HP Photosmart C4680 Problem

[mcurt]

I can confirm that this was the problem for my HP C4640 printer. I ended up ordering a 20-pack of resistors for about $5.00 with shipping off of a well-known auction site. I was able to find 6.3V 330uF no problem, which are the exact specs of the culprit capacitor. The one that failed on me is also "Teapo" brand, which I will now equate with "Cheapo"...... whatever I guess. Ended up snapping off the capacitor, and taking a needlenose pliers to pull out the leads of the old capacitor while heating up the solder. The soldering iron I was using had a very fine point, so the solder remaining in the hole I was able to just heat up and pull out. On the circuit board, each capacitor sits on a circle that is half white, and half green. The white side is the ground side, as you will notice with the other capacitors. On the capacitor, it will have a stripe of a darker color on one side, that side is the ground. As long as you match the two up and make a solid connection with the soldering, you're good. 

As of now, printing, scanning, and copying are working, and it starts up right away without restarting again. Amazing how one capacitor can do that, I can only assume its function is as a voltage regulator. 

The old capacitor is green, notice the swelling on the bottom:

Here

And the swelling on top:

Here

[syintiphic]

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@benwaweb wrote:

Just did the repair. It was a bad capacitor on the logic board (brand TEAPO). There is only one to replace on this printer, and it will probably look curved on the top (indicating it is blown).  It's 330uF 6.3V, but I pu in a slightly bigger one (16V, all they had in 330uF) and it works perfect now. It's an easy fix, if you're not afraid to solder one component. It will cost you all of 60c worth of components. (and a soldering kit if you don't already have one)

Open the scanner lid and the ink replacement door. Reach behind the control panel and gently push a clip to release the panel. It will reveal a hidden torx screw. There are four screws total to remove the top, and you can use a torx bit, or if none handy, the right size allen key. 

Once you get the top part lifted from the rest of the printer, you must carefully pull out the few connectors that attach to the logic board from their sockets. Some are just ribbon connectors, and some wire connectors. Put the top part aside. 

Identify the bad capacitor on the logic board by checking the top surface. It's a thin one, green in color that says TEAPO on it and if it is indeed the defective component it should feel curved on the top. 

Remove all the other connectors to the board, and unscrew the 3 torx screws to extract the board from the printer. 

To unsolder the bad capacitor, it may be easier to first snap it off so you can extract each lead with pliers one at a time while applying heat on the soldering side. 

Observe the polarity, negative side (identified by the minus signs on the new capacitor) on the shaded side on the board. 

Solder the new capacitor, clip off excess leads, put everything back together. Your'e done!   Good luck!

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This was a fabulous write up. Thanks so much @benwaweb. I was able to follow your instructions and fix my printer. The only problem I ran into was that my soldering iron wasn't working all that great so I couldn't remove the excess leads from the faulty capacitor. I picked up a new one at RadioShack. After that it worked. I also ordered my capacitors (pack of 5) from www.electronix.com.

Thanks again!

[GoodNeighbor]

I have the same problem. I was also pretty much done with my printer after spending hours and hours until saw this forum. Since HP makes a crappy product to begin with and does not support it property,{Legal Content Removed}

[Ciara_B]

Hi folks, a quick note to say thanks for the detailed feedback & photos on this.

I'll forward it on to the appropriate folks.

Many thanks, Ciara

[rk3887]

I have the very same problem, but I can't find a good answer to it.  I can't imagine if all of us are having this problem, why hasn't HP come up with a fix?   Just as I am writing here, the printer is going through some sort of activity, which it does every so often.  I need a good fix.  By the way, it is realy difficult to navigate around this Forum site to find anything.  Let me know.  Thanks.

[FixOrSpend]

The answer's in this thread. Look at the earlier pages.

[rk3887]

After spending several hours removing the hard to get at screws, I have gain access to the circuit board.  I have used a magnifying glass to examine the capacitors and they all look perfectly fine.  Do I assume that the one in question is bad and replace it or could there be something else wrong some where else?  Remember, my printer goes through all the same gyrations that have been mentioned in the other threads.  Does anyone from HP read these problems?

[rk3887]

One more question, I have read that the original capacitor has a voltage of 6.3 v, and I have read that others are replacing this with 10v and 16v capacitors.  I assume these work for now, but won't it cause them to run to hot and burn out again?

[GoodNeighbor]

Does anyone need these capacitors? I will sell each for $.99 with $5.00 shipping anywhere in the U.S.

[staleyjj]

I fixed mine with 16v 330uf capacitor.  Bought 5 from ebay.  Shipped free from Hong Kong for $0.99.  (How do they do that?)  That has been couple of years ago and works great.  My bad capacitor did not look all that bad.  Good luck.