eStudio 3540C not recognizing new toner cartridge

[t85ster]

eStudio 3540C not recognizing new toner cartridge
Have not arrived onsite yet, wanted to get a heads up before driving 40 miles there, then fumbling around. I'm a Konica Minolta tech, 43 years. Thank you!

[gliderider]

Those particular models are notorious for that. Check that the small chip on the back of the toner cartridge is still there and clean. That small toner chip interfaces with another small board behind where the toner cart slides in. Clean those spring contacts well. Also makes sure that the front cover is closing correctly as if there is not enough pressure on the toner cart than the copier won't recognize the toner cart. Also I have seen the customer forget to pull out the white pull tab on the bottom of the toner cartridge before installing it.

[blackcat4866]

I've had power issues blow the chip on any one of the toner cartridges, usually magenta or cyan. If you were to take the chip from any toner cartridge (color doesn't matter) and install it on your full cartridge it will work (for a while). The most memorable was a eS2540C plugged into the same surge suppressor as a eS850. on a 20A circuit. You could watch the fluorescent lights flicker out when both machines were fired up at the same time.

Fortunately for me there were 4 separate circuits within reach. The customers logic was that they only had one surge suppressor ...

=^..^=

[Blizzoo]

As stated above this is a common issue on this series. The toner leaks in time from the back of the toner cartridge over the Toner Drive assembly and contaminates the little board where those springs gets in contact. There is also a photointrerrupter sensor that recognize the presence of the toner cartridge - may be dirty or faulty.

If you see loads of toner spilled over on the Toner Drives I would recommend to take them out and give them a good clean while you are there and check gears for any damage/lube them. The machine can call you back shorter after another toner cartridge is swapped with a new one.

Before doing anything once you get at the machine start it in Test Mode 0+3 and test each Toner Motor and look if each drive auger turns while the Motor is ON - test this without the toner cartridge inserted and cheat front door switches. You can apply a bit of a pressure with your finger on each drive auger gear at the front side to discover if any of the black gears that gets in direct contact with the Toner Motor at the back have any damaged teeth - had load of these gears damaged that can occur after the customer is replacing the cartridge with a new one and they don't shake the new cartridge a few time to disperse any toner lumps.

Codes for each Motor operation: 410 Motor K On/Off, 411 Motor C On/Off, 412 Motor M On/Off, 413 Motor Y On/Off

If any of the black gear is damaged the PN is 6LH39253100 Gear-5H68_8S39-6-F45X-U
Toner Motor PN 6LH53764000 ASYS-MOTORD-TNR-470
Sensor PN GP1A73ARJ00F C0-10813000
Toner Board where the springs sits on 6LH92812000 PWA-H-CTIF-150

Good luck

[t85ster]

Well guys, I tried all of your suggestions yesterday, to no avail. Today I will revisit the machine, and try a Auto Toner Sensor (K) Calibration, just for grins. The machine has only about 65k on it, mostly black, very clean. If this doesn't work, I will order the little Toner Cartridge Sensor Board behind the toner ctg. I'm not even sure how to get to it properly, I couldn't find anything on it in the Service Manuals. Thanks for any new ideas! We're stumped!

[t85ster]

Another tidbit of info I found out. The customer saved the old toner cartridge (they are all OEM, btw), and it was still about 1/2 full. So, the problem started out of the blue, before it actually ran out.

[gliderider]

Remove the sensor, disassemble it and clean first before replacing it. Not that bad to get to. Remove all cartridges, remove inner cover. This exposes the toner drive shafts and toner cart sensor boards. One connector and one screw holds it in place in back. You will also see the shaft that runs to the front of the copier that turns the toner feed auger. There is a cover on the front that also has to be removed that covers all four toner feed augers. Once that is removed then remove the toner feed auger gear and feed assy. then slide out the sensor in back with the shaft still attached. Disassembly of the sensor assy is self explanatory. Clean and reinstall.

[t85ster]

I returned yesterday to the machine. The customer gave me some more accurate history of when the issue started: The machine said it was out of Yellow toner. She replaced it, and that's when the message "Cannot recognize black toner cartridge" appeared and wouldn't resolve.

Well, I got it running, but I can't put my finger on exactly what I did to fix it! I started disassembling to get to the rear sensor and board, and as I was removing the small thin panel on the front (covers the toner augers) I noticed wiring going thru that panel. The wiring goes to a small somewhat hidden front door interlock sensor on the left end of the panel, that I didn't even know was there. I quickly cheated it and the right side interlock, and voila! the machine came up with no "Cannot recognize black toner cartridge" message. I never found anything out of order, so I'm still very suspicious of what was going on. Put everything back together and it's running fine (as for now!). PHEW!!!!
Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions!

[djbass]

Just for future reference toner cartridge detection is handled by two methods on this model.

There is an IC chip on the back of the toner cartridge that internally has a counter, once this counter has expired it can not be reset and the toner cartridge will be deemed expired.
Common problems include the spring contacts at the rear of the cartridge slot or the IC chip on the cartridge being dirty, or the IC chip being faulty. You can also remove the IC chip from the cartridge and you will get a Non-Genuine toner warning but the machine will be usable.

The second method is an optocoupler sensor also at the rear of the cartridge slot that both detects the presence of the toner cartridge and the rotation of the mixer inside the toner cartridge. If this sensor is dirty or the mixing paddle is not rotating then you will get a cartridge not recognized message.