Ricoh Aficio 1232 errors

[technodruid]

Here's hoping someone might have an idea.

We have a 1232 that's been giving us fits for over a month. Ricoh no longer supports these dinosaurs, so we're pretty much stuck on our own.

Our initial problem was intermittent SC 122, 901, 902, and 792 all within about 7 seconds. We've replaced the psu twice, the exiob twice, the bcu, upgraded firmware, even attempted tracing the harnesses to find a flaw. So far, no luck. At one point we ran the machine off and on in our shop for a week with no sign of the problem. Just as we were about to wrap it up and send it back to the customer...codes.

Tuesday morning I disconnected the finisher, bridge unit, ardf, and duplex unit hoping we'd be able to isolate our root cause. I succeeded in eliminating the SC 792 (duh, no finisher or bridge unit), but still got the 122, 901 and 902.

Anyone have any ideas, management and the customer are about to shoot me.

[Shadow1]

[technodruid]

We've checked all of those elements. The weird thing is the machine will run beautifully for days and days and ream after ream, then it'll code randomly.

Any other ideas

[Shadow1]

Since its intermittent and the standard stuff didn't help its going to be really difficult to solve - I don't have any other advice than to start at the top of the list and start retesting things.

Honestly, these machines really ain't worth the trouble. It would be much better to give them a zero book machine coming back in off lease or trade-in.

[paperclipsandbubblegum]

These dirt bags can drive you yo drink. the 901 and 902 codes indicate mechanical counter 1 and 2 faults which could be cross connected at IOB and possibly taking down the PSU. Is FU9 OK ? doesn't really explain the scanner codes though! time for another drink.

[cobiray]

With all those different codes, sounds like you might have a power issue. Did you swap out the PSU?

[technodruid]

ARRRGGGGHHHH

Thanks for all the responses. All good ideas, but we've been down those roads already.

I'm open to crazy, "out of the box" ideas.

Thanks again

[msaeger]

Have they been able to tell you what they are doing when they get the code ? Like are they actually running the scanner ? Is it just coming up with the code sitting ?

[tech07]

How's the wall power outlet??? any volts at ground??

[Shadow1]

I'd agree with power or some sort of environmental except that it eventually did the same thing in your office. I'll assume your power is fairly stable or you'd have known about it long ago, and its still a good idea to check it. Anything over a 1.5V neutral to ground used to wreak havoc with some old fax machines, and it's relatively common to see that much.

Door Switches??? Never seen a problem with this copier (finishers are always an exception) but they cause enough strange problems elsewhere, and the motion of the scanner could set it off explaining the 122.

Start looking at any DC motors (brush type) I think there's only 1 or 2. My old Toshiba analog machines (Especially what Lanier referred to as the 6000 series in the mid to late 90's) were notorious for oddball problems when the add toner motor started getting old and/or contaminated with toner and the brushes started arcing. For that matter check all of the HV contact points and connections.

All the connections between the BCU and the SBU and SIOB and PSU should be cleaned. We use a magical red liquid called DeOxIt that has saved my butt on many occasions. Works wonders on gunk and oxidation: I believe this stuff could pull the oxygen out of rust on a car bumper

Don't forget about the exposure lamp cable - I don't remember if this model has the flat flex cable, but I have seen the layers of these start to come apart when they get old and lots of scans. The xenon lamp regulator boards can really put out some high frequency high voltage - like a miniature Tesla coil if the insulation breaks down. Most techs will tell you to check for arcing on these machines by placing it in a pool of gasoline and remotely activating the start button with a flare gun.

Run all the motors in output checks and listen for anything that sounds strained. It might be loading the PSU.

It might also be a good idea to monitor supply voltages while you do this test. Use a good meter if you got one, something like a Fluke that can catch fast transients. Throw in the clutches as well. Sometimes its helpful to look at a DC supply with the meter in AC mode to see how much ripple each component causes in the supply - most modern supplies are well regulated, but a faulty component can throw a lot of noize into the mix.

Sorry to throw so many unrelated things at you, but you wanted out of the box, and I think we're all getting close to the end of our idea list.

I really HATE these !@#$%& things - this is the only machine to ever beat me. I had one of these with some really wierd quality issues (worse than usual) that we never did get solved - I was a second set of eyeballs brought in on the problem, and I can't feel too bad for not figuring it out because a third and fourth set of eyes didn't help either. Still, most of my creative thinking about these goes into finding cruel and sadistic ways to kill them, and for that I make no apologies. (I've posted a list around here somewhere (may also be related to MP4000's))