks for your input, but I'm fairly certain this isn't a scanner issue as it isn't specific to the scanner... the problem also shows up although not always when printing from the network with nothing being scanned... I've had some good prints out like the test pages which I used to scan... they were GOOD prints, perfect in fact, but other times those same exact print jobs have come out with the same distortion. So I can say with a fair amount of confidence through trial and error that:

1. It isn't the scanner (I've also connected the three cables from another IR3100C over and done a scan from that ones tray with the same results)
2. It isn't anything to do with the physical printing system as it does some good prints under specific conditions (i.e. the internally generated documents)
3. That leaves the electronic systems involved in processing and generating prints from either the scanner or the network (of which there appears to be many components)

I understand there are a number of cards and boards involved in this process, there is obviously the main board and the card the data cable from the scanner is plugged in to (forgive my lack of knowledge regarding the specific names for these items, if anyone would like to update me on these that would also be very helpful!)... My question at this point is does this card do any of the image processing required to turn a print job from the network card into a print out of the device? Obviously the RAM is in question here but I don't have any around of the same type in order to test it, and are there any other cards in the device that would be used by the device in order to process scanned images, images from a print job over the network and scan jobs being sent internally to print?

[teckat]

Att .PCTech
You seem to be jumping all over the place with this issue. As a Canon Color troubleshooter, when called to a image problem I always disconnect all external boxes/& cables. Then I make sure the Copier is working as a stand alone machine> as in Glass prints/ ADF copies/ & Test Prints.
If all checks out, I then move on to connecting back network cables,and or the Firey if used. Then I proceed to check the basics of Network Printing and Scanning. U have to keep it simple and follow a procedure in troubleshooting a problem.

[SCREWTAPE]

I'm convinced it might be the main controller.
Besides that 3100 isn't the best. The problem your facing now won't be your last.
You do have a better option with the 3220.

Good luck.

[PCTech]

*edit* Cheers Screwtape, I think at this point I'm going to get the engineer to attempt to fix the "other" 3100 that seemed to be exhibiting mechanical issues with feeding and is now coming up with an error code after clunking a bit... This would seem to be a smaller job than attempting to replace the main controller, and I've already ruled out swapping the main controller since they don't even appear to have the same connections on the top of the board :/


Teckat: Thank you teckat, the copier doesn't work as a stand alone machine, that was established when I tried the first copy... my procedure from then has been an attempt to work out what aspect of the copier isn't functioning correctly... Firstly I connected it to the network to see if it would at least print correctly, which it doesn't... I have been able to get some good prints out of it, but not consistently from the network. The internal printing of items as I have stated before does print correctly, I am able to consistently produce items from the menu which come out perfectly every time... That led me to believe it must be something to do with the image processing systems in the device, which is why I took a good page and scanned it to my network, I was hoping this would demonstrate that the problem has nothing to do with the printing systems or the mechanical operation of the device, since they are not involved in the slightest. The only things mechanical that are involved are the ADF mechanism and the scanner itself and they appear to operate well and cannot be the root cause of the issue since printing also causes the issue.

My posting on this forum was an attempt to see if anyone had seen anything similar and if they knew of a fix, either a direct replacement or at least a further procedure that would help me narrow it down a little... Mostly so I didn't get screwed over when I did call a copier tech and asked them to trace and fix it, I've had many "specialists" attempt to pull the wool over my eyes regarding anything I am not a certified expert in (recently an air-con firm trying to tell me they would need to replace an entire unit since a pipe was bent, after a LOT of questioning, disbelief they lost the contract), but since I usually do my homework I always get them to back down and do the job I asked of them or as with the air conditioning firm; I simply call someone else who will.

If it sounds as though I have come across all over the place that is not becuase I haven't followed a procedure it is most probably becuase I have been mis-understood when attempting to offer my understanding of the issue and have had to further expand upon the processes I have gone through. If I appear curt to you, it is not becuase I am being rude, it is simply becuase I do not like having to re-explain something that I thought I had clearly explained and ruled out in the process. My job is in finding elegant solutions to complex technological problems, it is something I do all day nearly every day in my working life, I understand the importance of procedure and focus.

So to conclude, you don't know what the issue is from the information provided, I haven't been able to provide you with any more information since you haven't asked anything I haven't already answered and you can't provide me with any tips or useful procedures I may follow regarding the troubleshooting of the electronic systems that run the copier. Is this correct?

[teckat]

If you can not get the Copier to work as a stand alone machine, I do not know what else to say. All Image Runner Copiers can run as a stand alone machine .
That should be your First Priority / u have to address this first.

If you do not trust a trained & qualified CANON tech. to look at this issue, you are just wasting your time.
If this CANON copier does not print out quality prints as a stand alone> it will never operate up to other standards you require.

I don't know where you're from , but I have worked for a major Canon Authorized Dealership for over twenty years , and our goal is to the customer first.

[PCTech]

My intention is for this copier to work as a copier, however it doesn't at present, I am trying to understand the reason it will not copy properly and have narrowed it down to only a few items thanks to the great help and understanding of every other poster on this topic, I'm getting ready to think you're actually the forum troll here since you haven't added anything helpful and all I've done is re-explain and re-state what I believed to be the obvious to you. Thanks to the input of other members of this lovely community I can now make an informed decision as how best to proceed instead of simply relying solely on what a photocopier engineer says when he comes out and I can avoid potentially paying out for work that doesn't need doing. I know where I want the technicians to start and if they come back telling me that I need a new drum unit or that a particular sensor/motor has gone, I can confidently question that and make sure their answer makes sense given what I have so far learned. I refuse to believe people haven't attempted to con you with business like photocopier repair, if it is clear that someone doesn't understand anything about the problem they are expieriencing then it's pretty much standard practice for people over here to at least attempt to get a bit of extra cash out of them if not simply to punish them for their ignorance, perhaps that's just how it is in England.

[teckat]

My intention is for this copier to work as a copier, however it doesn't at present, I am trying to understand the reason it will not copy properly and have narrowed it down to only a few items thanks to the great help and understanding of every other poster on this topic, I'm getting ready to think you're actually the forum troll here since you haven't added anything helpful and all I've done is re-explain and re-state what I believed to be the obvious to you. Thanks to the input of other members of this lovely community I can now make an informed decision as how best to proceed instead of simply relying solely on what a photocopier engineer says when he comes out and I can avoid potentially paying out for work that doesn't need doing. I know where I want the technicians to start and if they come back telling me that I need a new drum unit or that a particular sensor/motor has gone, I can confidently question that and make sure their answer makes sense given what I have so far learned. I refuse to believe people haven't attempted to con you with business like photocopier repair, if it is clear that someone doesn't understand anything about the problem they are expieriencing then it's pretty much standard practice for people over here to at least attempt to get a bit of extra cash out of them if not simply to punish them for their ignorance, perhaps that's just how it is in England.

What is a FORUM TROLL/ ?? In this business you get what u pay for/ you acquired junk/ you now have acquired free knowledge/ so now you are prepared to tell the service tech how to do his job. I can see by your responses that you trust nobody, so why should any one trust you in your business.

[PCTech]

You are clearly not very internet savvy, a 5 second google search would have returned this : Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and would have saved you from having to ask another pointless question.

Trust is earned, I am very sceptical of anyone who charges work out by the hour, especially when it comes to complex machinery. Are you saying a mechanic has never tried to charge you for new plugs when you didn't really need them, or told you that your brake linings were shot when they really had another 5,000 miles on them easily? Everybody that works for a living is in it for money and if they believe that they can get away with charging me for a drum replacement and laser re-alignment as well as a number of new boards and cards, then I'm positive they will try it on as many already have.

The only person that needs to trust me in my business is my employer, and I have earned that trust by working hard and getting results, until somebody external to the business proves themselves to us we have no reason to trust them and it's served us VERY well so far, if you came to work in England you'd have your pants pulled down so many times thanks to your obvious naivety. I think you should read the following and have a long think about it... "Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt" or if you're the religious type how about Proverbs 17:28 "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise:
and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."

Sorry if anyone else has been offended by this tirade, this wasn't my intention when posting here, but I can't stand ignorant people.

[teckat]

You are a waste of time to all the hard working tech's and other experts who give up their time and knowledge on this website. It is difficult enough to study/train & work on these products. You came to this site looking for free information, it has been provided. My advise is, use your own tools and expert knowledge to fix the issues on hand. That should not be to hard, you already had all the answers before your initial post.

End of Story

[markyy]

oh teckat...

oh teckat, ist this the way you treat the people who needs help? is this also the way you treat your (paying) customers? why do you use bold-face? and so many question marks? i know why: you can not scream here, so you express yourself like this. congratulation!

i am brandnew here in this forum. this is the first thread i read here and i hope, you are the only guy with this kind of attitude.

with kind regards

mark

[teckat]

oh teckat, ist this the way you treat the people who needs help? is this also the way you treat your (paying) customers? why do you use bold-face? and so many question marks? i know why: you can not scream here, so you express yourself like this. congratulation!

i am brandnew here in this forum. this is the first thread i read here and i hope, you are the only guy with this kind of attitude.

with kind regards

mark

you do not know who I am/ keep your judgments to yourself

[PCTech]

Frankly teckat you have single handedly lowered my opinion of "certified" canon copier technicians, I do not know who you are, but just like markyy above, I know what you are... an ignorant "expert" who doesn't take the time to understand what is really going on. If you don't actually know the answer to something, don't be afraid to say "I don't know", when somebody comes to me with an answer for everything, they'd better damn well be sure that it's 100% correct, bad information is much much worse than no information at all. I'm very thankful that I took the time to understand a little about my problem before you came in telling me it was the laser unit which I can 100% state that it clearly isn't. I actually think you post false information on here so that people can't reliably find the tools to help themselves, sure if it comes down to replacing the laser unit or having a device aligned I will leave it to the experts, but I'm a technical person and I have my certifications no doubt in many subjects you're more than ignorant of and just like any other "geek" in the world I will go out attempting to find a solution to a problem before I pay someone to swap some simple electronic components around.

If you post stupid questions on a public forum, expect to be judged... If I knew what company you worked for I'd make sure to advise anyone I knew away from them.

[smiley]

pc tech im sory for telling you this but this furom is for technical personel of canon only.it is hard for you to understand what teckat want to suggest to you.caused your just an end user your not trained to fix the machine you can make problem worse.its hard for you to understand what teckat want you to do.if you have a service manual it doesnt mean you can fix it thers alot of things you have to understand so call your tech and let him fix it.

[PCTech]

Thank you smiley, a technician was always going to do the work that I cannot, attempting to fault find the electronic systems in the device was my only intention here. A very easily attained A+ certification in computers is enough to handle swapping RAM and processor boards in these devices and had we been able to track down the fault to a specific component other than the three possibilities we currently have then I would have sourced and ordered the required item and seen where it got me. I know much better than to go rooting around inside a photocopier without proper training. I've seen all the classic mistakes performed by a few people while I've been in my line of work, usually when a less thoughtful staff member decides to have a go and does something like vacuuming out all the developer from some of the larger copiers I've been around or attempting to "clean" some of items that really shouldn't be touched. Frankly I'm surprised I haven't seen more people injure themselves inside copiers. Believe me when I say that I'm overly cautious when it comes to procedures I am not trained in (measure twice, cut once applies almost universally), however having seen the inside of the particular panel in question before (when the copier company we hire to look after our commissioned devices came to do some maintenance), I was certain it was within my skills. It's unfortunate we haven't been able to come to a resolution with this device but most of the people in this thread have been very helpful and very well informed! So thank you all for your kind help, I think the technician will be fixing the copier with the mechanical fault instead of the one in question here.

Once again, thank you all for your assistance, if you ever need help with any of the following, let me know...

Certified In:
Cisco IOS Devices (CCNA),
HP Procurve Network Devices,
any Microsoft Server Software (From NT3.5, SQL 6.0 and Exchange 5.5 to Server 2008 R2, SQL 2008 and Exchange 2010, and everything in-between including Clustering, Sharepoint, MS CRM, RIS/WDS, Windows Media Service, I'm certied in and regularly work with the LOT (MCSE)
Microsoft Development Technologies, from VB 5.0 all the way through to .Net 3.5/4.0 (MCTS in Windows, Web and Distributed Application Development, as well as MCDBA)
Java Development
IBM AS/400 Maintenance, Development and Migration
Asterisk Telephony and general IP Telephony
General PC Repair and Server Maintenance

Trained In :
HP Laser Printer and Plotter Repair
HP Blade Server Installation
iSCSI Concepts and Deployment Methodologies
Fibre Channel SAN Arcitechture
Advanced Internetworking (so RIP, BGP, OSPF, etc)

Randomly Aquired Knowledge :

C, C++, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby (Once you've got C++ down, you can deal with ANYTHING)
Data Cabling including Fibre termination and splicing

Basically, ANY business computing issue, give me a shout, I'll be more than happy to share my knowledge to thank you all for your time, but please bear in mind that I'm employed full time so I can't take on any work contracts at the moment.

Mike