valuejet 1204 bad main board?

[longbeachmichael]

We have had the printer for a little over a year, and have had no problems with it. The other day I sent a print
Job to it, and it started printing dark colored bands of ink, looks like its all the colors, kind of a greenish black.
I kept trying to send print jobs to it, getting the same results. I checked the connections and everything was fine.
I did several strong cleanings, and even a couple ink refills. The same thing happened. So the next day I come in to
Work and start trying to print again, and the RIP software tells me it cant communicate with the printer. First thing I did
Was check the network connection, I noticed that there was no lights blinking on the router port where the printer was
Plugged in. so I unplugged it from the router and plugged it back in, doing the same on the back of the printer. Same
Results, no activity through the port. So I tried 2 other Ethernet cables with the same results. We have made no changes
To our network, or configuration to the printer which led me to believe either the network port on the printer was bad,
Or something else was wrong. i contacted our dealer and a technician had me unplug the printer for a few minutes,
And then try a test print. The printer acted as though it was printing, but no ink came out. There was still no activity on the
Network by the printer. After telling the Tech about this, he told me he was pretty sure the main board was bad. anyone have a problem like this?

 

[HaroldDesign]

I haven't had that happen, but I did have it "spike" and error out. After I turned the printer back on I had no connection. I don't know why, but I had to put the ip info back into the rip and then everything was fine.

 

[Biker Scout]

In my experience thus far with the printer, with a similar problem. (not the electrical/network) but the ink thing, is that you've got clogged nozzles. Quite possibly some cross-mojination going on because your dampers are allowing ink to flow backwards.

Your inability to pull ink through for a proper cleaning cycle, is that your vacuum lines are clogged underneath the capping station. Most likely, the tiny black tubes are caked with ink, and also that little white tube connector is clogged. (Get rid of that BTW)

Fix those problems first, and get the machine to suck/prime the printhead on it's own, and then go from there.

 

[Robert M]

White tube connector

I agree on that tube connector, I don't see how that part was used for that connection, way to small of an id. What did you use to replace it?

 

[Biker Scout]

The OD of the little black tubes is the same size as the ID of the clear tubes. Just shove them in!

 

[randya]

If the printer starts up and all the menu functions work, as well as media detect, etc, then it probably is not your main board.

If your router shut down and restarted it may have used the IP address for your printer and you could be getting a network conflict.

Ping the IP address of your printer, unplug the network cable and Ping it again, if the number pings then something else has your IP address. Change in the RIP and Printer.

Check to make sure you have ink in the lines and dampers

 

[timson_ads]

try to restart your computer and re attached the key dongle for your software it might work, sometimes by the way, what software are you using?

 

[randya]

Or bypass the RIP altogether -

http://www.mutoh.com/kb/entry/68/

 

[longbeachmichael]

i am using production manager 8.5 that comes with flexisign pro. i have tried pinging the ip address, with no response. i have already installed a second network card and hooked up the printer directly to the computer with a crossover cable following the instructions from mutoh's website, still no luck. i can however, connect using the USB port, but it prints blank.

 

[longbeachmichael]

also in response to RandyA, there are only 3 things connected to the router, my computer, and 2 mutoh valuejets, 1 works fine, the other is the one im having problems with. i am downloading TCPsend and the preripped files to try that.

 

[Jeff South Florida]

I know it sound simple but check the ip in the printer. I have had them reset to an older ip after losing power.

 

[longbeachmichael]

the ip address, subnet mask, and gateway are correct. if i unplug the cable and plug it into my other valuejet, and change its ip address to the same as the nonworking printer, it works fine. so im sure its not the network.

 

[Biker Scout]

Remember, the IP address for the Mutoh needs to be on it's own separate network. There's a more detailed post about that just recently.

 

[longbeachmichael]

tcpsend did not work. the ip address for the printer is 192.168.0.4. if i uplug the cable and plug it into my other valuejet,and change its ip address to 192.168.0.4, then tcpsend works for it. so my network settings are correct, there is something else wrong with the printer i think.

 

[randya]

Just in case, check the Subnet Mask (and Gateway) to make sure both printers match.

 

[longbeachmichael]

everything is the same, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway is 192.168.0.1

 

[randya]

Then there is a possibility that the network part of the main board is bad.

 

[longbeachmichael]

is there a way to replace just that part? if this is the case, then i still have the problem of it not even printing a test print. or are these 2 problems related?

 

[randya]

The network interface is integrated into the motherboard.

You might want to shut the machine off for a couple of hours and power back on to see if it might clear.

Otherwise, sounds like the tech you spoke with could be correct.

 

[longbeachmichael]

thanks for all your help, i appreciate it.