Ricoh Aficio 2045 keeps asking for toner

[TonerMunkeh]

Try putting a piece of paper between the toner supply unit and the dv unit blocking the flow of toner to the dv unit. Run some copies see if you can and see if toner is building up in the supply unit. this may help eliminate the toner supply to the dv unit as the problem

Good idea. There's another way too. Cheat the front door and set the machine off running 50 copies with the toner hopper assembly out. Shine a torch in and see if the motor is actually turning. If not, it's the BICU or the harness connecting the motor to the BICU.

[msaeger]

I put a mark on the toner bottle and run copies or use the output check for the toner motor. I have seen where the toner motor will turn without the bottle in there but the load of turning the bottle stops it.

[mrwho]

ok, you have an *organ donour*, that makes things easier....did you change the BICU yet?

Can I swap the BICU between those two without any further adjustments? Those two belong to the customer, and I don't want him yelling at my ears because he's got two stopped machines now.

[ccchuah]

With the toner sign always on, first to check with the print out copy,is it under tone or overtone? if undertone the problem is the toner is not supplying to the tank, if overtone the problem is the td reading is out. From the SP 3-103-1,2,3 to confirm the reading of the td and id. Make sure that you are using OEM toner.

[PinevskiS]

I agree with every one ,but do you have ORIGINAL Ricoh toner.

[dckm]

Check the four mylars in the toner hopper. I have also seen the 3 switches above the fuser cause this problem.

[mrwho]

Of ALL the things pointed out in this thread, all was checked and replaced/traded with another machine, except for the following:

- The BICU board
- The "three switches above the fuser" (still need to check where those are).

I'd still like to know if it's safe to swap the BICU board with another machine without risking to lose that second machine also (since it belongs to the same customer).

And now, with a new problem, I'm seriously hating this machine model.

[msaeger]

Does it ever say loading toner ? If you open the door for 30 seconds then close it and the machine doesn't try to load toner then the door switches are bad. There are three above the fuser and three behind the brown cover with the mechanical counter. I always just replace all six of them.

[anka monki]

and make sure the bracket at the front is holding the dev unit against the drive

[mrwho]

msaeger: Well, yes it does. If we open the door then close it, the machine adds toner and the toner-end light goes off for a while - and then comes back.

anka monki: Although we swapped the entire dev unit with another machine, that's a good point. I'll check if the dev unit is being correctly driven by the machine.

Thanks.

[mrwho]

Something else I don't know if I mentioned before: Although the machine is asking for toner, the copy never goes light unless the toner bottle is really empty. So, apparently, the machine keeps adding toner even tough it is asking for it.

Since it doesn't hurt, I'm going to order those six switches now.

Cheers!

[msaeger]

If you get it to add toner then the switches aren't bad. When those are bad it won't try to add because it doesn't think you opened the door.

Did you mark the toner bottle and let it try to add toner so you can see if the bottle is really turning ?

[mrwho]

I checked visually with a flashlight and saw it turning. I'm going for the switches anyway because:

a) They may be failing randomly and causing the bottle not to turn as many times as it should; and
b) I'm really fed up with this machine and I'm willing to try anything short of sacrificing a virgin on it!

[msaeger]

Put a mark on the bottle and see if it moves. I have had were the motor will turn with nothing in there but it won't spin the bottle due to being weak or something binding in the toner hopper.

[mrwho]

I didn't explain myself - the bottle itself turns (I cheated the door interlock and looked at the bottle with the machine running with the aid of a flashlight).