HP Designjet 5500ps RIP Solution Needed!

[speq-tater]

My HP Designjet 5500ps is having major issues...

After printing out a file from Mac/Illustrator CS2 the plotter "reboots" and reloads the firmware. After the reload, the plotter says it has no I/O card. To continue using the plotter, you have to recycle the power, wait 5 minutes for the startup routine to finish, and you're good for ONE print, before you have to repower up again. Needless to say, this is just a wee bit COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

I've gone through hell with HP. They have come out to fix this 3 times so far. Everytime they have thrown parts at it (motherboard, jet direct card, hard drive, RAM, etc.) until it works again. Now they're asking for over $2K to fix it again!

I could go on and on with the whole story, ranting forever about HP, and how I wish that I had gone with an Epson, but that will be another post on another forum. :evil:

Now, here's what I would like to do...

Rather than toss $2K away on a problem that will just repeat itself in 4 months, I would rather invest it in a solution that will also give me better proofing capabilities.

The actual mechanical side of the plotter's workings are just fine. The prints that come out are same quality as they always have been. My question is this...

Could I possibly attach an external RIP via the parallel port or MAYBE the Jet Direct card and bypass the problems with the internal RIP?

I know there's a lot of "if's" to this situation, like "if the internal RIP is actually the problem".

Maybe an EFI XT? I would love to get some feedback regarding options, solutions, etc.

Also, in anticipation to questions this post might raise...

Yes, the electrical power source has been checked and cleared.
Yes, the network that it's connected to is good.
Yes, the problem still occurs when sending the internal test prints.

The irony is that we are still using a Designjet 650 AND 755CM for our internal content proofing, and they're still chugging along just fine (on the same AC circuit and ethernet switch).

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

[seratne]

We had the same, or at least very similar, issue. They had us replace just the jetdirect card and since then things have chugged away nicely on it.

One thing you could try doing just to troubleshoot is to remove the jetdirect card, and hook up a pc to it with just the parallel port and try printing from there. Speeds will be slower, but if you're able to print a few things then you know it's the jetdirect.

As for the external RIP, there's a couple things to consider, what price are you willing to pay, what type of work do you do most often, and do you want to be able to run your other plotters from the same RIP?

[speq-tater]

As far as changing out the Jet Direct card, consider yourself fortunate that it fixed the problem. On all 3 service calls for the same problem, we had to follow the troubleshooting path that HP recommends and replace the Jet Direct BEFORE they would even consider sending out a tech. By the 3rd time it was very frustrating since it delayed fixing the real problem by at least a day, which is a a loooong time when the shop is busy!

I should try the parallel port, perhaps I can set it up as a Windows shared printer and limp along until I find a more permanent solution.

I was hoping that the RIP would cost somewhere between 2.5 to 3K. MOST of the use for the plotter would be for fast output (about 80% of the time). The internal RIP, when it worked, was fine for that. But I also have increasing need for color managed proofing. Load balancing with another plotter would be nice...

[hagar_uk]

Originally Posted by speq-tater

As far as changing out the Jet Direct card, consider yourself fortunate that it fixed the problem. On all 3 service calls for the same problem, we had to follow the troubleshooting path that HP recommends and replace the Jet Direct BEFORE they would even consider sending out a tech. By the 3rd time it was very frustrating since it delayed fixing the real problem by at least a day, which is a a loooong time when the shop is busy!

I should try the parallel port, perhaps I can set it up as a Windows shared printer and limp along until I find a more permanent solution.

I was hoping that the RIP would cost somewhere between 2.5 to 3K. MOST of the use for the plotter would be for fast output (about 80% of the time). The internal RIP, when it worked, was fine for that. But I also have increasing need for color managed proofing. Load balancing with another plotter would be nice...

Jet direct cards are some of the biggest problems of Designjets, infact I am onsite now wasting time when I should be installing a duplex unit while we hunt down a spare card in the city where I am installing

[hagar_uk]

Originally Posted by speq-tater

As far as changing out the Jet Direct card, consider yourself fortunate that it fixed the problem. On all 3 service calls for the same problem, we had to follow the troubleshooting path that HP recommends and replace the Jet Direct BEFORE they would even consider sending out a tech. By the 3rd time it was very frustrating since it delayed fixing the real problem by at least a day, which is a a loooong time when the shop is busy!

I should try the parallel port, perhaps I can set it up as a Windows shared printer and limp along until I find a more permanent solution.

I was hoping that the RIP would cost somewhere between 2.5 to 3K. MOST of the use for the plotter would be for fast output (about 80% of the time). The internal RIP, when it worked, was fine for that. But I also have increasing need for color managed proofing. Load balancing with another plotter would be nice...

Jet direct cards are some of the biggest problems of Designjets, infact I am onsite now wasting time when I should be installing a duplex unit while we hunt down a spare card in the city where I am installing

[beermonster]

similar (ish) problem with my HP5000 last year.

it kept re-booting, no I/O etc etc - I couldnt even get a proof when it was set up as a windows printer via parallel ports

our problem was the motherboard - but the symptoms are pretty much the same as you except we dont have the jet direct set up.

[speq-tater]

I think HP has a lot to answer for with the support that they DID'NT give with this product.

Yeah, we're on the 3rd motherboard on this unit in only 13 month's!

Even so, HP won't budge in their 90 day warranty for the motherboard, but expects me to shell out another $2K for a new one that will probably die in another 4 months. I would'nt wish this situation on my worst enemy!

You'd think that HP would figure out that they are selling us more in consumables per year than they got from the printer sale alone. Now they're going to lose it all to Epson or Canon!

I'd better watch out now that I'm bad-mouthing HP online. Next thing I'll know they'll be using my wife's SSN and go through my garbage to get info on me. Funny, they'll spend money on that crap instead of taking care of their customers. Good riddance to them!

[beermonster]

i can sympathise with your problems - but cant solve em :?

when our hp5000 started going mad the chappies at HP insisted it was fixable over the phone. now fair enough for trying i guess, but the errors became irregular - as in they seemed to change slightly each time - I/O error, paper loaded incorectly, no media present, length unknown, system re-boot - all kinds of stuff.

the attitude at the end of the phone was patronising at best. when they eventually did come out and diagnose it (about a week later) we then had to wait another few days for the part to arrive, engineer to arrive again and fix it.

we have a company service our cromalin - they are a du pont subcontractors, and are very good. as an independant company they said they couldnt service HP products since HP charge the earth for the engineers training courses - effectively keeping the engineering side "closed-loop" to HP engineers only.

seems they have gone out of their way to make "repeat business" difficult for us users to justify