Biz C454 not recognizing finisher

[copyman]

Copier doesn't recognize finisher is installed. Checked all connections. This customer had same problem 3 months ago and it was the FS-534 main board which I replaced. Worked good but now same issue. Anyone know what would cause the finisher main board to crap out after 3 months? Would like to fix before blowing another board. Didn't see anything on K/M knowledge base.

Thanks in advance

[Synthohol]

did they move it at all?
ive seen finishers become unplugged and it fried the bridge unit board of all things.

can also test all the fuses on the dc power supply.

[blackcat4866]

There are three possible choices:
finisher PWB, Bridge PWB, or PRCB.

I've seen all three possibilities, but most of the time it's the finisher PWB, especially if your enduser is unplugging then re-plugging the finisher live. =^..^=

[tsbservice]

did they move it at all?
ive seen finishers become unplugged and it fried the bridge unit board of all things.

can also test all the fuses on the dc power supply.

Good call. Especially if they are in habits moving machine to another place for example to clean or something similar. Maybe I would try FW update just in case.

[femaster]

Copier doesn't recognize finisher is installed. Checked all connections. This customer had same problem 3 months ago and it was the FS-534 main board which I replaced. Worked good but now same issue. Anyone know what would cause the finisher main board to crap out after 3 months? Would like to fix before blowing another board. Didn't see anything on K/M knowledge base.

Thanks in advance

It's funny you posted about this. We had the same issue today at a customer's site, dead FS-534, traced to a bad board.

Now the thing that makes me wonder is, we have gone through about 5 of these boards in the last 6 months. Not on the same machine mind you, but at various different customers, varying machine models, etc. The only thing in common between all of them is they are all within the the same geographic area. What I mean is, we have customers and machines over a very large area as we have 4 offices total. All the machines that have had these boards go out recently are all near the same remote office location. The tech in that area isn't doing anything out of the ordinary to these machines, and is a very competent service tech, so I know he is not causing the problem.

The service calls for these all start out the same, jamming constantly. Yup, it is jamming because the copier no longer knows the finisher is attached. Troubleshooting reveals the finisher is completely dead. Only solution is to replace the board in the finisher, and the problem is resolved.

I've looked over every single one of these boards that have come back to the main office, and tested them to the best of my ability. I can not find anything obviously wrong with them. There are no blow fuses on any of the boards, and none of the components look like they got hot or fatigued in way. They all look like a perfectly good board other than they are completely dead.

I would also like to know the answer to this. Has anybody actually "repaired" one of these boards, or sent one in to have it repaired and can enlighten us on what it is that dies on these, and maybe even what is causing it?

[copyman]

It's funny you posted about this. We had the same issue today at a customer's site, dead FS-534, traced to a bad board.

Now the thing that makes me wonder is, we have gone through about 5 of these boards in the last 6 months. Not on the same machine mind you, but at various different customers, varying machine models, etc. The only thing in common between all of them is they are all within the the same geographic area. What I mean is, we have customers and machines over a very large area as we have 4 offices total. All the machines that have had these boards go out recently are all near the same remote office location. The tech in that area isn't doing anything out of the ordinary to these machines, and is a very competent service tech, so I know he is not causing the problem.

The service calls for these all start out the same, jamming constantly. Yup, it is jamming because the copier no longer knows the finisher is attached. Troubleshooting reveals the finisher is completely dead. Only solution is to replace the board in the finisher, and the problem is resolved.

I've looked over every single one of these boards that have come back to the main office, and tested them to the best of my ability. I can not find anything obviously wrong with them. There are no blow fuses on any of the boards, and none of the components look like they got hot or fatigued in way. They all look like a perfectly good board other than they are completely dead.

I would also like to know the answer to this. Has anybody actually "repaired" one of these boards, or sent one in to have it repaired and can enlighten us on what it is that dies on these, and maybe even what is causing it?

Thanks for the reply. Interesting information to say the least. Same here board looks fine. Will post when I find the solution. I'm returning to the customer with new board, surge protector & firmware. I did speak with a different person later today and they provided some additional information, not sure if related but they say every day when they run a double sided job it jams, they remove jam and after it's good for rest of the day.
By the way this is a FS534 with booklet option SD-511 installed.
Also going to try the board I remove in a finisher back at the shop and see what happens.

[femaster]

Thanks for the reply. Interesting information to say the least. Same here board looks fine. Will post when I find the solution. I'm returning to the customer with new board, surge protector & firmware. I did speak with a different person later today and they provided some additional information, not sure if related but they say every day when they run a double sided job it jams, they remove jam and after it's good for rest of the day.
By the way this is a FS534 with booklet option SD-511 installed.
Also going to try the board I remove in a finisher back at the shop and see what happens.

Do let us know if anything sticks out that might be the cause. I can add a little bit more to the 5 we've had go out. Four of the 5 had surge suppressors installed prior to the problem, and only 1 of the 5 had the SD-511 booklet unit installed. I'm not sure at this point if any had the PK-520 punch kit installed or not. So far though, we've not had to go back to one for a repeat dead board. Not to say it won't happen, as most of these finishers have been out in the field for a number of years before the board died.