I know this one's over 10 years old, because I just saw the check I wrote for one of my LaserJet-III types. I've got three of these, and one is making a bit of trouble in that the paper doesn't feed down to the point at which the tray's empty. However, it does claim there's a paper jam, which there is once in a while, when it's folded a sheet in half and tried to eat it. It's toothless, though and doesn't shred the paper. Has anyone got a useful suggestion as to how to restore the formerly excellent feed capability of this otherwise quite excellent printer? Next question ... One other of these guys keeps displaying "Service 50" on his display. What does this mean? What does it want? thanks, Dick

The service 50 error means either a bad fuser assembly of AC power module. 9 times out of 10 it is the AC power module. Both are very easy to rplace on the II and III. Brian. Roger Merchberger wrote:

Since it sounds like we have some people who are good at LaserJet questions... I have a LaserJet IIP, which intermittently has a problem with leaving large black smears across the output. Not the kind of smears you get with a dirty machine. I believe it may be a thermal problem as it tends to work properly when first used, but after a while, it begins to fail. Any ideas on this one? --tnx --tom

As I said, the problem is not one of a dirty machine or paper path. I have replaced the toner cartridge (as suggested) with no improvement... --tom At 11:54 PM 7/5/01 +0100, you wrote: questions... large

One thing I have noticed is that sometimes pages printed from my browser may have what appears to be smears, and turns out to be some poorly rendered bit of page background.

Yes, the smears seem to be independent of what I print. The image is there, but covered in places by non-uniform "smears" of black. Yes, they appear on the test page (there is only one) as well. Also, the smears are fused to the paper... --tom

have you cleaned the corona wire, and does this happen with a different toner cart? At 09:05 AM 7/6/01 -0500, you wrote:

I thought I was the only one that used Marvel Mystery Oil (made for top end of engines) for the rollers on printers!. Also he can slightly bend up the tang that lifts the metal flp in the tray so it lifts properly - but too much will make it prevent the tray from going in or make it break at the bend. Also be VERY careful not to break the hair-thin wire under the toner cartridge - this is the corona wire and NOT repairable (just replaceable). -> -----Original Message----- -> From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org -> [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Roger Merchberger -> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 3:19 PM -> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org -> Subject: Re: Ancient LaserJet-3 question -> -> -> Rumor has it that Richard Erlacher may have mentioned these words: -> >I know this one's over 10 years old, because I just saw the -> check I wrote for -> >one of my LaserJet-III types. I've got three of these, and one -> is making -> a bit -> >of trouble in that the paper doesn't feed down to the point at which the -> tray's -> >empty. However, it does claim there's a paper jam, which there -> is once in a -> >while, when it's folded a sheet in half and tried to eat it. -> It's toothless, -> >though and doesn't shred the paper. -> > -> >Has anyone got a useful suggestion as to how to restore the formerly -> excellent -> >feed capability of this otherwise quite excellent printer? -> -> It's a "marvel"... ;-) as in - Marven Mystery Oil. Used sparingly, it's -> quite good at putting the "stickyness" back into rubber -> grabbers. I've used -> it on quite a few HP deskjets & on 2 LaserJet HP4's... -> -> It's best used with a soft, cotton, lint free (or close) cloth. -> (read: Old -> T-shirt) -> -> -> >Next question ... -> > -> >One other of these guys keeps displaying "Service 50" on his display. -> What does -> >this mean? What does it want? -> -> dunno 'zactly, but if you go to "www.fixyourownprinter.com" (yea, it's a -> hokey URL) they have "kits" to fix the more common "service -> errors" for the -> HP LaserJets (with simple instructions...) IIRC, they have a -> search utility -> to see if they have a kit that matches your number. -> -> Their kits don't seem too outrageous in price, AFAICT... -> -> HTH, -> Roger "Merch" Merchberger -> -- -> Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers -> Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. -> -> If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead -> disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

I use Rubber Renew for the rollers. At 06:15 PM 7/5/01 -0500, you wrote:

Gee! You must have seen this a time or two, Tony. I started out with one LJ-III that was making a bit of noise, emanating from the upper right rear region of the printer where a rubber nipple apparently involved in paper transport protrudes into the accessible innards. I bought the two other LJ-III's on the off chance that one or the other would have the necessary parts to make the noise go away. The off-chance that one or the other of these could be induced to work was of interest as well. I paid $4 each for these printers, so there's no great loss if they don't work out. (The toner cartridges weigh nearly what a full one weighs, if that's any indication.) Unfortunately, they lack paper trays. The cost of the various repair kits, combined with the somewhat evasive information offered along with them, and the restocking charges associated with them, in case they don't help, make it unattractive simply to repair these printers. I remember paying $300+ for a logic board when I plugged the printer cable into a PAL programmer board on the back of a utility machine ... which I only did once, by the way, but to TWO printers, and these printers apparently have good logic boards. My understanding is that this fuser/AC PSU problem is one of the more common failure modes, though. Hopefully I can get at least one of these two "parts" printers running. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Duell" &lt;ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk&gt; To: &lt;classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org&gt; Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 2:22 PM Subject: Re: Ancient LaserJet-3 question <snip> > -tony > >

--- Tony Duell &lt;ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk&gt; wrote: Yep. Just did upper and lower feed rollers and transfer pads on my LJIIID. Ran about $30 in parts and a lot of labor/time (I haven't been inside a printer in several years and I had several false starts). Nice description about how to get to the upper roller. I wish there were an easy way to get to the lower transfer pad. I just about stripped the printer bare to do it (on the bright side, I did learn what goes where and what has to come off (and go back on!) first). Commonly called "circlips" on this end of the pond. I ran into one problem - some of those other components were worn enough that I accidentally put the D-shaped roller 180 degrees around. Yes, it's possible. No, it's not supposed to be possible. There is a small pin that is supposed to fit into one of the hard rollers next to the rubber rollers, but it moved around too much during disassembly and I got it wrong the first time. It caused a jam on pickup because the flat spot on the D wasn't down when the next stage went to grab the paper and it stopped dead. That's where I got mine. About $8 each. Even though the printer was $15 to me (complete with two paper trays, LocalTalk card, 4Mb memory card and Postscript cart), it was worth it to drop another 200% to get it working. It's slow, but works like a champ now. The only thing I haven't tested is double-sided printing. Does anyone out there have a 10BaseT card they can't use? I'd rather throw this thing on the network than waste my only print-server port on it. Thanks, -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

--- Lawrence LeMay &lt;lemay(a)cs.umn.edu&gt; wrote: How could I tell? The LJIII cards are the size of my hand with a centered set of edge card fingers on on short end. They are 1/2 the size of LJ4 cards. Is there a picture on the web I could reference? -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

--- Richard Erlacher &lt;edick(a)idcomm.com&gt; wrote: I've got one of these, too, but I thought I would have to have a Netware Server on the network to feed it. I got mine in a grab bag at Dayton a few years ago. It's 10Base2, and the large chips on it are an 80C188 (CPU), DP83902V (Ethernet), an ASP- branded gate array ("GBIM ASB4101") and an EPROM ("JETLAN 00065-000-2.33") I'm looking for a card with better OS support, but if I could get this one working, I'd be satisfied with it. If I have to run print jobs through a server, the only thing I have that could fit the bill is a SPARC-LX running Solaris 7. If I have to have a dedicated server, I might as well build a Linux box and hang the printer off the parallel port. I have 0 interest in getting into Netware. -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

Once you do a basic service like that on one of these old workhorses, they last for years and many many pages. The only real downside is that they are big and heavy, not so much slow as long as they have plenty of memory. As I mentioned before, I have a LOT of parts, but don't know that much about which goes to what, but I am "pretty" sure I have some JetDirect 10bt cards, plus I am 100% sure I have memory expansion boards. Email me directly if you want me to look.

Thats one thing that gets me with university surplus, I buy a batch of 5 year old computers, and find they haven't been used since 1999, ie 2 years of sitting before disposal.

--- Tony Duell &lt;ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk&gt; wrote: That's about what I did. Unless I totally missed a techie tip, I figured I had to clear the top pan and remove it. Once I did that, the lower transfer pad was _right_ _there_ in plain sight. I was just hoping there was a better way for the next time. It took me more than 15 minutes the first time, though. :-) Ah. I know of the internal and external clips you are describing; I just don't think I was exposed to different terms for the three kinds. I've always seen the "E-circlips" referred to simply as "circlips". I have no need for personal stuff over 300dpi, so I'm pretty happy with it. -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

Even on some parts, HP Partsdirect isn't bad as their price includes standard shipping, within the US. MCM electronics carries all sorts of rubber rejuvenators but the pickup roller on the II/III series is a foamy kind of rubber and sometimes react strangely to the rubber treatments. -> -----Original Message----- -> From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org -> [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Mike Ford -> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 12:15 AM -> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org -> Subject: Re: Ancient LaserJet-3 question -> -> -> >I know this one's over 10 years old, because I just saw the -> check I wrote for -> >one of my LaserJet-III types. I've got three of these, and one -> is making -> >a bit -> >of trouble in that the paper doesn't feed down to the point at which the -> >tray's -> >empty. However, it does claim there's a paper jam, which there -> is once in a -> >while, when it's folded a sheet in half and tried to eat it. -> It's toothless, -> >though and doesn't shred the paper. -> -> Replace the pickup roller or carefully clean it using a rubber -> restoritive -> (I bought mine at Fry's, any "real" electronic supply have it or -> be able to -> order a bottle for about $7 to $10). -> -> BTW I have in my hoard quite a bit of printer replacement parts, but not -> much knowledge, so if you know a part number and/or have a -> picture email me -> and I can look. Places like Printerworks aren't a bad choice either. -> ->

You might have some missing files ... but I don't know if you'll miss them. If this is a "set" which was not the most common practice with v3.30, but could have been done to make the system fit on fewer 360K diskettes, there may be other problems. I use 3.31, once in a while, which is probably pretty similar. The 3.31 was stolen from a client who used Compaq machines, but not by me ... Nevertheless a copy of the files ended up on my server ... The missing diskette, while this is only a guess, probably had utilities, e.g. basic, basica, etc. That was before scandisk, smartdrv, etc. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gene Ehrich" &lt;gehrich(a)tampabay.rr.com&gt; To: &lt;classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org&gt; Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 1:20 PM Subject: DOD 3.30 Question ---------------

On Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 03:20:24PM -0400, Gene Ehrich wrote: Here's how I understand it (someone correct me if I'm wrong) -- Even though IBM and Microsoft were using the same code in PC-DOS and MS-DOS, the distributions were not the same (different layout of files or different files). And Microsoft let OEM's tweak DOS for many years, so even all MS-DOS distributions with a given version number are not the same. So what brand names are on the disk labels? Do they match the brand of the computer you're installing on? (Installing some other OEM's version isn't _dangerous_, but you might not get the right obscure device drivers, fiddly little utilities, etc.) -- Derek