I have a Sharp AR-M355N which was suffering from not properly booting up at times. It would just sit there with the blue sharp screen on the display. After several attempts at unplugging it would eventually boot up and run fine. From best I could find out, this can be caused by either the PCU board, motherboard or harddrive. I had noticed when it did boot up and work sometimes the display would be missing part of the machine picture in the touch screen. If I hit for image send then back to copy the machine picture would fully appear. This is what led me to believe it might be the PCU board. After replacing the PCU board with a new one. I removed the eeprom from the old PCU and installed on the new PCU. Now machine is looking for firmware I believe since it comes up with Version check on the screen. I can't find any firmware downloads on Sharps website. I've been doing this for a long time but have never ran in to this, or doing a firmware install. Any help or info is greatly appreciated.
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Am I reading this right?
You swapped the eeprom over to the new board, but you haven't mentioned if you also changed the PCU flash rom over. That is where the PCU firmware is stored. Enter sim 22-05 and check firmware versions.
You should be able to get firmware download from the Sharp support site if you are a dealer. You will not have access otherwise, only drivers.
We dont have the ARM355 here, we have the ARM351, but its the same machine. Most of the time an issue of not fully booting up is a faulty HDD on these models.
I can send you the procedure in detail of firmware upgrading this machine if you want it. Send me your email address. -
Info sent.Comment
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I can provide the firmware if needed for the US model arm355/455Comment
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Thanx repn...... I already told him that I couldnt provide that exact model firmware. Even though its the same series.... its not worth the risk. I've never tried installing the 355 firmware on our 351's.Comment
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Just a side note, but have you checked the line voltage from the wall? And are you using a good quality power filter? If ur line voltage is all over the place I have seen it cause machines to lock up or act funny. Most of the time u get ghost u6 codes but not always. If it was a hdd you'd get no boot or a code most of the time. I have taken hdd drives that the copier said is bad and put em in pc computers and they work fine.Comment
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He can pm me if he needs the firmware and I'll hook him up with what he needs and instructions. Wonder if it had data security installed? Those are different roms as you know and not something u wanna erase lolComment
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Thanks repn1999 its appreciated I pmed my email address to you. What I had also noticed was at times part of the copier picture in the display would be missing. If i went to image send then back the whole picture would appear. This is what made me try the PCU board and not the hard drive first. The manual only talks about replacing the eeprom from the old PCU to the new PCU. Even after putting the old eeprom back in the old board and putting back in the machine I got the same thing. Which wasn't what I started with! I don't know what I could have done that would have caused the loss of firmware other than just removing the board. Thanks again I have a bunch of these machines but rarely do I have board problems. Being a one man Sharp show for 20 plus years gives me lots of experience but not the support of being an authorized dealer.Comment
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Got back to that machine and attempted to update the firmware. Attempted several times, each time it came up with a NG result. According to the manual other than the Dip switches not set to write, or the fax cable not plugged in, it's a bad ROM on the PCU. I suspect this maybe the culprit from the beginning! I have ordered a new ROM and will try that next. Any thoughts on that? It's appreciated!Comment
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Do u get an immediate ng of does it try to update then ng? Part of the display not coming up would more likely be a bad LCD inverter or control board I would think or possibly a bad cable going between either one to the LCD. I have seen both on this machine. Could be the panel but doubt it. Did u try to switch with both switches in the down position? You could try just pulling a pcu rom from another machine to elimate that. I usually carry spAre sets of roms with my tools for the machines we have alot of in the field.Comment
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If I were u, I'd pull a pcu rom from a known working machine. Put it in the suspect 455 then see if it acts right. If it does I'd try and do a slot to slot copy on the rom you think may be bad. If u get ng here it's bad. If u don't , swap the chip you copied to back into the machine. See if it operates correctly. If not, replace the chip.Comment
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It tries to update first then goes NG at end. Both Dip switches were in the down position. I have 6 more of those machines in the same location but don't like taking a part out of a good machine in a customers to try that. If I had a good one in my shop, that's another story. I have a back up in place right now. Being a small company I don't normally stock boards.Comment
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We don't stock boards either. But I do carry spare boot and main roms for the machines I got alot of out in service. I think we have a little over 700 455s in service at the moment lol.Comment
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No it goes NG after trying to update, after receieving data. Dip switches were in the correct position. Although I have more of these machines in the same location, I won't take out a part from one customers machine to try in another. If I had a machine that worked in my shop, that's another story. Being a small company I can't afford to stock all the boards for all the models I work on. New ROM is on the way.Comment
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700! That'll keep a few guys busy! I have maybe 20 of them. I love the 355/455's, except maybe this one!Comment
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