HP Photosmart 5180 Manufacturing Mode

[William R. Walsh]

Hello all...

I recently (last night) purchased an HP Photosmart 5180 printer/scanner
combo. My primary interest is in the network scanning functionality, as it
would be great for draft quality scans. I set several of them up for other
people recently and was pretty impressed with the print quality, built in
photo tray and the price of ink.

Anyway, I got it out of the box, set up and turned on...and that's where
things get strange. Mechanically speaking, the printer is in great shape.
But every time it starts...it comes up in a manufacturing mode! Most
functions work fine, but stuff like the one touch copy buttons and the ink
tank presence detection doesn't work. The power button also works a bit
strangely.

I suppose someone forgot to "twiddle the bits" appropriately to break the
thing out of manufacturing mode, and HP tech support was absolutely
clueless. They finally suggested returning the printer to them and receiving
another. I think I'll take it back and pick another one up to see if it
works any better. So...before I take it back...any thoughts on how to get it
into normal operating mode, if for nothing more than curiosity's sake?

William

 

[wm_walsh]

Well, I returned the printer and obtained another. This one works
properly.

It would have been interesting to know if there was a way to break it
out of "MFG mode".

I was surprised to find that apart from the test patterns on the
display, cartridge detection and failure of the one touch copy buttons
to work when pressed that there appears to be no difference between
"MFG mode" and regular operating conditions.

William

 

[jasee]

Well, I returned the printer and obtained another. This one works
properly.

It would have been interesting to know if there was a way to break it
out of "MFG mode".

I was surprised to find that apart from the test patterns on the
display, cartridge detection and failure of the one touch copy buttons
to work when pressed that there appears to be no difference between
"MFG mode" and regular operating conditions.

I also would have been interested. With some HP printers you can reset them
to their defaults by pressing for and holding down one of the buttons for a
period when you switch it on, but I don't know about your printer and I've
never seen one in manufacturing mode.

 

[Larry]

Hello all...

I recently (last night) purchased an HP Photosmart 5180
printer/scanner combo. My primary interest is in the network scanning
functionality, as it would be great for draft quality scans. I set
several of them up for other people recently and was pretty impressed
with the print quality, built in photo tray and the price of ink.

Anyway, I got it out of the box, set up and turned on...and that's
where things get strange. Mechanically speaking, the printer is in
great shape. But every time it starts...it comes up in a manufacturing
mode! Most functions work fine, but stuff like the one touch copy
buttons and the ink tank presence detection doesn't work. The power
button also works a bit strangely.

I suppose someone forgot to "twiddle the bits" appropriately to break
the thing out of manufacturing mode, and HP tech support was
absolutely clueless. They finally suggested returning the printer to
them and receiving another. I think I'll take it back and pick another
one up to see if it works any better. So...before I take it back...any
thoughts on how to get it into normal operating mode, if for nothing
more than curiosity's sake?

William

I am interested in this one. How well is the standard text print and
the scanning quality? (both text an color, B&W).
Thanks Larry

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

I am interested in this one. How well is the standard text print and
the scanning quality? (both text an color, B&W).

As you can guess, I got a replacement PS5180. My only real complaint with
the printer so far is HP's dismal tech support. Of course, I might have had
my hopes set too high...maybe there wasn't any magical set of keystrokes to
get the unit out of manufacturing mode.

When copying in black and white, the overall cast of the images seems be
very slightly green. Using the color copy button on black text eliminates
this problem. Different scanner lamps are used for black and white
copies...the B&W scan appears to use a green cold cathode lamp, while the
color one uses a fluorescent lamp. (Actually, color scans use a lamp that
appears to have individual color elements appear when you move your eyes
away from it. For a moment, it will turn red/green/blue instead of white.)

The scanning quality is decent. I've noticed that the scanner has some
trouble with descreening magazine pages, a problem that my ScanJet 3300C and
OfficeJet 500 do not have. Otherwise the scans are quite good. This unit
hasn't got a document feeder on it, so if you want to scan multiple
originals for copying or capture, you might not be happy with it.

Printing...text print quality is good, though I did notice some splotchiness
in places on certain characters. Color prints are good, with lifelike and
accurate colors. Included in the printer's onboard memory are some very
handy printing features. Push a few buttons on the printer and you can make
notebook paper (blue lines with the red stripe on one side) with fine and
wide ruling. It's also possible to make graph paper. I've never seen this
before in a printer, but I *like* it. When you select draft modes, the
printer whips out pages at very high speed--make sure it is on a stable and
sturdy surface!

Photos...the built in Photosmart Express system (and preview LCD) are nice
to use. You can zoom, rotate, reduce/enlarge, crop, select multiples and
view a print preview from within Photosmart Express. It may be possible to
do other things that I haven't yet explored. The memory card slots will
accomodate most popular types of camera memory. I've used it with XD, CF and
Memory Stick cards. It handled all of them well.

Then there is networkability...this unit includes a built in NIC so you can
connect it to your network and use it with a bunch of computers. In every
case so far (involving two Macs and three PCs running Windows) the setup is
very easy to do and takes only about 15 minutes (much of that is software
installation).

Finally...ink cartridges. This uses six different cartridges, one for each
color. So far I've done about 200 pages worth of printing, including various
photos on photo paper. The only cartridge to have reported a drop in ink
level at this time is the black cartridge. Each color costs about $8, with
the black costing somewhere around $12. Or buy all six (and some 100 sheets
of small photo paper) for $38. It doesn't get much better than that if you
use OEM ink.

All things considered, I'm very impressed and would certainly buy it again
if I were to do it all over.

William