SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C4502 ?

[Foo]

Try number 3 on this post...lost the first 2 into forum hell...LOL

Ok went to a call today on a SP C831DN. Never seen of one before today.
Had to beg and bribe several people to get the secret to get in to SP mode.

Initial problem: Customer installed a new Fuser and transfer assy. but that didn't reset the counters and an error occurred on boot up.

They called me to reset the counters and get them back up and running...and I did.
We tested the printer by having the office lady print some b/w word doc's. They looked perfect!

Job done! Ooooopps not so fast. She starts running a color job and low and behold no color is showing up on the copies, only black and gray but completely void of color. Any areas that should have had color were blank.
I went and changed the customers setting to grayscale and ran the same batch as we had just run. They came out perfect and the areas that were void of color were perfect in grayscale.
I then went into user tools and ran a color demo page...no color at all, just some black and gray in the areas they were supposed to be in. Except for that blank of color.

Spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out the issue...hoping the whole time it was something simple. I never made any headway.

Things I know: Machine made good color prints a couple of days ago before the fuser metered out. B/W prints are perfect today. Customer has been using the same "compatible" toners for a couple of years with no issues (I mentioned I'd never do that). Color copies from last week look good. Machine asked for a new "Cyan" while we were testing and a new one was installed from a sealed box.

This call is 1 and a half hours away from me. I have no idea what the problem is and need your help!

Thanks for reading,

Jeff in STL

[slimslob]

Re: SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C450

Sounds to me like the system that raises the color transfer rollers inside the ITB unit is not functioning properly

[adoug]

Re: SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C450

Would it be a possible to reinstall the old the t/s belt assy to see if you get colour?
If it was working fine before old transfer belt was replaced I'd start with that and swap it out to test.
There is a cam drive that drips the colour charge rollers down but pretty sure that give you a sc441 error if not working correctly

[fshead]

Re: SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C450

i sold a few c830 and gutted a few too for parts to the mpc3002 series.
I would send a 11 by 17 color test chart thru the machine and stop the machine as soon as the
lead edge hits the fuser unit.
Then pull all drums,ITB unit and take a look.
if you have a mpc3002 ITB unit laying around i would swap it to see
if that is the problem.

[emiliorsg]

Re: SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C450

I think you have a problem with ITB unit.

[keithxxiii]

Re: SP C831DN printing B/W fine, colors aren't showing up... Model Similar to MP C450

Can you print the color test pattern?

This happened to me few years ago on an MPC3003 machine. Tech replaced the fuser and did the reset. Call got escalated, black prints just fine but if the customer prints color, there's nothing into it. Only the traces of black can be seen. I did factory ACC settings then color prints started to come out.

The tech who replaced the fuser simply presses the shortcuts from the key without checking the description. He might have cleared printer sp from memory.