Six New Designjet Z3200PS 24" Being Sold on eBay $495.00

[Kyle D Jackson]

I haven't played with it again, been busy, but your post has me wondering if I'd have better luck with a win 11 driver.

Let me ask a dumb question, there are two Mac driver downloads on the HP download page, a PCL3 raster and a postscript. The printer model is z3200PS, because of it being the PS version I installed the the PS driver, should I try the raster driver instead?

My work station is right next to the printer, connected by the USB cable that came with the printer. Supposed to be easy with the USB cable!   

I mean if you have a Win machine to try instead of Mac it's worth a shot. Just use the driver/software version from the installation CD. You can always sort out Mac connection later.

Yeah the "PS" label on the printer is confusing. The PCL3 raster driver is the one you want. It'll raster the file on your machine before sending it to the printer. The Postscript driver instead sends the file to the printer to convert it there (and only supports certain file types). There's some cases where it's useful but not for most of us printing images.

The PS version of the printer has more features/options not on the regular version. For example the Print Utility / web interface has more options for queue and job management, etc.

I use the ethernet cable connection from my router. USB is crazy slow, and some ppl mention connection issues. Running a cable to your network router seems the best way. Set a static IP address on the printer so it's easy to access the web interface. I use one outside the DHCP range of the router so it doesn't get taken by another device.

[dekpho]

More good info and yes I will take my win laptop to the printer room and give the DVD another whirl this weekend. Running an ethernet cable is a good idea too, I will see if I can finish setting it up with a good nozzle check first.
Appreciating you Kyle, thanks!

[sharadn]

PM sent to Mfrohman

[dekpho]

Hey Kyle, I've been waylaid getting full sized ink carts from Ebay etc, and making slow progress in other ways.

I couldn't get the printer to see USB and a constant message that IP was not available, so I got ethernet down here in the basement and the printer now sees my network.

And when I open HP printer utility the printer is "seen", but below that is the message "status unavailable, device may be offline or unreachable at this time"

I did grab a driver off the HP DVD disk, guessing it's pretty old by now which I thought may be good, same age as the printer, maybe. There were 4, two were 32 bit and two were 64 bit, the one I grabbed is 64 bit with the name pcl3winxp_x64. I was assuming the other driver is postscript because it was named pswinxp_x64, and I am trying to get the raster driver.

So I don't know why the printer is still "unavailable"! I'm wondering if there's a range of possibilities or if it usually boils down to the same thing. I would at least like to get to the point I can do a nozzle check!        

[Kyle D Jackson]

Hey Kyle, I've been waylaid getting full sized ink carts from Ebay etc, and making slow progress in other ways.

I couldn't get the printer to see USB and a constant message that IP was not available, so I got ethernet down here in the basement and the printer now sees my network.

And when I open HP printer utility the printer is "seen", but below that is the message "status unavailable, device may be offline or unreachable at this time"

I did grab a driver off the HP DVD disk, guessing it's pretty old by now which I thought may be good, same age as the printer, maybe. There were 4, two were 32 bit and two were 64 bit, the one I grabbed is 64 bit with the name pcl3winxp_x64. I was assuming the other driver is postscript because it was named pswinxp_x64, and I am trying to get the raster driver.

So I don't know why the printer is still "unavailable"! I'm wondering if there's a range of possibilities or if it usually boils down to the same thing. I would at least like to get to the point I can do a nozzle check!        

You can do nozzle checks and many other things without any computer connection, just use the front panel menu on the printer. Diagnostic plots are under Image Quality Maintenance > Print Diagnostic Plot. You can also print some of the demo prints under Internal Prints (they big tho, like 24x36).

That sounds like the right driver.  Is this for Windows? What's the driver version? It's usually something like "61.121.362.41" (think that's what I'm using). The first 2 digits after the 61. are the year of the driver, so mine's a 2012.  You can also check it in the install package directly, just open the .inf file with a text editor and it'll be near the top somewhere.

You can check the printer's IP address on the front panel. I think you can also change it to a static IP address there too. Typing that IP address in to web browser should open the printer's web interface if there's a connection.

[dekpho]

Well more progress I have been printing nozzle checks and profile patches. Pretty nice how fast and easy making profile will be. The one hitch remaining is getting the port setting right so that I can use HP Utility. It's in sleep mode now for the first time and I probably won't get back on it for a couple of days, but I don't know where to see the driver number...is that in HP Utility?

Thanks for the help :>)

[Kyle D Jackson]

The main reason I'm interested in the driver version is because you said your PC can see the printer, but can't interact with it. That's an issue I've noted with some of hp's later "universal" drivers. But I suppose it could also be a network setup issue.

There's a number of ways to check printer driver version. One is like I mentioned, check it in the driver install package directly (the one from the CD), just open the .inf file with a text editor and it'll be near the top somewhere. Another is open the Print Management app in Windows, then under Print Servers drill down to the printer and check its properties, and the About tab has the driver package version number at the top (see screenshot).

While you're there, check the Ports tab and confirm that "Enable bidirectional support" is checked. If it's greyed out / unchecked then there's a problem.

If you previously had a different driver version installed before installing this one, I recommend a complete do-over. Uninstall the printer and any driver software from the PC. Reboot when done. Use Print Management app to confirm it's gone completely under Drivers and Ports and Printers. If anything is still there remove it. Reboot again and confirm it's all gone. Then re-install your drivers. You can generally leave HP Utility installed the whole time, it's independent of the drivers package.

Also check the version of HP Utility (Help > About). The last version made was 1.17.0.3. After that I think they went to a newer but similarly-named app. I haven't used it but think I've read that it lacks some of the features of the original.

For my network setup I just set the desired static IP address on the printer. Since my router uses the 192.168.0.100s block for DHCP, I use a unique number in the .200s. On the printer under Connectivity there are a number of settings. Drill down under Ethernet to the TCP/IP stuff, give it a hostname if you want (like "Z3200PS", set connection method to Manual, give it the IPV4 address you want, and point Default Gateway and Primary DNS to your router's IP address. Then reboot router (and maybe PC) and all should be good.

If you've got a firewall (Windows Defender, etc) make sure HP Utililty can get thru it. It'll usually prompt for network access the first time it runs.

In addition to HP Utility you can access the printer's web interface in a browser using either its IP address or Hostname. Actually because some functions are only available via the web interface, HP Utility will open a browser for you in some cases (but it defaults to MS Edge ugh).

[dekpho]

Kyle I got waylaid, some having to do with the printer, but mostly due to other issues. I got a new computer and set the printer up on that using the setup disk. HP utility can see the printer, but it's "status unavailable". Your detailed Feb 19 post may help, I'll read it carefully and get back to you.
Dave

[dekpho]

Hey Kyle,

Well I solved the ethernet problem awhile back, I was trying to use a Wi-Fi extender which also has a couple of ethernet ports on the back, and was not getting anywhere. I was talking to a guy at an excellent computer store here in Cleveland (Micro Center) who manages the printer dept (dozens different models, including 3d). I gave him the background story and mentioned I was using a Wi-Fi extender, he slapped his forehead (figuratively) and said that's your problem!

So I drilled some holes and ran a cable to the basement, ran the install program again and it just worked immediately, and that felt good:) Well I've only run USB in the past, and should have known better.

And since then been setting up other stuff, a new file storage and backup system, getting the room together, etc.

I do have a smallish niggle now, I haven't done enough printing yet to have installed most of the full size carts, and for some reason the starter cart for yellow went from bright yellow to approximate mid tone yellow. I'd say it happened pretty early, but I ignored it, bigger fish to fry. So I made the first profile today, and it did compensate the yellow a bit, but still not the bright hue it started with, and all the other inks continue to look great.

I suppose the easy fix is to pop in the full size cart, purge the yellow line, and make a new profile. But I wonder if you've heard of this kind of issue.

Attached a phone shot of the two yellow patches, color and tone compressed a bit but should give an idea.

Appreciate your input!
Dave

[kers]

wel known problem is the on occasion leaking of one color into the other chamber inside the printhead-
in this case;  a bit magenta in the Yellow.
If you make a calibration and a profile, the printer will compensate for the color change, however a very bright yellow will not be obtained.
So at some point in more severe contamination you could take some action.

Personally i do not know any other solution than trying to purge yellow and/or replace the printhead.
also the reason for this behaviour is still a mystery for me

[dekpho]

Thanks for the comment kers, I've taken the route of a profile and calibration for the moment and with a head cleaning the yellow improved a bit, so it's really not so bad. If I have to I'll put in a new head later, meanwhile as you said no bright yellow.

Regarding the reason for this problem John Nollendorfs suggested the parking station pad can get a bit of the adjacent ink on it, if that's the case it was probably my fault when setting up initially. I forgot to shake one of the printheads, popped it back out, shook and reinstalled it. Was it the magenta ink? Didn't make a note of which head it was, but maybe.

[Kyle D Jackson]

Hi, sorry I was away for quite a while...

A wifi extender should not be a problem, I used my Z3100 on one for years. But you have to be careful with your network settings. In my case the extender does not report the exact MAC address of the connected printer, it instead substitutes half of the MAC address with its own code. So when binding a static IP address in my router I have to use the modified "virtual" MAC address. Yours may be similar.

Regarding colour, are both those patches on the same paper? There'll be some variation between media. And I've also observed some variation between diag plots in general depending on a number of factors including calibration state. Agitating the ink carts occasionally might help too if it's been sitting a long time.

Weigh the head to confirm it doesn't have (too much) air in it. A full head is 60g. Anything more than 2~3g less than that is likely too much air. Air causes a number of issues which can include ink being siphoned from the nozzles of the adjacent colour. To my knowledge ink doesn't actually get inside the other colour's compartment inside the head itself, there's no internal leak path for that. Instead it's far more likely the nozzle gets fouled by ink from the adjacent colour's nozzles. That's why the contamination usually clears up quickly within the first few inches of a print.

If the head has air it needs to be purged and the head re-primed with ink. HP 70/73 heads are discontinued so it's best to do this than throw away perfectly good heads.

Edit: Also the heads do not touch the messy "pad" on the right side of the printer, it would be a colossal mess if it did. The capping station is the actual "rest pad" and most people have never seen it because it's retracted out of harm's way whenever the carriage is out of the parked position. You can see the capping station here in the last 2 photos:
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=143162.msg1258563#msg1258563

[dekpho]

No Problem on the late reply Kyle, I tend to come here mostly when I've hit a snag. And your input has been helpful, thank you.

I think I know what is causing the yellow contaminated with magenta, let me know what you think. On initial set-up when installing the heads was following instructions to shake each head for a few seconds before taking off the orange protection plastic and installing. Well I forgot to shake one head so I took it back out to shake then re-installed. Without the orange plastic bits magenta could possibly have crossed into yellow.

I've printed patches on a variety of media, the yellow is clearly darker, head cleanings seem to help, so your comment about refurbishing a head is interesting. One of the first test prints I made was a bright yellow, so I use that as a reference. The darker yellow shows up as a problem for example printing the Atkinson Lab Test Page, the two yellow photos. Both are tonally compressed and darkened by 1.5 or 2 F-stops.

I did weigh each head with a gram scale and all were in the range I was given by Tim Wert at LPS design Jet, but that was with the previous head.

Tim also suggested cleaning the service station wiper tray, your photos of that are interesting! Looks a bit complicated.

So I bought another yellow-magenta head and installed it yesterday, which has resulted in an error message:

Printhead replacement not completed. Restart it.
M-Y printhead replacement not completed
Press OK to start printhead replacement

Which puzzled me. So the first thing I did was pull the printhead up just a bit, then push back into place. That didn't clear the message, so I went through the (long) procedure again, and at the end of that got the same error message, I tried to run a test print anyway but couldn't. So now I'm dead in the water.

Dave

[Kyle D Jackson]

So I bought another yellow-magenta head and installed it yesterday, which has resulted in an error message:

Printhead replacement not completed. Restart it.
M-Y printhead replacement not completed
Press OK to start printhead replacement

LPS has a video that talks about this repeated error message being from air in the ink lines, and how to fix it with their air purge kit. Here's the original old video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsZ1Dqye_Lo
And here's the newer video that just talks about purging air in general but doesn't seem to mention the printhead error message anymore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RYtEb5eZuY

There's also a similar-sounding error message that a printhead needs to be "reseated". (I get this one frequently on the MK-R head in my Z3100ps.) But that message may have a different trigger. Sometimes it goes away by killing the power switch on the back of the printer and rebooting a couples times, but in my case it returns at some point.

Anyhow if forced reboots and/or reseating the head don't clear the message, I'd try the ink line air purge shown in the LPS videos. Since you have a new M-Y head it should be okay so you shouldn't need to reprime that, you just need to get the air out of the ink lines in the printer. You may want to reprime your old M-Y head tho if its weight was light, that way you're not wasting the M & Y ink you pull from the printer ink tubes.

Make sure you have a lot of ink in the carts, I wouldn't try pulling ink from the lines with low carts.

Sometimes you can also get into a vicious cycle of replace multiple head messages and you kinda need to restart everything from scratch. Purge air from all ink tubes, make sure you have fully re-primed heads and every ink cart is nearly full (almost like a new set for all 12+6), and then start up the printer with all carts and heads removed, and it will prompt to add them all one by one. That's how I recovered my Z3200ps that I rescued.

[dekpho]

LPS has a video that talks about this repeated error message being from air in the ink lines, and how to fix it with their air purge kit. Here's the original old video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsZ1Dqye_Lo
And here's the newer video that just talks about purging air in general but doesn't seem to mention the printhead error message anymore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RYtEb5eZuY

You know what, I bought that kit because I thought I might need it one day, but in the interim forgot it was about this very issue lol. So I need to watch the vids carefully and give it a go!

thanks for reminding me...

[dekpho]

That LPS ink cartridge refurb kit is great! Don't know what I would have done without it.

So now I'm on to profiling papers. A lot of choices in the Create New Paper Preset, and some of them seem to overlap in the sense they are similar verbally but print a slightly different initial pattern. The paper I'm working with now is a roll of HP Universal Bond Paper, which is matte and coated, lightweight, cheap, and decent image quality. Any thoughts on where I could go to read up on profiling with the z3200?

Dave

[Kyle D Jackson]

That LPS ink cartridge refurb kit is great! Don't know what I would have done without it.

So now I'm on to profiling papers. A lot of choices in the Create New Paper Preset, and some of them seem to overlap in the sense they are similar verbally but print a slightly different initial pattern. The paper I'm working with now is a roll of HP Universal Bond Paper, which is matte and coated, lightweight, cheap, and decent image quality. Any thoughts on where I could go to read up on profiling with the z3200?

Dave

Is that a pic of before/after re-priming the heads? Wow quite a difference!

HP has a bunch of PDF files for these printers (incl the main user manual) that walk through how to use the HP Utility software for profiling, colour management, and working with different media (incl non-HP). I don't know if they're still available online. The HP website has always been a trainwreck but googling will often bring you directly to the useful info when their own on-site search can't.

You can also find some good info on Mark Lindquist's site here:
http://z3200.com/Working_with_other%20Papers_HP-Z3100_z3200_Printers.htm

The disc that came with the printer probably has some of them too.

The paper presets set the paper-handling settings for the printer, things like paper thickness, ink limit, etc. Many paper types use similar settings, as you can see in the tables at the link. We usually just pick whichever preset in those tables best fit the paper we're using.

Plain/bond paper is very light/thin, so the main difference you can see in the preset table is the ink limit. It's actually the lowest ink amount of any paper type, because it can't handle much. Less ink density usually means less colour gamut so colour range on that kind of paper is naturally limited.

The HP Utility automatically goes through all the steps of selecting the paper preset, calibrating the paper (when needed), and then printing the profile target for profiling, and finally adding the ICC profile to your PC for use in Photoshop or whatever (sometimes need to run the Synch Profiles option in HP Utility if they didn't sync).

[Kyle D Jackson]

...Here's one of the HP colour management docs:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01563257

Edit: note the HP "Color Center" is part of the HP Utility software. Open HP Utility, select the printer, then the Color Center tab.