Good HP Printer with EIO slot?

[wm_walsh]

I'm looking for recommendations for a good HP printer with an EIO slot
that will take a Token Ring JetDirect 600n (J3112A) adapter.

Toner and maintenance costs are important, as is reliability. I've been
looking at the LaserJet 2300 series on the secondhand market, but the
prices are a little higher than I'd like.

Thanks!

William

 

[Warren Block]

I'm looking for recommendations for a good HP printer with an EIO slot
that will take a Token Ring JetDirect 600n (J3112A) adapter.

Toner and maintenance costs are important, as is reliability. I've been
looking at the LaserJet 2300 series on the secondhand market, but the
prices are a little higher than I'd like.

Look for a LaserJet 4050 or 4100. EIO slot which should work with your
JetDirect, low supplies cost, good reliability and construction.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Look for a LaserJet 4050 or 4100. EIO slot which should work with your
JetDirect, low supplies cost, good reliability and construction.

I found one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&=&item=230038391048&rd=1&rd=1

A bit high of a page count, and low on toner, but the control panel appears
to be in good shape, it has a warranty and the seller is rated at 100%. I
just checked and found out that I can get the toner at a pretty good price.

Thank you for the recommendation. I'm not put off by the high page count as
I took a LaserJet III past the million-page mark.

William

 

[Warren Block]

I found one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&=&item=230038391048&rd=1&rd=1

A bit high of a page count, and low on toner, but the control panel appears
to be in good shape, it has a warranty and the seller is rated at 100%. I
just checked and found out that I can get the toner at a pretty good price.

Thank you for the recommendation. I'm not put off by the high page count as
I took a LaserJet III past the million-page mark.

I know of a couple of LJ 4050s that are past a million pages and still
going. Sometimes the case plastic looks bad because someone sprays them
with a solvent to clean them. The solvent softens the plastic, the dust
is pushed into the soft plastic, and the printer looks terrible ever
after. But it continues to print without problems.

These printers typically need a fuser replacement somewhere before the
200,000th page. If that printer has already had it replaced and is
otherwise okay, it's a steal. Fuser swaps are around $150, and that's
still a good combined price for that printer.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Sometimes the case plastic looks bad because someone sprays them
with a solvent to clean them.

If you are still following this thread, I got the printer in a *big* box on
my doorstep today. After removing about a billion or so packing peanuts I
was able to get it out. The casing had some leftover tape on it, but apart
from a dirty "go" button it is fine. I will be careful when I clean it--at
least there will be no solvents involved!

Despite the seller's stating that it had no network card, an Ethernet
JetDirect 600n was in place. It happens to work, but I don't need it. I put
my J3112a/600n Token Ring board in the EIO slot. While doing that I happened
to notice that this printer has not one, but two, EIO slots. Does this mean
that one could house the Ethernet board while another has the TR unit in
place?

HP says one EIO slot can be used for a hard disk when the other has a
network card. I didn't see anything about two JetDirect boards in the same
printer.

These printers typically need a fuser replacement somewhere before the
200,000th page. If that printer has already had it replaced and is
otherwise okay, it's a steal.

It looks good to me. Someone has very clearly replaced every obvious pick
roller in the printer with new ones...at least where I could see them in
tray 1 and 2. The drum on the toner cartridge is bad, but oh well. At least
the toner is nearly gone from that cartridge. I've already got more on the
way. The printer "burps" when loading paper from tray 2 but it does so
decisively and without hesitation.

One of the built in pages that I printed talks of a "scheduled maintenance"
interval at the 200,000 page mark. I don't know if the printer can actually
tell if this was done or not, but it claims that this point was at least
reached some 30,000 pages ago.

Pictures--if you are interested--are here:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/trprint/

William

 

[Warren Block]

If you are still following this thread, I got the printer in a *big* box on
my doorstep today. After removing about a billion or so packing peanuts I
was able to get it out. The casing had some leftover tape on it, but apart
from a dirty "go" button it is fine. I will be careful when I clean it--at
least there will be no solvents involved!

Alcohol is okay, if needed.

Despite the seller's stating that it had no network card, an Ethernet
JetDirect 600n was in place. It happens to work, but I don't need it. I put
my J3112a/600n Token Ring board in the EIO slot. While doing that I happened
to notice that this printer has not one, but two, EIO slots. Does this mean
that one could house the Ethernet board while another has the TR unit in
place?

Can't see why not, but I've never tried. If you don't want to keep that
600N, selling it would probably get $50 or so. New EIO JetDirects are
$250 and up. Ethernet ones, anyway.

It looks good to me. Someone has very clearly replaced every obvious pick
roller in the printer with new ones...at least where I could see them in
tray 1 and 2. The drum on the toner cartridge is bad, but oh well. At least
the toner is nearly gone from that cartridge. I've already got more on the
way. The printer "burps" when loading paper from tray 2 but it does so
decisively and without hesitation.

There are identical pick-up rollers in the printer. You can see them
from below when the trays are removed.

One of the built in pages that I printed talks of a "scheduled maintenance"
interval at the 200,000 page mark. I don't know if the printer can actually
tell if this was done or not, but it claims that this point was at least
reached some 30,000 pages ago.

It's just an electronic counter. Once it reaches that point, the
display will nag about it until the counter is cleared. ISTR that's
done by holding down the right side of the Item key and the + key during
powerup.

Pictures--if you are interested--are here:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/trprint/

That printer looks like new. No EIO covers missing and the snap-in
paper tray cover is even there. Good deal!

 

[SMS]

Hi!


I found one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&=&item=230038391048&rd=1&rd=1

A bit high of a page count, and low on toner, but the control panel appears
to be in good shape, it has a warranty and the seller is rated at 100%. I
just checked and found out that I can get the toner at a pretty good price.

Thank you for the recommendation. I'm not put off by the high page count as
I took a LaserJet III past the million-page mark.

The LJIII is great, other than the stupid AC Power Block which causes
and Error 50 and seems to require replacement every few years. I just
replaced it on my twenty-one year old LJIII. Amazing that after all this
time that you can order a part like this and get it it one day for $30.
It's agonizingly slow to transfer data to it over the wireless print
server connected to the parallel port.

 

[wm_walsh]

Hi!

The LJIII is great, other than the stupid AC Power Block which causes
and Error 50 and seems to require replacement every few years. I just
replaced it on my twenty-one year old LJIII.

I liked the LJII as well, but both printers were very similar. I think
it is fair to say that both would last darn near forever, or at least
as long as you can get the toner.

Neither printer ever threw an Error 50 in the time that I owned them.
The II made it to 200,000 or so copies and eventually died of a
different problem. Somehow it stripped some gears in the engine and I
never did get around to seeing if it would be possible to repair them.
For all I know, it could still be on the road, as I gave it to a group
that teaches people with disabilities how to fix electronics.

A basement flood killed the LJIII by filling it with raw sewage. I
cleaned it out as best I could, but it didn't recover. It would try to
work and randomly lose power or the front panel buttons would stop
working. At the time I was in a pinch to come up with a replacement, so
a Samsung ML-1710 that had survived the flood (with a new toner
cartridge) was put in its place. I like the Samsung although I will be
surprised if it lasts half as long as the LJII/III machines I had. I
parted the LJII out and sold the verifiably good pieces off to people
who needed them.

Unfortunately, it seems like the supply of vintage LaserJet printers
has dried up around here. Most of what can be found are printers that
have been abused or harshly handled.

William

 

[wm_walsh]

Hi!

Alcohol is okay, if needed.

I used a bottle of glass cleaner once I'd removed all the tape from the
printer. I can't think of the brand, but it's a purple liquid and works
very well on computer cases, monitors and other stuff.

Can't see why not, but I've never tried. If you don't want to keep that
600N, selling it would probably get $50 or so. New EIO JetDirects are
$250 and up. Ethernet ones, anyway.

I'm still somewhat undecided on this. It would be handy if my IBM 8229
LAN bridge ever died, but I don't see that happening any time soon. On
the other hand, if I keep it, it will probably sit around forever and I
won't ever use it again.

I did go so far as to upgrade the firmware on it to the latest release
(08.49 IIRC, same as the 600n TR card) as it was old. The web pages and
Java programs included with the old firmware don't work well with
current Sun JVM releases. Thankfully the upgrade fixes this issue.

I found an EIO hard disk for sale and made an offer on it. At the very
least, I've been told that this enables job retention and maybe even
the mopier mode of the LJ4050.

There are identical pick-up rollers in the printer. You can see them
from below when the trays are removed.

I looked at those as well. They seem to be very new.

Once it reaches that point, the
display will nag about it until the counter is cleared.

Someone must have reset it, then. The display panel stays at "ready" or
"power save".

Thanks again for your excellent recommendation.

William