MP 301 No toner message

[JayPaul]

Hi all,
Went to MP 301 that was saying please add toner and making a weird noise, I attended and could tell noise was coming from PCDU. Swapped it out and initialised new PCDU, the machine did its thing and worked ok. I tested it and no more please add toner problems.
Next day it comes back in for 'no toner' I go out there and try a new toner hopper, I run about 30 sky shots and all are perfectly black. Suddenly it says 'please add toner' again, I take out hopper and toner bottle, check them, the only thing I notice is when I pull the toner seal out from the top one of the thin plastic bits that go into the toner is bent out of shape, bent it back, put the top back on and put it back in, cheat the door so I can see the toner bottle rotating and it does. It adds toner for about 30 seconds then continues to work. I run about 80 sky shots and prints and all perfectly black, no fades.
Now is it likely that the original PCDU gears got knackered and cause the noise and no toner message, I replaced with with a new one that may have a faulty TD sensor?
Or is there something else I am missing here? Usually it's either PCDU or Toner Hopper that will cause this problem. It has only done about 68k from memory.
Thanks

[Coptech]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

You had the right track in that the pcdu gears were stripped causing the add toner condition. Problem is that when you installed the new pcdu, it was in toner end condition and adding toner the whole time it was calibrating for the new pcdu. In the sp mode before replacing the pcdu, there is an add toner reset to turn off the add toner condition before the new drum was installed. You may get away with taking the toner bottle out, running it until toner concentration is good, and then re-initialize the developer.

[mikadonovan]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

Damn, dude. 80 sky shots? That's enough to make even a good working machine beg for toner. If you're worried about the td sensor, detone to the level that looks good to you then set developer again. If the developer is relatively fresh, it should set fine and add toner when needed. You can also bypass the TD sensor by setting the toner supply mode to "pixel count" for testing purposes (if left like this for too long the machine will probably run dirty). You might also try a new toner cart just to rule out a faulty one.

[JayPaul]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

Coptech - I am unaware of turning off an add toner in sc mode when replacing PCDU? Is this something I was meant to be doing all these years??
Mika - I mean 80 skyshots and prints, it was probably 50 sky shots and 30 regular prints for the second test. Had to be sure.
If I get called back i'll take a fresh toner and another PCDU just incase and thanks for the ideas

[Coptech]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

SP2928

[Oze]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

Agreed...turn off "Toner End Condition" before replacing the pcdu and/or toner supply unit.

[slimslob]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

These dogs run out of toner very quickly.

[luca72]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

Hi all,
Went to MP 301 that was saying please add toner and making a weird noise, I attended and could tell noise was coming from PCDU. Swapped it out and initialised new PCDU, the machine did its thing and worked ok. I tested it and no more please add toner problems.
Next day it comes back in for 'no toner' I go out there and try a new toner hopper, I run about 30 sky shots and all are perfectly black. Suddenly it says 'please add toner' again, I take out hopper and toner bottle, check them, the only thing I notice is when I pull the toner seal out from the top one of the thin plastic bits that go into the toner is bent out of shape, bent it back, put the top back on and put it back in, cheat the door so I can see the toner bottle rotating and it does. It adds toner for about 30 seconds then continues to work. I run about 80 sky shots and prints and all perfectly black, no fades.
Now is it likely that the original PCDU gears got knackered and cause the noise and no toner message, I replaced with with a new one that may have a faulty TD sensor?
Or is there something else I am missing here? Usually it's either PCDU or Toner Hopper that will cause this problem. It has only done about 68k from memory.
Thanks

in order of simplicity:
1) revolver clogged, dismounts the revolver and sucks in all the steps (including the one you discover when you insert it in mc, I replace the slider assy & bottle chuck, so it doesn't lose toner

2) internal revolver reel with unglued blades (turns but does not feed)

3) gears worn in the development group

[JayPaul]

Re: MP 301 No toner message

Ok so thought I would write an update to this. It lasted 5 days and customer phoned back yesterday saying it suddenly said no toner again. Went there this morning, double checked everything looked good. When I closed the front cover it loaded toner again for about 45 seconds. I did a counter page and the triangle at the top was pitch black, more so than ever.
So this time I did toner end sp2928 as you guys suggested, run toner out until it was empty, re-initialised the dev, then let it go back to normal which was printing normal prints (not ridiculously black) then also updated to latest firmware as well.
Machine running ok but will update again if problem returns, thanks for input by the way.