Phaser 860 - my today mail to Xerox support

[MichelLopez]

.../...

I was until recently a happy owner of a Phaser 860 MDX. (Model: 860/MDX Serial: M1XC19HP3N)

As you can see it is a MDX version. It worked with no big problem until last week when before moving offices I needed to change my IP configuration. To do that I went to the web pages of the printer define the new IP, saved, and reset the printer. Then the problem came up. The printer NEVER came back to life. When I switch the power on, the fans make the usual noises (and do not stop), a Xerox logo appears on the display, the green light next to the display lit and that's it, nothing else happen. It is also not possible to run any test or diagnostic (keystroke and dip switch 1). But the management web pages are still available, saying "Unavailable: PostScript Initializing" almost everywhere.

The crazy part of this story is that this Phaser 860 MDX is fully in the original hardware configuration. And it seems that the main board it is fitted with (part 671-5279-01-16895) is absolutely unknown from level 1 AND level 2 Xerox support people. This particular main board has worked exactly like that until last week. Only having a hard drive and a ram SoDimm and NO Rom module fitted on this main board. Everything seems ok, inside the printer and it seems to be or have been some kind of hard drive failure. All the support people I've been able to speak to cannot find anything about my particular setup. I've been studying as much as possible all the parts and references number from

http://www.office.xerox.com/userdoc/P8200/8200_Web/partslist/index.html

and from all the pdf documentation I have been able to find and was starting to think that because of a "small" hard drive problem my printer was history.

But today I found in "PHASER ® 840/850/860 NETWORKCOLOR PRINTER" (Printed: May 25, 2001 reference 071-0795-00) page 7 - 108, section "Phaser 840 / 850 / 860 Color Printer - Service Guide" an illustration reference 7-3 (

http://www.lopez.nom.fr/Phaser_860_MDX_Mainboard.JPG)

the exact representation of my main board. And then in one of your old post in the newsgroup I found that you said:
"I am at work now and looking in our knowledge base, it looks like the hd.exe file may not work with the 8200. It states that we have 2 CD's here that will rebuild the hard drive but we will only send it out to people who have purchased our hard drive."

That could be exactly what I'm looking for, but nobody at Xerox support center I've been talking to (support opened case number #4586642) seems to know that my version simply exist and that this particular reconstruction CD can be found somewhere inside Xerox.

Can you give me some information about those CD (part number) or anything else?

 

[MichelLopez]

Answer From Xerox :

Dear Mr Lopez,

all DX models come with a ROM module in the main board. It may be called a Boot ROM, or a code ROM, but it must be in the main board. The ROM module contains the boot sector and, among other things, the XEROX logo. Without that module, the printer would only make the fans spin and show nothing on display, as it could not start up at all. We have looked for the part number that you provided and it does not show up at all, I am afraid.

If a component is not properly connected within the machine, this could also cause this issue. If the printer has been moved from one location to another, there is big chance that this is the case. A loose cable from the printhead could cause this problem, for example. Note that if the main board is not inserted fully into the connectors of the printer, the later will fail to communicate with all the compnents of the board. Please ensure that the main board has been inserted all the way in. In the worst scenario, the main board may have been damaged in transit. Any of these possibilities should be checked by a Xerox technician, so I'd recommend you to request that your printer is serviced by one or our technicians.

Regarding the HD initialisation CDs, those can only be used if the printer is able to boot (which is not the case), as they contain information that needs to be sent to the printer via ftp.

Please arrange a technician visit with your local Xerox Service to have your printer checked up.

Regards,

Partner Support Team
Xerox (E) Ltd.

 

[MichelLopez]

My follow up :

Dear Mr xxxxx,

Thanks for this quick reply.

JC> ...all DX models come with a ROM module in the main board...
JC> ...part number that you provided and it does not show up at all...

This is for me the very interesting part of your answer; because it is indeed the main board that as been fitted from factory in my Phaser MDX. I cannot believe that it is not possible to find any information or technical data about this particular part.

Did you looked at the picture I'm attaching to this mail, because it is a representation from an official Tektronix/Xerox book of my exact main board, but it has been working correctly since delivery without any boot/code Rom installed!

Since I sent you this support question I've discovered (thanks to xxxxx yyyyyy) that my genuine hard drive is supposed to be FAT32 formatted and that currently it has no partition at all and that any FAT32 recreation process failed (that's why I'm more and more certain my boot problem is coming from this hard drive failure), but I am able using a physical sector editor to look the data from that hard drive, and there is still a lot of readable data in this hard drive (Including what seems to be Postscript engine systems files)...

To be more specific about the exact steps of this failure, it occurs after issuing a "software reset" command (after changing IP parameters) via the web management interface. The printer has not been moved or anything else when this failure happened. I should add that the printer has worked (printed) just fine the minute before the reset command was issued via this web page...

For the mechanical verifications steps you are referring to, I have personally been thru as much as possible of them (using your own technical training documentation) before pretending calling for help, but if it is needed I would be able to order a paid intervention from a Xerox technician. But before that, I would like to be sure that it could be done by some one knowing exactly my system definition. (I have not invented this printer definition; neither has made any modification to it....)

As I already told to somebody from support level 2, I have been able to talk directly to; I don't imagine being charged for technician time to come to a conclusion that I need to buy a new main board, a code/boot Rom and a new hard drive, just because nobody seems to know what type of current main board my system have, it could be a weird situation, don't you think?

For now I have ordered and received a new hard drive and should be receiving in a few days a boot/code Rom (part 671-5284-01), I will then be able to check for sure if is indeed a software problem or a hardware problem, only if the regular code/boot Rom can be used in this main board definition. This could be the key information I would like to have from you.

By the way you said that "...The ROM module contains the boot sector and, among other things, the XEROX logo...", looking to my main board definition (see my provided URL), how can you explain that without any hard drive installed and also without any boot/code Rom, the printer is able to display a Xerox logo?


Regards

Michel