Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Mike Raub on December 23, 2013, 10:17:18 am
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I'm being plagued with Hardware Error 03130031-2618 on my Canon iPF 6300. The message pops up as soon as the printer starts a print job. Sometimes restarting the printer clears the message and then the printer works fine, but not this morning. Anyone have any idea what this error message means? The manual was no help at all.
Thanks.
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In the Canon 6400 service manual, this is a 24 Volt power supply error (Voltage reads high)
"VH voltage error", "Check the power supply unit."
The power supply is located on the left rear side of the printer.
The 6300 power supply part number is ""QK1-5927-000", retailing for about $125.
The power supply is NOT common between 6400 and 6300 (different part number), but for the 6400 here is the connections on the main controller wiring:
CN2 (Connect to Main Controller)
Pin Number Signal name IN/OUT Function
1 HD_VHFBH IN VH feedback voltage +
2 HD_VHFBG IN VH feedback voltage -
3 VH OUT Power supply (+24V)
4 VH_GND - GND
5 VH OUT Power supply (+24V)
6 VH_GND - GND
7 VM OUT Power supply (+32V)
8 VM_GND - GND
9 VM OUT Power supply (+32V)
10 VM_GND - GND
11 VH_ENB IN VH power supply ON/OFF signal
12 PW_CONT IN Normal/power saving switch signal
Best Regards,
Robert
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Robert, thank you very much for the detailed information. Since the problem is intermittent and the printer seems to work fine once I get past the error message, I wonder if it is possible to do something like a master reset of the printer, in case this is just a spurious error message. I'm visiting family for the holidays and don't have access to the manual from my iPad, though I did not see a reset option while scrolling through the printer menus.
Thanks again.
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You are welcome! When you get home, it would be easy enough to pop the hood and put a voltmeter across the 24V output/return and the 24V sense line/return pairs and see what they look like.
Best Regards,
Robert
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Before I start taking the printer apart, I did some more checking this weekend. The error log also showed Hardware Error 03810212-2594, though only once vs. 7 times for 03130031-2618. I was able (through the printer menu) to force it to print a head check, even though it would not print through a USB feed. The Left head had a blank area where the second Photo Magenta grid was supposed to print. I'm guessing that means some of the heads have failed. After printing the head check, the printer went ahead and printed the job that had been spooled to it and the print looked fine. I print via the Photoshop plug-in.
Is the repair manual for the 6300 available for purchase? I couldn't find it for sale on the Canon website. Will Canon sell me the spare parts directly or do I need to find a 3d party supplier?
Thanks for any help. The printer found a bad time to break down--I've got many prints from a recent trip to Laos and Thailand I'm anxious to print.
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The new error code says you need a new PM ink tank. I purchased my 6400 service manual on line from the web site: http://printcopy.info/. I paid $14 for it - pretty reasonable, and it really helped when I was going through the initial failures I went through on the 6400. I don't know if Canon will sell you the part, don't know why they wouldn't. If not, searching online I was able to find the parts that I was having replaced to get the cost estimates.
Best Regards,
Robert
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Thanks again, Robert. They also have the 6300 manual available and given what Canon charges for a service call, $14 is a real bargain. With the manual, I should be able to locate the power supply board that seems to be generating the error messages and see if I can diagnose the problem with a VOM.
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I finally had a chance to tear into the printer today. I would have never got it apart without the device manual--thanks Robert.
The Hardware Error 03130031-2618 reflected a fault on the power supply board (too high voltage). I located the power supply board but before removing it I though I'd take a flyer and adjust a pot I saw on the board.I have no idea what the pot does, but since the board appeared to be fried anyway, I figured what the heck, it might be a voltage adjustment. I turned the pot about 15 degrees counterclockwise and plugged the printer back in. This time the printer went through a cleaning cycle without the -2618 error message coming up and I was able to print a nozzle check. It showed one of the light magenta fields in the Left printhead was blank and the one that printed was not printed evenly. I next tried printing from Photoshop and immediately got Hardware Error 03130031-2F49. I could not find that particular error code in the manual; the ones similar to it a reflected various printhead faults.
Do I need a new Left printhead? They cost about $400 and I'd be willing to spend that if it would get the printer working again. On the other hand, I don't want to toss money down the rathole.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
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What will a service call cost at this point?
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I doubt there's anyone local who has any experience repairing large format inkjets. Probably the closest would be around Chicago, 3 hours or more away.
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I wouldn't preclude the idea. I've had techs make the 2-hour trip to my studio for maintenance & repair of drum scanners and large format printers. In a couple cases, they simply replaced a motherboard and I was up & running. If you're making a living from your equipment, it's worth looking into the cost of a service call.
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It's just a hobby for me; it would be different if that was my source of income. If I'm looking at $400 for a new head and that much or more to get a service guy to my house, I'd probably see what I could get a new printer for.
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Ah, sounds good. I sold my iPF8000 for $1 on Craigslist. It had reached EOL and needed two new heads. It was picked up in less than an hour, thankfully.
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Interested to know where you got to with this as I have exactly the same problem - 2618. I hadn't used the printer for a couple of months. For some time I couldn't even get the machine to come on properly, it flagged 2618 a few seconds after Power On. Then it suddenly got a second wind, did about an hour of cleaning, nozzle checks etc. so that it will at least come on and go off properly. But as soon as I attempt a test print 2618 comes up.
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I gave up on it. An Epson 3880 was delivered to me today. It won't print as large. but I think its prints will be large enough for me. It seems better designed for the hobby user than do the Canon iPF's. It sounds like you were a very light user of the printer, like I was, and all the evidence seems to suggest that light use is really bad for these machines. The 2618 error message indicates a failure of the power supply board. I finally got a head check to run and one set of light magenta patterns was completely gone, suggesting a head failure as well. Adding together the cost of a new power supply board, a new head and the probable service costs led me to conclude it was throwing money down the rat hole. I got a refurb 3880 for $930, free shipping and no tax.
The iPF6400 has a different part number for the power supply board which may suggest that was a frequent failure point with the 6300. The 6400 allows use of larger ink cartidges, but otherwise is basically the same printer.
If any one still has a living 6300, I listed some unused and unopened ink cartridges in the For Sale section of the forum for what I think is a decent price.
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Thanks for the quick response - rather bad news for me though. You are right, I am a light user but do value the ability to do all this at home.
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If you can live with 17" wide printing, you might want to check out the Epson 3880. Refurbs are a good deal right now and there is a $200 rebate on new units good until 1/31/14.
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I have a iPF6300 with the 03130031-2618 error and I have changed the power supply, the carriage PCB and then the long cables. Still no change. This leaves the main controller which at £750 I'm not going to try.
Has anyone fixed this error? What type of outcomes have people had and is it always the main controller board?
Pretty appalling that the these expensive, professional pieces of equipment are failing like this owing to what is obviously a design fault.
It looks like I'm going to have to ditch my iPF6300, can the PF-05 printheads be used on another iPF6300 and if I have access to another 6300 can I swap the main boards to see if that is the problem?
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Did you call and whine to Canon about how this is unacceptable ? You might try that. I've called them twice out of warranty and they never charged me anything to talk to a tech and they didn't charge me anything for a repair that related to heads in anyway.
john
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Thanks John. Will do that on Monday. The main controller board is not a moving or wearing part so it should not fail in normal use. And normal use is what it has had, it has not been hit by a truck or left in the rain or anything where it might be agreed as reasonable that the owner should pay the £750 for a replacement controller. This one has been in a shop in the middle of a shopping mall run by an experienced and fastidious photographic printmaker. A more controlled environment in normal life it is hard to imagine.
Have started a thread on the copytechnet.com forum to see how many of these failure there are. The main controller board should not fail by itself. This is England, certainly not the tropics, and it has not been ravaged by heat, humidity or baboons.
Will post what Canon Europe/UK say.
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Phoned Canon today and they said that as I did not have a warranty or service contract the best that they could offer me would be £50 a half hour to talk to a technician or £300 for a call out and an hours work for a service call. £144 an hour after that.
The first thing the service call would do is to replace the print heads (£600) then the main controller (£750).
You've always got to buy a new machine. Then you get the year's warranty, new printheads and you get to keep your ink. This means that not only are the print heads "consumable", the whole machine is as well. This main controller error has to be a design flaw and a decent company would swap the board for no charge to everybody that had the error and would revise the board to eliminate the error. It is hard to believe that this fatal flaw in the controller still persists.
Be interesting to see how other people have resolved this error. And how many people have had to either scrap the printer or buy a new mainboard (ouch!).
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Be interesting to see how other people have resolved this error. And how many people have had to either scrap the printer or buy a new mainboard (ouch!).
I'll chime in. I had to scrap mine, iPF8100 due to mainboard failure and I got the iPF8400.
Now my new iPF8400 has pinch roller problems which makes depressions on every media except canvas and it also has a chronic gamut shrinking problem, and microbanding issues. Canon has spent 42 days doing nothing despite being aware of the problem. Canon Singapore here. The technician told me that my printer is not important (read: its cheap crap to Canon) because he had to deal with a $500, 000 grand format printer (this due to the Oce merger). I was made to wait for days and he took back samples and did nothing for 2 weeks or so and then went on leave. Upper management has taken over and the information has been passed from local to regional level and now to Canon Japan HQ. 12 days now and still no news.
Good luck to everyone else out there with mainboard or other issues. Epsons clog, Canons self-electrocute.