From time to time I encounter the odd machine with control panel issues. In one case, the hard keys on the panel failed and I had to replace the panel. In another, the failure was in the heavy cable.
In both cases, the machine was operational, faxes and print jobs still worked.
Today, I encountered a rather new (to me) symptom.
The machine was completely unresponsive. Pagescope did not work, print jobs did not reach the machine. All the keys on the control panel did not function, the touch screen also did not respond.
However, the control panel was responsive for about 3-5 seconds after the main user display screen appeared. I could press the hard keys or the touch screen and get response. But it would not last, the panel would be unresponsive. Obviously, tech rep mode was completely unavailable, as it takes about a minute to be able to access on a machine that is functioning normally.
Standard fair for things like this is to check the cables and then reflash the machine.
Neither fixed the problem. A TSB entry related a firmware level issue related to 6M flashed up to J8, that such an incident could happen, that the firmware was corrupted. The entry recommended a backflash to 6M, downgrade the hard drive, and reflash back to J8 and upgrade the hard drive.
It was here that I encountered the unique problem.
I backflashed to 6M. Rebooted. Got the expected E002 code. Went into tech rep, tried to downgrade the hard drive. The response was immediate and I was told to cycle the power. Those of you with experience may recognize this is not normal. Upon reboot, I still had the E002 code. Raised eyebrow.
Obviously the machine was refusing to cooperate.
Keep in mind that I am trying to preserve the data on the hard disk and of course, user settings.
I disable the hard disk, knowing that it is either damaged or corrupt. I want to recover administrator information, like email, network, smb data before I go any further.
Administrator mode, I cannot get into, the password has changed. The customer did not change it, they have several machines and all have the same PW. I go into tech rep, into CE mode to change the password. I can enter the 1-8 in the first entry. The machine prompts for a second entry (verify). But the panel becomes unresponsive. I reboot, try it again. And a third time. WTF!?
At this point, I have accepted that the machine needs to have a serious shit kick and resign myself to knowing that I will never recover the admin settings. I perform a total clear on the machine. Finally, I am able to enter into admin mode.
I re-enable the hard disk, hoping that this time, I can downgrade the drive to 6M and at least recover the one touches and user box data.
Another expected E002 upon reboot. But like the first time, the response to the downgrade is immediate and the machine indicated to cycle the power. And again, greeted with the E002. I resign myself to having to format (logical) the hard disk and lose that data too.
The reboot, the machine is operating normally again. Except for the Admin password, which oddly enough, has somehow changed again. At least this time, Tech Rep CE mode allows me to set the entry twice without issue. I update the flash back to R6, reformat the drive (just in case).
When all was said and done, I was not a happy camper about losing all that information, neither was the customer. They had no backup of the user data or one touch information.
The tech tip here however, is to try and backflash the machine to a very early firmware version in situations where the control panel, all of it, locks up and the machine is unresponsive to print jobs and incoming faxes. The point being, is that if doing so relieves the underlying symptom as described above, you may not be able to recover the machine in the traditional ways. You may be forced to delete the data regardless, but keep in mind that the hard disk itself is readable in windows. I attached the drive to my home PC, hoping to perform a data recovery, but the format destroyed any usable information that was on the drive. Had I not formatted it, I might have been able to save the data on the PC, format the drive in the copier, and then retransfer the data back to that drive. That's the tip.
The machine is up and running as it should be now. At least there is no permanent damage to the machine or the drive. But man, what a pain it was to diagnose the problem.
In both cases, the machine was operational, faxes and print jobs still worked.
Today, I encountered a rather new (to me) symptom.
The machine was completely unresponsive. Pagescope did not work, print jobs did not reach the machine. All the keys on the control panel did not function, the touch screen also did not respond.
However, the control panel was responsive for about 3-5 seconds after the main user display screen appeared. I could press the hard keys or the touch screen and get response. But it would not last, the panel would be unresponsive. Obviously, tech rep mode was completely unavailable, as it takes about a minute to be able to access on a machine that is functioning normally.
Standard fair for things like this is to check the cables and then reflash the machine.
Neither fixed the problem. A TSB entry related a firmware level issue related to 6M flashed up to J8, that such an incident could happen, that the firmware was corrupted. The entry recommended a backflash to 6M, downgrade the hard drive, and reflash back to J8 and upgrade the hard drive.
It was here that I encountered the unique problem.
I backflashed to 6M. Rebooted. Got the expected E002 code. Went into tech rep, tried to downgrade the hard drive. The response was immediate and I was told to cycle the power. Those of you with experience may recognize this is not normal. Upon reboot, I still had the E002 code. Raised eyebrow.
Obviously the machine was refusing to cooperate.
Keep in mind that I am trying to preserve the data on the hard disk and of course, user settings.
I disable the hard disk, knowing that it is either damaged or corrupt. I want to recover administrator information, like email, network, smb data before I go any further.
Administrator mode, I cannot get into, the password has changed. The customer did not change it, they have several machines and all have the same PW. I go into tech rep, into CE mode to change the password. I can enter the 1-8 in the first entry. The machine prompts for a second entry (verify). But the panel becomes unresponsive. I reboot, try it again. And a third time. WTF!?
At this point, I have accepted that the machine needs to have a serious shit kick and resign myself to knowing that I will never recover the admin settings. I perform a total clear on the machine. Finally, I am able to enter into admin mode.
I re-enable the hard disk, hoping that this time, I can downgrade the drive to 6M and at least recover the one touches and user box data.
Another expected E002 upon reboot. But like the first time, the response to the downgrade is immediate and the machine indicated to cycle the power. And again, greeted with the E002. I resign myself to having to format (logical) the hard disk and lose that data too.
The reboot, the machine is operating normally again. Except for the Admin password, which oddly enough, has somehow changed again. At least this time, Tech Rep CE mode allows me to set the entry twice without issue. I update the flash back to R6, reformat the drive (just in case).
When all was said and done, I was not a happy camper about losing all that information, neither was the customer. They had no backup of the user data or one touch information.
The tech tip here however, is to try and backflash the machine to a very early firmware version in situations where the control panel, all of it, locks up and the machine is unresponsive to print jobs and incoming faxes. The point being, is that if doing so relieves the underlying symptom as described above, you may not be able to recover the machine in the traditional ways. You may be forced to delete the data regardless, but keep in mind that the hard disk itself is readable in windows. I attached the drive to my home PC, hoping to perform a data recovery, but the format destroyed any usable information that was on the drive. Had I not formatted it, I might have been able to save the data on the PC, format the drive in the copier, and then retransfer the data back to that drive. That's the tip.
The machine is up and running as it should be now. At least there is no permanent damage to the machine or the drive. But man, what a pain it was to diagnose the problem.
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