Printer dead in the water

[Cuddly Duddly]

My HP cp1160 suddenly and without any warning, will not work. It was working
two hours ago and now, nothing.

The display will NOT LIGHT UP and the whole machine seems to be "dead in the
water".

I have checked the power "in" wire and am receiving the correct voltage at
the plug into the back of the machine. The wire connecting the printer to
the back of the computer is connected correctly. All my other peripherals
and other electronics fed from the same outlets are working properly. I have
had no power surges which might have upset something.

I do not understand why the whole thing should suddenly go completely dead,
as if all the plugs have been pulled out.

Is there any kind of fuse somewhere in the machine which might have blown?
Or has it finally reached its designed life expectancy and now I have to
throw it out?

Any suggestions will be most gratefully received.

Thank you.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

I have checked the power "in" wire and am receiving the correct voltage
at the plug into the back of the machine.

That's not a test under load, though. The power supply could be failing
under load. Also, power surges are funny things. I've seen a lightning hit
take out an old box fan while leaving every other device in the house
untouched...TV, computer, microwave, answering machine...of all those
"valuable" things that could have been damaged, the lightning hit a rickety
old fan instead.

Here's a thought...try leaving the unit unplugged and without power for a
while. Overnight is a good start, but I'd leave it for a couple of days.
Disconnect it from everything and leave it alone. It could simply be
confused and unable to start up. If you still get nothing when you've
plugged it back in, try wiggling the power button around to see if you can
get it to start or flicker. The button could be bad. If it still doesn't
come up after that, try to get another power supply.

There probably is some means of circuit protection inside the unit like a
fuse. However, it would be unlikely to say the least that it would have just
up and died without some other failure taking place...a failure that you
probably would have noticed. Most HP equipment is pretty reliable, so I'd be
surprised if it had died because of a designed-in short lifespan.

William

 

[Cuddly Duddly]

Thank you for your helpful and considered reply.

What I have just realised is I haven't told the whole story. I had two
days previously installed another hard drive in my 'puter and loaded it with
Windows Vista. I had installed my Epson scanner on that new drive and it
seemed to be working correctly with the exception I could not use the
scanner's "Smart Panel" to scan and automatically load an item into my email
client, which, on the original hard drive, is called Outlook Express and in
Vista is called Vista Mail. It now seems, if my memory is accurate, that the
printer failed directly after I had instructed the scanner to make a "Copy"
of the document and to print it out.

I am now wondering if the signals from the new operating system have somehow
destroyed the circuitry in the printer. My problem is I don't see why the
LCD panel at least doesn't at least light up despite having power to it. I
will try you advice and isolate the machine overnight and see what happens.

I'll keep you in touch with the result, but I have a feeling I am in the
market for a new printer. Damn nuisance, as I had just filled it up with
new ink! At least I can pull the new paper out!

Any further comment will be gratefully accepted.

Thank you.

 

[Cuddly Duddly]

OK. Is my face red. As I started to pull the printer away from the set up
and feed the power cable through behind the desk, the power cable plug fell
out of the transformer. I had forgotten it plugged into both the wall
outlet and also into the transformer. It must have been hanging on by a
thread, just enough to give me a reading on the volt meter but not enough to
power up the machine. Needless to say, it is working fine, and my pocket
has been saved by about $100. Thanks again.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

OK. Is my face red. As I started to pull the printer away from the set up
and feed the power cable through behind the desk, the power cable plug fell
out of the transformer.

Happens to the best of us!

Glad you figured it out.

William

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I don't know where you were reading the volt from and what reading you
were getting, but Epson printers have a battery back up and caps which
supply some nominal voltage. We've all don't things such as you are
reporting, so don't feel too bad... best at least to figure it out
before it becomes costly.

Art

 

[Cuddly Duddly]

I stuck the + probe of my volt meter into the small round plug which is
attached to the cord coming from the transformer and which goes into the
printer itself and touched the - to the outside. I have to admit I did not
bother to read the full voltage, it was just to check quickly that there was
current flowing from the wall outlet, through the voltage reduction
transformer and up to the printer itself. The volt meter's needle shot to
the end of the 12 volt scale and, after that, I assumed that it was live and
I then plugged it into the printer with no effect. As I say, I had over
looked the fact that the wall outlet/transformer connection wasn't hard
wired into the transformer, and didn't check that that plug might have come
loose. It could only have been barely making contact, just enough to carry
enough juice to flick the meter but not enough to run the machine.

Hey, ho! That's life. Thanks for everyone's help.