Hi!

I got a HP z3100 44" and often problems with this machine.
Last time I tried to print I got a defect printhead that looses ink all over the paper... afer replacing and cleaning the whole machine I always get the startig failure 85:03 - that says I should contact a technical representative...

Searching for that failure wasn't successfull. Is anybody out there that has any idea what I should try to fix that problem - the HP-Support wasn't that helpful in the past.

A second problem I additionally had was that the starwheel-panel-lifter stucked on the top position after fixing this I booted in the maintenance-support-menu and ran the starwheel-lifter-test with a failure (~3652 is out of range (0-3500)) - maybe there is a coherence?


Thanks for any support

85:03 is an error message that the media axis encoder reading is not right (85) and that it should be correctable with a power off/restart (03). Can't be any more helpful than translating the code from the service manual for you, but it doesn't sound related to the starwheel assembly, unless that is jamming the paper transport somehow. Best of luck.

thanks for reply and the hint regarding looking in the service manual (I didn't know that such a manual is avaible)...

The solution was quite simple: Cleaning.

There is this foil with fine lines printed on. I think the printhead uses it to localize it's position by counting the lines - at least this is what our ZBE Chromira (classical photo printer) does. I cleaned this foil with ethyl alcohol. Now everything seems to work normal HP printers (we had a DesignJet5500 in the past) always makes me feel like a school child - ink on my fingers, i hate it

Thanks a lot.

It is a common source for faults in all wide formats. But when Colorwave referred to the media axis encoder I expected it to be the one on the paper transport axis that usually is a circular disc with radial lines hidden internally in the printers so less likely to become filthy and more difficult to clean. It can be a completely encased part too.

The Z3100 Wiki pages have the manual.



met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

New: Dinkla Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html

That's is what they replaced on my 3200 as I was having 86:01 errors often.
It is a part hidden inside an enclosing box which in theory should limit the dust getting in. It doesn't. The encoder was covered in dust.
I have had one error since, but haven't printed much.

I always suggest cleaning the normal encoder strip in the carriage well as it is easy to get to and easy to clean.

Hi

I am interested in seeing a picture of the part that needs cleaning on the z3100.

Thanks Steven

www.friedmanphoto.com

An "Encoder" search in the service manual will give all the relevant information in words and images.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

New: Dinkla Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html