HP L25500 "Replace Printhead"

[SellersSign&Design]

Every once in a while my printer will throw the error to replace the #3 printhead, which is a YK head. I can normally pull it out, put it back in and everything is fine. It popped up with this error again last night, and would not clear even after removing and reinserting the printhead. So today I picked up two new heads, and even after replacing both of the YK heads the printer continues to give me the "Replace Printhead" message and show the #3 printhead is the problem. Any ideas?

 

[StarSign]

Have you tried cleaning the contacts?

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I've wiped the contacts with a lint free cloth, I didn't use any alcohol because I was worried about shorting it out. I've also swapped the #3 and #4 heads, it continues to say replace #3

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I have also pulled out and reinstalled all the printheads, powered the machine off and restarted, and swapped the #3 printhead out with some older ones I had. If I power off and restart the printer comes up and shows it is ready, but if I send a job to it or run a printhead cleaning it will stop and give me the printhead replacement message again.

 

[greysquirrel]

Power off printer
unplug
remove all consumables
unseat all ink cartridges
leave media lever up and hood open

power back on and have printer ask for all consumables and install 1x1...this does a soft reboot of all boards...might get you past issue...

if not
contacts are a replaceable part
carriage assy
trailing cable/inkline assy

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I powered it off and went through the steps like you said, still the same problem. Maybe its just me, but the YK printheads seem to make a different "click" than the other heads when I put them in. What should I try replacing first? I'm guessing the contact cable?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Nope its a common problem on the L25500...

The flat data cable that contacts the printhead gets out of position. What we always had to do on ours is push down (On top of the carriage, this in turn lifts the contact up higher) on the data cable while inserting the head. It got to the point that every head did it for us at some point.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Nope its a common problem on the L25500...

The flat data cable that contacts the printhead gets out of position. What we always had to do on ours is push down (On top of the carriage, this in turn lifts the contact up higher) on the data cable while inserting the head. It got to the point that every head did it for us at some point.

I owe you one, you saved my tail on this one! I'm back up and running now. I called my local HP rep before I posted on here and not only did he tell me that my machine was too old for him to send a technician out to work on it, he told me the only fix was for me to buy a new one. Thanks again!

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

I owe you one, you saved my tail on this one! I'm back up and running now. I called my local HP rep before I posted on here and not only did he tell me that my machine was too old for him to send a technician out to work on it, he told me the only fix was for me to buy a new one. Thanks again!

Not a problem at all... when you get sick of doing that you can change out the carriage (our carriage got warped and would work with new cables). I'm glad it was that simple fix, sorry it's a annoyance when you have change heads.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

So the problem showed back up tonight. The printer has been doing great, and then I fired it up tonight to run a job and got the "replace printhead" message. It showed the same #3 YK printhead that gave me trouble last time, so I pulled it and inserted it with pressure on the top of the carriage like last time. No matter what I do, it won't accept it and keeps going back to the printhead replacement. Does this mean the carriage is shot? There isn't a ton of use on this machine, I wouldn't think something that major would be worn out.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I ordered the "cable plate bundle" from HP last night. HP isn't the best at showing exactly what you are buying, but from what I could gather this is the lid to the printhead area along with all the ribbon cables. Am I on the right track replacing that?

 

[dale911]

I was wondering if you did the alcohol swab on the print head contacts in the carriage. I do them about every other time I change heads. There is an unreal amount of aerosol in the printer that you never see. If I can attach a photo, you will see a bunch of ink deposit on he exterior of my printer from running it when I had the exhaust fan out for replacement. This thing is a dream for techs but not so much for everyday printing. I have broken mine down 4 times for misc stuff that I was able to replace or fix myself at a fraction of what hp wanted.

 

[Robert Gruner]

Sellers...It is good that there are knowledgeable posters like 2ct at this site. If you wrote down the name of the HP Tech that told you to buy a new printer, you should send him a copy of 2ct's post so perhaps next time someone ask him the same question he will have a better answer.
I believe that HP does monitor this site, so I believe they will pass fix on to all the HP tech support folks.
BTW, I do believe HP has recently released a new "firmware" upgrade for the L25500 printers.

Good printing

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Yeah that fix can only last so long until the ribbon is too far gone, I'm not sure which part it is as we replaced the entire carriage assembly (warped due to damaged bearings) before we got the persistent error.

 

[GP_Oz]

Probably too late seeing as you bought a new set of flats..but maybe beneficial for others

See attached pic. What the crappy stock image will not show is the 2nd set of black dots on the flat cable.
The smaller set should be inline with the 2 black tabs that the arrow points to. (as per all other heads)
They may seem all aligined but try to move the offending slot and see if it is a bit iffy
I have re positioned and glued these back in before to solve problems like this before at a few sites.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

View attachment 117000

Probably too late seeing as you bought a new set of flats..but maybe beneficial for others

See attached pic. What the crappy stock image will not show is the 2nd set of black dots on the flat cable.
The smaller set should be inline with the 2 black tabs that the arrow points to. (as per all other heads)
They may seem all aligined but try to move the offending slot and see if it is a bit iffy
I have re positioned and glued these back in before to solve problems like this before at a few sites.

I don't know what I would do without Signs101, its nice to be able to talk to people that have ran these printers a lot more than me. I do hope HP is seeing this, because I am now questioning whether I will buy a new HP when the time comes. I love the technology and the printer (well, when it's working) but when the local dealer isn't willing to do anything to help me because my printer is "too old", then why would I buy a new one from him? But anyways.. When I was trying to check the cable it actually popped off of those dots and I had to push it back on. It's just odd to me that it's only this one printhead that is causing issues every time. I'm really hoping this part I ordered will solve the problem, if not I don't really know where to go with it next. If the carriage was warped I'd have more issues than just one printhead not working right?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

I don't know what I would do without Signs101, its nice to be able to talk to people that have ran these printers a lot more than me. I do hope HP is seeing this, because I am now questioning whether I will buy a new HP when the time comes. I love the technology and the printer (well, when it's working) but when the local dealer isn't willing to do anything to help me because my printer is "too old", then why would I buy a new one from him? But anyways.. When I was trying to check the cable it actually popped off of those dots and I had to push it back on. It's just odd to me that it's only this one printhead that is causing issues every time. I'm really hoping this part I ordered will solve the problem, if not I don't really know where to go with it next. If the carriage was warped I'd have more issues than just one printhead not working right?

When ours warped it was making a grinding noise, and the prints were uneven.

 

[GP_Oz]

I don't know what I would do without Signs101, its nice to be able to talk to people that have ran these printers a lot more than me. I do hope HP is seeing this, because I am now questioning whether I will buy a new HP when the time comes. I love the technology and the printer (well, when it's working) but when the local dealer isn't willing to do anything to help me because my printer is "too old", then why would I buy a new one from him? But anyways.. When I was trying to check the cable it actually popped off of those dots and I had to push it back on. It's just odd to me that it's only this one printhead that is causing issues every time. I'm really hoping this part I ordered will solve the problem, if not I don't really know where to go with it next. If the carriage was warped I'd have more issues than just one printhead not working right?

We just see things differently over here.
Our customers are our business, there is no point trying to put the customers out of business with ridiculous service charges or trying to convince them to buy a new printer each time a little issue pops up.

This is not a reflection on HP but more the service provider.

 

[Dennis422]

I don't know what I would do without Signs101, its nice to be able to talk to people that have ran these printers a lot more than me. I do hope HP is seeing this, because I am now questioning whether I will buy a new HP when the time comes. I love the technology and the printer (well, when it's working) but when the local dealer isn't willing to do anything to help me because my printer is "too old", then why would I buy a new one from him? But anyways.. When I was trying to check the cable it actually popped off of those dots and I had to push it back on. It's just odd to me that it's only this one printhead that is causing issues every time. I'm really hoping this part I ordered will solve the problem, if not I don't really know where to go with it next. If the carriage was warped I'd have more issues than just one printhead not working right?

Yes, dealers can be rough.My local one pissed at me because I went with other dealer that was willing to go way out to accommodate my needs with an install.

BTW, I switched from L25500 to L330 3 months ago.
OMG, it is a night and day difference. L330 prints much better at the lower pass counts and it does not have issues with buckling as the old one had.
L25500 is old and it has issues, do not let a few issues and you local dealer make you to go away from HP Latex. New printers are much better and much more reliable that the first generation one.


Good luck

 

[Robert Gruner]

DK

Nice comments. I too believe HP has done an excellent job of tweaking their line of wide format latex ink printers.

Mild Solvent ink and Eco Solvent ink printers have taken a back seat in this market.

Enjoy your Latex 330.