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Author Topic: Z3200 nightmare  (Read 7838 times)

macguiver

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Z3200 nightmare
« on: November 16, 2011, 11:25:04 pm »

Oh to have an extended warranty now.
I have a Z3200ps and I basically use it to print canvas prints of my own art that I resell. Its just turned two years old and I'd say its lucky if its spent 24 hours of those 2 years actually printing something. I had the droning power supply fan issue and it finally gave up the ghost about a month out of warranty. Because I had called about the growing noise problem before the warranty was up, HP was gracious enough to send out a tech and fix it for free.
My printer has been basically sitting idle for the past 2 years. I'd leave it off for a few weeks but keep turning it back on occasionally so the printer could do its maintenance routines occasionally.
So its now closing in on Christmas and my print orders are starting to come in. I print off a dozen of one of my pieces and go to swap the canvas to the larger roll to print my bigger prints. I suddenly get an error message and a prompt to restart. I think nothing of it because the same thing has happened before and a reboot gets me back on track. I had called HP before when I got the crashes and prompts to reboot just incase something was wrong. They assured me it was nothing to worry about then. This time the restart just gives me a blank screen, The fans are running and the lcd display is illuminated, power button in flashing green but nothing else happens.
Call HP tech and he arrives at the conclusion that there is a problem with my main board and that if a tech comes, he will also replace the Formatter since he can't rule out its affected too. I haven't got the quote yet from HP support for this service but I'm thinking its going to be a dandy. At the very least those two parts alone will cost about $1200 but I've seen them nearly double that price with some parts suppliers online.
I'm not afraid to jump into a computer and replace boards and stuff but I haven't a clue what would be involved with trying to fix this on my own. Anyone have any experience with this kind of problem? Have any suggested sources for cheaper parts? I recall seeing ATLEX selling a brand new unit like mine last year for $2500. I wouldn't be surprised if this repair will cost me close to that when all is said and done and I'll still have a 2 year old printer with no warranty. It basically cost me every dime I made from it last year to pay for it and now I'm going to be back to working for nothing again.
Sorry for the rant guys but I'm just really burned about this. I was looking forward to finally making some cash with this thing and now this. I didn't think a $8500 printer would be disposable like a $85 printer. If the quote is outrageous or it would be too risky to order the parts and try fix it myself I may just dump it and outsource my printing. Who knows what could go next.

Cheers
Paul
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sbay

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2011, 01:54:56 am »

I had a problem with my z3200 and had the HP tech come out to fix out. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he had any way of diagnosing the problem and he simply proceed to replace the circuit boards on printer. Basically, over the course of several visits he (1) updated firmware, (2) replaced formatter, (3) replaced "print-mech", and (4) replaced main pca board. Changing the pca board fixed the problem.

Swapping in the new circuit boards did not appear particularly difficult but the problem is there is no way to know what needs to be swapped out ahead of time. Also the hp tech did not have the parts on hand and had to make multiple visits.

macguiver

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2011, 10:04:56 am »

Hello sbay

Thanks for posting your experience with HP tech. I got my quote today and its pretty depressing. Basically they're proposing replacing everything form the main board, the formatter and even the front control panel. Its sorta sounds like replacing your entire rear axel on a car because you have a bent rim to me. Maybe the quote is just a worst case senario and the actual service might only be the main board. I'll have to call them and see. I'm basically looking at $2500 (which was the price of a brand new unit from ATLEX back in the spring) and I'll still have an out of warranty machine thats basically needed to be gutted after about 20 hours of printing. I'd be pretty much working for free for HP for my entire Christmas sales season, which is pretty much my only time of year that I sell any quantities of art.
 My other option is to try the repair myself. There is definitely a problem with the main board since we couldn't get an error message to come up during trouble shooting with the formatter removed. I can get a main board here for $500. I've swapped logic boards on computers before and you usually just swap out the part, start up and carry on as usual. Would a printer be the same or is there any special programming or tools required to make it work? If anyone has experience with this or some knowledge of it I'd appreciate your input.

Also if anyone is aware of any other firesale prices on the Z3200 44 inch let me know. I could have a lemon on my hands and maybe cutting my loses makes the most sense.

Thanks
Paul
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John Nollendorfs

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2011, 12:50:13 pm »

Well, you tossed the dice and you lost (extended warranty).

I would check out deals on machines, expecially the Canon 8300. Maybe there are still some deals out there. At least you get a whole year's warranty on a new machine, and then can get an extended warranty before your year is up.

check out all your options before getting the repair done.

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deanwork

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2011, 01:08:11 pm »

If you have not pulled out the logic board located on the back top of the printer ( which is the easiest thing you can do with this printer having only two hand screws) dusted it off with compressed air and put it back in by all means do that first. I had this issue and they recommended to do that on the phone and it worked.

If that doesn't work, there is a good chance the problem could be related to the Hitachi hard drive on that logic board. HP seems to replace the whole board for some odd reason when even they admit it usually is a problem with the hard drive. I hate Hitachi hard drives. I've had three of them go out on me with various devices. See if you can somehow replace that cheap hard drive without replacing the main board. It is certainly worth a shot and a there is a very good chance that could solve it.

john
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davidh202

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2011, 07:53:22 pm »

Hello sbay

  Basically they're proposing replacing everything form the main board, the formatter and even the front control panel. Its sorta sounds like replacing your entire rear axel on a car because you have a bent rim to me. Maybe the quote is just a worst case senario and the actual service might only be the main board.
Thanks
Paul

What ????
You mean to tell me that an authorized repair tech from HP tries to pull the old "we'll replace every part until it works routine"?
because we don't know how to properly diagnose a problem.
There is something radically wrong here.
They give away the machines, make money on the expendables, and rape you over the coals to get it fixed if it craps out.
That has to be the biggest load of horse poop I ever heard !
I would be looking for a different tech or different brand machine if anyone ever tried to pull that on me !!!!!!


 
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John Nollendorfs

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2011, 09:50:23 pm »

Most things today don't get repaired on the spot. It's all about changing out boards until the thing starts working right. The boards get recycled, and checked out by a technician with proper diagnostic tools.

Yep, repairmen just have to know how to take the suckers apart and slap them back together. The two HP techs that I have worked with knew their stuff though! But they are trained to do repairs the way the company wants them to.

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davidh202

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2011, 11:08:30 pm »

 It's all about changing out boards until the thing starts working right. The boards get recycled, and checked out by a technician with proper diagnostic tools.Yep, repairmen just have to know how to take the suckers apart and slap them back together.

A trained "repairman" should in fact be a technician, and have the knowledge ,experience,and necessary tools to properly diagnose and then repair a faulty piece of equipment.
A monkey can be trained to unplug and unscrew circuit boards and put new ones in!

Consequently, we should then be paying monkey wages, not technicians salaries.!!
 
« Last Edit: November 18, 2011, 11:11:06 pm by davidh202 »
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chez

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2011, 01:34:50 am »


A trained "repairman" should in fact be a technician, and have the knowledge ,experience,and necessary tools to properly diagnose and then repair a faulty piece of equipment.
A monkey can be trained to unplug and unscrew circuit boards and put new ones in!

Consequently, we should then be paying monkey wages, not technicians salaries.!!
 

Depends if you want to pay the technician their hourly charge out rate to sit at your site and try to fix the problem with the board using a logic scope and a bag of IC's or do you want to get your printer fixed as quickly ( read cheaply ) as possible and have HP worry about fixing or junking the faulty board back at their facility. I know I'd rather take the cheap monkey approach.
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deanwork

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2011, 11:09:52 am »

There is a secret about this. You can buy and extended warranty at any time from HP, IF you tell them your printer is working fine. They don't come out to inspect it.

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macguiver

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Re: Z3200 nightmare
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2011, 12:04:26 am »

Well the HP tech has come and gone and the culprit was my formatter card. Too bad HP phone support had not fingered it as the culprit since I could have done the fix myself for about $500 rather than about $1500. But on the bright side, I didn't have to change the main board or the display panel as they suggested could be the case and my labor costs were minimal since swapping the formatter took all of 10 minutes.
Thanks for everyones input and advice. Hopefully I can sell lots at Christmas and put this expense behind me.

Cheers
Paul
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