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I think I have a HUGE problem....

Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
Huge problem, I think. Heres the bullet explanation

- Printer running fine yesterday
- Send a file today to print and spits out what is pictured below

2013-04-16 11.11.53.jpg

- Machine powers off
- Upon power up, nothing happens, only flashing lights. No fans, nothing.
- Unplug the machine for 20 min, powers up, runs a cleaning cycle.
- Now NOTHING prints. The carriage moves back and forth but no ink is coming out.

Doing a head soak now, but how could I loose ALL of my head overnight?

The machine is powered on all of the time and runs a cleaning every 6 hours.
 
Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
Just popped the side cover off to see if ink was coming out during cleaning. It is, so clogged heads are out.

Looks like I'm chasing JHill's suggestion...
 
d fleming

d fleming

Premium Subscriber
Have you turned off printer and computer attached to it...turned on printer...then turned on computer after printer is booted? Just a thought.
 
HIGHSPEEDGRAPHIX

HIGHSPEEDGRAPHIX

Rog
Cannot open port is a communication error. separate from your other issue. reboot and check your cables on that, if that's not it, and you havn't changed any settings, then maybe your port you are using on your pc has gone bad
 
B

BobCap

New Member
When you turn off your printer, unplug the power. Let it sit for a few minutes and plug it back in, power it up. See what it does
 
graphicoptions

graphicoptions

New Member
try cleaning the encoder strip with denatured alcohol, I am no technician, but when my encoder strip got some dirt and a splash on ink on it, its printing went crazy
--open the lid and its the grayish clear strip right in the middle its attached by black plastic clips and springs on each side.
 
V

Valentino

New Member
As someone who just replaced the f2 fuse on my board, I can tell you this is a motherboard or head cable problem. Before pressing the power button, hold down the up, down, and right buttons....while holding all three down turn on the printer and wait for the printer to say 1. Platen Adj. This is the maintenance mode. Press the right arrow over to 2. and then press enter and scroll over to Head Signal. Move the printhead manually to the media... and then run ALL channels at 1,000x

It looks like a head signal test firing all the nozzles.
 
Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
well just an update. GRS did come and fix the machine. A new board and head later and I'm up and running. Didn't start the week out thinking I was going to have to spend $4k on the printer, but on the upside it runs like it's brand new! I just need to keep in mind that our 1204 has run over 5 years nearly maintenance free and made us a good amount of money.
 
phototec

phototec

New Member
I just love when the service tech comes at $150 an hour plus travel time, installs a new board and that doesn't fix the problem, so then he replaces some cables, that doesn't fix the problem, so then he installs new print head, oh now it works.

I think I can swap out parts till I find out whats wrong and pay myself the $150 per hour and NO travel time, instead of using a so call tech. Then it prints like a NEW machine...

:frustrated:
 
chrisphilipps

chrisphilipps

Merchant Member
I cant speak about any other repairs done by other techs but below is what happened on this repair.

The motherboard was shot. The F2 fuse went, the network connection on the board went and there were other things going wrong with it.

We replaced the board and inspected the ribbon cables. The old head blew the F2 fuse on the new main board so we replaced the head and fuse. From that point on the unit worked.

We spent about 4 hours on the unit trying to fix it as inexpensively as possible and we only charged him for the 2 hours quoted. We also gave him the option to use the parts as a deposit on a new printer. He decided not to trade the unit in and I offered to split the charge up into three payments to help out a great customer.

Things are not as cut and dry as some people may think with these units and there are many expenses that we encore to be able to work on the units and be called factory authorized. We spend thousands of dollars every year for training courses, flights, and hotels to become trained.
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Yeah unfortunately there is no computer port you can just plug in to and it tells you exactly what is wrong like a car. Most error codes cover a wide range of problems. My tech was sincere and understood the situation I was in. Mutoh is not a lot of help. There is usually a list of things to replace and they follow that list without logic. A techs job is mostly a thankless job because when they do fix it they hand you a bill for their services.
 
Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
tsgstl said:
A techs job is mostly a thankless job because when they do fix it they hand you a bill for their services.
Click to expand...

Chris and Allen from GRS handled this great. I was actually not at the shop when they were there and he made sure to call me every step of the way to approve parts and layer out all of my options with zero pressure. I highly recommend them to anyone within their service region. Also we buy ink and media from them. They carry a lot of 50" rolls for those 1204 owners that need it!
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Yeah thanks for the reply from you and grs. You can tell from some of the comments that some of their customers are not as cool to deal with as me and you. I'm sure they don't bat a eye when they charge for their services + travel time but complain about it when the tables are turned.

glad you got it sorted out. I was in your shoes and its tuff to decide if a new machine is the correct decision. I had several trips from the tech and paid for overnighting parts twice. I hope to get mine fixed for a backup printer so I don't get stuck again.
 
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