DC220 style (DC332 family too) Vague Messages - Not Ready to Copy... System Warming Up... Print Engi

DC220 style & DC332 style - Vague Messages:
“Not Ready To Copy” / “System Warming Up” / “Print-Engine Failure”
(Troubleshooting)

This series of machines is famous for not being very forthcoming with Status Codes… The fault code hiding in the background could be as simple as a U4-1 Fuser fault. Here's where to start.

Getting a Status Code out of the machine…

1. First you can ask the customer calling with the message to try a couple of things. Ask them to try pressing the "Machine Status" button to see if it brings anything up… watch for a "Current Fault" tab on the display. Some codes can be read in this way. If the code won’t come up this way, have the customer enter the Customer Tools Mode. This is done by pressing ‘Access’ (the button with the key symbol on it) and then entering the User Password (default is ‘#,2,2,2,2,2’). Then press “Go to Tools” and look for the Fault tab to read the fault history. This you can ask the customer to do ahead of time for you.

2. Second thing to try is to see if you can get into the Diagnostic Mode… Press 'Access' … you will be prompted for a Pass code… enter '#', '1', '1', followed by pressing 'Enter'. If the machine is currently in a fault condition, it will ask if you'd like to shut down the portion of the machine which is drawing the fault… choose "yes" or "confirm". Then do the same process a second time ('Access', '#', '1', '1', 'Enter') … now you'll be in Diagnostic Mode. From the Diagnostic Mode, look for 'Fault History', 'Last 40 Faults' and write down the most recent half dozen or so… the most recent is at the top of the list.

Check the IOT/IIT Cable: This is the cable which joins the upper half of the machine (the IIT or Image Input Terminal) down to the Main Engine portion of the machine (the IOT or Image Output Terminal). Check the pins and if the cord itself looks damaged, measure from end to end for low resistance for each connection. These are very vulnerable to damage and can cause communication failures which trigger a wide range of symptoms.

If No Status Code comes up… If the machine absolutely fails to respond to any of the buttons on the display including the Access button… One sure fire way to throw the machine into a status code is to turn off the machine and unplug it… then go to the rear of the machine and disconnect the large ribbon cable running between the MCU PWB and the IOT PWB (the IOT is the one closest to the rear of the machine, the MCU is hiding behind the IOT… basically the two main logic boards of the machine). Then plug the machine in and turn it on. It will call a communication error. At that point, you should be able to Go into Diagnostics and record the most recent faults (read above about how to enter the diagnostics).

The machine failing to come to ready can also be related to a software glitch which was later repaired with an upgrade. To our knowledge, this particular problem only applied to the DC220, DC230, & DC420. Here is a way to deal with this particular problem:
Fax Report failing to print problem:

The problem arises when a machine which is equipped with fax capabilities is powered down… One of the memory settings relates to a report which the machine can produce which is called the “Discharge of Power Off Report”. Basically, whenever the machine is powered off and back on, it is set up to run and print a report. The problem is, it is designed to print the report on a specific paper size and color, from a specific paper deck. If the paper supply was changed at some point, then the machine gets caught in a loop it can’t get out of… it can not run the report, so it never comes to ready. This report is “on” by default.
Once you are in diagnostics, you can go find the report and disable it as follows:
Press the “DC Routines” tab.
Press “Fax DC’s” and then “dc131 NVM Read / Write”.
Press the button which says "0-000" and enter the number 58-353
Then press the “Read” button on the left…
If the line is set to “1” (which is the default value), then press the "0"  button to enter a new value… then enter ‘0’, ‘Save’, then press ‘Write’, and ‘Confirm’.
After that, you can turn off the machine and unplug it… then go and plug in the big connector again. Turn the machine on… The machine will no longer attempt to run the Power Down Report. A firmware upgrade can be done to make it run the report properly if the report is important to the client.