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Author Topic: Hp z3100 Color Calibration  (Read 2408 times)

David Budd

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Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« on: January 14, 2018, 05:07:19 am »

After upgrading from Mac OS10.10.5 to El Capitan (10.11.6) I am now unable to calibrate Ilford's Gold Fibre Silk paper.

Calibrations were done from both the printer console and also via the HP utility. The printer console shows an error  "calibration canceled due to problem scanning". The HP utility screen stops at 87% complete with " The printer calibration has failed" error message. I'm using a paper preset of Fine Art Pearl Paper (more  ink) which worked OK in the past.

I did a print alignment test and also a print head clean but the calibration failed again.The calibration scans look good with no banding etc. Then I calibrated a different paper, an HP paper which was successful??

Thinking that it may be a problem with the sheet feed, I turned off the printer for 15 minutes and loaded a roll of GFS, however that failed to calibrate as well.

Prior to the update to OS10.11.6 calibration was working OK, and since I can calibrate HP paper I'm thinking that maybe there's some "bug" within the OS, or perhaps in the latest HP driver, which was also installed at the same time as the OS update.

Thanks

-David
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kers

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    • Pieter Kers
Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2018, 07:00:47 pm »

So, maybe you can put another system on a seperate harddisk and startup from there to check...
-
I never liked 10.10...
i like 10.12 but photoshop CS6 does not work in all cases ( and slower) - so i went back to 10.9...
10.9 is my favourate system, but the latest software asks for a newer system alas... and my camera even for 10.13...

so i need a lot of systems to do everything i want...
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Pieter Kers
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deanwork

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2018, 11:05:27 pm »

The Z 3100 is no longer supported with the more recent Mac OS  I don't think. And unlike the 3200 they won't be updating it. I'm running mine on Mac 10.7.5 and that calibrates perfectly .

Having said that, the only time I've had that error was when my spectrometer went out and I had to replace it. And when I did that I found out it just has dried ink on the sensor window of the spectrometer so it was probably fine all along. These machines are so durable.



So, maybe you can put another system on a seperate harddisk and startup from there to check...
-
I never liked 10.10...
i like 10.12 but photoshop CS6 does not work in all cases ( and slower) - so i went back to 10.9...
10.9 is my favourate system, but the latest software asks for a newer system alas... and my camera even for 10.13...

so i need a lot of systems to do everything i want...
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David Budd

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2018, 08:41:38 am »

To follow up from my original post....

I did Advance Paper Calibration test with a  sheet of GFS and then Color Calibrated...same error "scan fail"

Color Calibrated three different paper types, Arches, Hannemuehle and Moab...all calibrated OK.

Reverted back to 10.10.5 partition and reinstalled both previous versions (2016) of  the HP driver and HP Utility...no success, although this combination worked three months ago.

Reverted back to 10.11.6 and reinstalled the HP latest driver and utility software which was then updated by Apple....calibration again failed.

I would appear that this is a ESP problem, rather than a software issue. What is puzzling is that it's only Ilford's Gold Fibre Silk that doesn't calibrate anymore, all the other papers are OK

Has anybody experienced a similar situation ?

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deanwork

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2018, 09:22:06 am »

In my case with that printer the gloss papers failed to calibrate first and later the matte papers failed. Then they both wouldn't calibrate.

See if you can somehow get a look at the spectrometer and see if you can clean it.

http://z3200.com/Repairing_HP-Z-Series_Printers-Intro-Z3200.com_Mark_Lindquist.htm



To follow up from my original post....

I did Advance Paper Calibration test with a  sheet of GFS and then Color Calibrated...same error "scan fail"

Color Calibrated three different paper types, Arches, Hannemuehle and Moab...all calibrated OK.

Reverted back to 10.10.5 partition and reinstalled both previous versions (2016) of  the HP driver and HP Utility...no success, although this combination worked three months ago.

Reverted back to 10.11.6 and reinstalled the HP latest driver and utility software which was then updated by Apple....calibration again failed.

I would appear that this is a ESP problem, rather than a software issue. What is puzzling is that it's only Ilford's Gold Fibre Silk that doesn't calibrate anymore, all the other papers are OK

Has anybody experienced a similar situation ?
« Last Edit: January 18, 2018, 09:25:22 am by deanwork »
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kers

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    • Pieter Kers
Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2018, 10:06:59 am »

Could be an ESP problem or
maybe the ink patches are not good. ( printhead problem)

Are all the patches there? No inks missing ?
do you have a reference to check?
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Pieter Kers
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David Budd

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2018, 04:24:12 am »

....Continuing on.

Today,  I did further tests in the Service Calibration menu, "Drop Detector" and "Line Sensor Calibration to try and solve this issue of why some papers will calibrate
and other do not. The Drop Detector passed, however the Line Detector Calibration gave a error " Internal checks failed - Returned Error 1.  I didn't have the
same paper as stated in the service manual, instead I used HP Premium Universal Satin Photo Paper 200gsm. (this paper the printer calibrates OK).

Would this paper be a likely cause of the fail or could it be the reason for the inconsistent calibration?

Thanks

-David

PS all the the colour patches are OK...ink levels and print head test all good
« Last Edit: March 11, 2018, 04:31:30 am by David Budd »
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Ernst Dinkla

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2018, 06:08:34 am »

....Continuing on.

Today,  I did further tests in the Service Calibration menu, "Drop Detector" and "Line Sensor Calibration to try and solve this issue of why some papers will calibrate
and other do not. The Drop Detector passed, however the Line Detector Calibration gave a error " Internal checks failed - Returned Error 1.  I didn't have the
same paper as stated in the service manual, instead I used HP Premium Universal Satin Photo Paper 200gsm. (this paper the printer calibrates OK).

Would this paper be a likely cause of the fail or could it be the reason for the inconsistent calibration?

Thanks

-David

PS all the the colour patches are OK...ink levels and print head test all good

Line sensor can be replaced without taking the whole machine apart. It is the item with the (infra)red light at the left side of the head carriage. I would check the encoder strip first whether it is dirty, can be cleaned with glassex but be careful. HP engineers were probably smart enough to create a test method that distinguishes the flaws caused by the sensor or the flaws caused by the encoders but you never know to what degree that method goes.

I had something similar not that long ago, error 21:xx. Manual says service station not moving properly, something might block movements. May have been correct but it always started when the head carriage had moved about 10 cm from the station. Cleaned the service station, no item was blocking it and I made as much wet as possible on the sliding parts there. Cleaned the beginning of the encoder strip there too, usually the part that gets dirty faster. Noticed that the head carriage had more friction at the carriage rear bushing, neglected the oil sponge too long there. Oiled sponge and rear bushing. Kept the right side cover off and had the machine going again till I was sure the error did not appear again. The error may have been caused by the service station parts having too much friction but when the head carriage has a bad start moving to the left the engineers may have thought is was because the service station did not make the head carriage free fast enough .......  Speculative.  I will never know what exactly caused it, solved it for the time being.

Better get a spare service station (universal for all 12 ink models I think) ready for the occasion I can not solve that error in a similar way.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

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David Budd

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Re: Hp z3100 Color Calibration
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2018, 09:13:44 am »

Thanks Ernst for your suggestions. I cleaned the encoder strip a few weeks ago when this issue first appeared and always kept the carriage bar lightly oiled on a regular basis.
I will explore the the option of a new line sensor.

The printer is entering it's 11th year and has been a remarkable workhorse, during time which I have replaced just the battery on the formatter board and two carriage belts.  The printer has been left on 24/7, never had a printhead clog and of course its frugal use of ink is legendary. Its a shame that HP has somewhat left the fine art printing market given the history of the Z3100 and 3200 series since the printers where certainly ahead of their time and to a certain extent still are (except for the belts!).

Thanks again for your help.

-David
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