Boot ROM & Hard Drive

[Fergy5]

I bought a used Designjet 5500ps (42").  The power supply was bad, changed bad capacitors.  Now I have "Disk Failure" when it's trying to load firmware.  I installed a know hard drive and received the same message.  Does the Designjet 5500PS boot Rom have to match Hard Drive?l

[Valsimot]

You need to install HDD with system firmware for DJ5500 already installed. You can't use any HDD, the printer will not boot as you noticed. 

[Fergy5]

Thanks for the response.   Once I receive my hard drive, can I copy it’s firmware to a larger drive?

[D Hook]

The replacement hard drives I've purchased on Ebay were much larger than the original 40G that came from the factory.  Don't recall exact number but 120G seems to stick in my mind.  They always came pre-loaded to it was just a plug and play operation.  But you must be careful when installing so you don't accidentally delete the paper profiles on the front screen.

Cloning an HP hard drive is not an easy task.  There's a thread on this forum about the procedure.  Do a search for Cloning hard drive 5500 or words to that effect.  IIRC correctly, it requires the new hard drive to be EXACTLY like the original so you're still stuck with the 40G, it has to be brand new, same brand as original (Western Digital) and unformatted.   It's not a simple copy procedure.   Is there a reason you need a larger hard drive?

Maybe someone who's successfully done this will chime in.  I never tried because I usually needed the new drive quick and it was easier and cheaper to just get one off Ebay.  Be sure you specify PS or NON-PS drive when ordering.  If the ROM is PS, then the hard drive also must be PS.

I've had instances where I could get it to boot by taking the hard drive out of the printer and mounting it as an external drive on a computer to make sure the disk was turning, then reinstalling into the printer and it would boot just fine.  Connect so the computer can see the hard drive so you know it's operating as it should.

Do you have both amber and green lights on the repaired power supply?  Also, I assume you've tested the voltage going to the hard drive to be sure you're repair is giving the required voltage to the hard drive.

[Fergy5]

Thanks for the information.  I ordered a HDD with the firmware preload (160 GB).  It seems that HP created this difficult situation (coping hard drive firmware to another HDD) for a marketing process.  However, once the drive arrive I will inform the community on my progress.  By the way, how do I not delete the paper profiles?

I checked the voltage outputs of my power supply, after I replaced the capacitor, and all output points measure within their range now.  The hard drive is spinning.