"Reseat" on 2 printheads simultaneously on a Designjet Z9+ 44"

[pbrooks259]

I just did the carriage (electronics) test. Ultimately I got:

"All 6 pens present. All 6 pens communication OK. (But there are only 5; the far left one is blank/empty.)

Pen 0 CSI0 fails! Test failed." (Pen 0 is the M-Y printhead which is accepted.  Pen 2 is the PK-MK printhead which is "reseat". Pen 4 is the G printhead which is "reseat" as well, but seems to be affected by the PK-MK printhead--as when I, 1st thing, pull up the PK-MK printhead, most times the G printhead will have a check mark that it is accepted without touching it.)

At any rate, this SEEMS to indicate a pen failure, at least "Pen 0" (M-Y printhead, although accepted). (I guess because there is a bad pen or pens somewhere in the series and this is the 1st one in the series from L to R.  Again, I do not understand "Pen 0 CSI0 fails!" except that maybe it is because 1 or 2 (PK-MK or G) of the 5 printheads is "reseat" status.)

So this means that it is a printhead that is problematic, right? Not the carriage, nor anything prior (between the printheads and the main pca including the main pca) to a printhead, right?

....just trying to rule everything out besides a printhead, although Pen 0 (M-Y printhead) failing throws me.

Every once in a while, now and then, it would seemingly pass; it would just speed through the test. So fast that it is hard to catch; I think it states at the end:

"All 6 Pen CSI0 OK.

Printer carriage PCA test done OK."

I think I might have at least 1 printhead that is on again off again, tentative.

Should have replacement printheads in a few days.

Original post follows:

On a Designjet Z9+ I am mostly getting “reseat” for BOTH the PK-MK & Gray printheads; sometimes it is only 1 or the other of them that is “reseat” briefly, but ultimately they both end up with the status “reseat”.  Just weird that it is "always" those 2:  PK-MK & G, simultaneously, every few to several or so hours nowadays; seems it used to take several days or a few weeks or so.  I assume 1 affects the other, maybe, or they are both connected to the same carriage pca component(s) that have gone or are going bad perhaps.  I am afraid it MIGHT be the carriage pca; hopefully not.

PK-MK printhead is out of warranty and has fired about 1400ml. (That MIGHT be it right there; maybe I just need to replace the PK-MK printhead and see what happens.   But I am sensing it is something upstream from the printheads.)    G printhead is in warranty and has fired about 200ml.

With a damp cloth, I cleaned up both their contacts and their respective carriage flexible contacts, and it  prepared the print system and calibrated.  (Before a damp cloth, I tried a dry cloth and the “reseat” returned; actually I use Q-tips.)   I am expecting it to throw up “reseat” for both again soon, but hopefully not.  Hopefully it is not the carriage pca or something else (trailing cable maybe).   It has been OK for about 3 plus hours now.

I have 2 replacement printheads on order, but it MIGHT just be 1 affecting the other.  But as far as I know it could be the carriage pca or trailing cable or further back.

I would like to perform some diagnostics but I do not have the admin password; I tried to “reset security” (set it to factory defaults, pg. 55 in SM) in order to set a new password but I have not been able to reset it yet.

Thanks for any input.

Update:   

Cleaned up contacts and both are "reseat" status within 8 hours. I don't think I have ever seen a "delayed reseat" like this before.

....well again PK-MK is out of warranty and has fired 1400ml (That might be the problem right there.); G printhead is in warranty and has fired 200ml, not a whole lot. I THINK again the PK-MK printhead has some electrical connection to the G printhead. Many times when I 1st reseat the PK-MK printhead, the G printhead is already checked OK without touching it. Maybe this is all due to "high mileage" on the PK-MK printhead.

I have not really ever paid attention. Can an old well used printhead at some point just register as "reseat"? I don't think I have ever seen that. It seems they print sketchy or the printer keeps saying that performance is degrading, etc. Usually it seems the print quality, clogged nozzles, failing nozzles, etc. seem to be the issue.

I will just proceed to replace the PK-MK printhead and see what happens. ....my 1st experience with one of these with "universal" printheads. I got the PK-MK and G printheads confused (although the G head should only lay down 1 track) and swapped them. And thought WTH? which is which? But the front panel told me they should be "relocated".

Thanks.

[Englishjohnny]

Usually this is from air in the tubes of the tube assembly. I usually either have to use a syringe and extract the air or do intermittent purges to get it to clear. 

[pbrooks259]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Aren't you referring to "replace" printhead?  It seems air getting to the printhead usually results in "replace" printhead.

Not "reseat".

It seems most often "reseat" has to do with a tentative or nonexistent connection between the flex contacts in the carriage and the printhead contacts.

I am thinking that there is something about the PK-MK printhead that makes the electrical connection tentative and intermittent.   But maybe I need to replace the flex contacts in the carriage.

[Englishjohnny]

I have also had it when we put a new printhead in and a few weeks later it says to "reseat" and what i had to do is remove all the ink and printhead and start the machine up with no ink or toner then do the replacement. With bubbles in the lines and not feeding ink it will do some wierd errors. 

[pbrooks259]

I suspected that MAYBE POSSIBLY the "reseat" problem was temperature related (I still do not truly know, just assuming this--I had been keeping the Z9+ in a 40-50F garage.); I commenced to keeping the temp in the range of 60-65F or so, and I had replaced both printheads that were "reseat" status.  At 60-65F, I had 4 days running with NO "reseat" messages.  I got the Z9+ to the buyer and I suppose the printer temp. was in the 30sF somewhere.  Outside was upper 20s-low 30s.  Shortly after it started up I got "reseat" again on 2 printheads (G & PK-MK)--my original problem although I had replaced both with new printheads--PLUS a new 3rd printhead "reseat" (C-CR). My heart sank. I thought I'm gonna have to haul this printer back home.  But after reseating those 3, it did OK. (Of course, the printer temp is climbing up to room temperature all the while.)   Not heard anything from buyer.   Hope I don't hear from him for a good while.It's possible that putting it in a heated garage the night before leaving for delivery made no difference but maybe it did--made the printer a little warmer along the trip.I think maybe the printheads and/or carriage are "cold-natured". If true, I had never experienced that before. Again the specified operating temp. range is 41-104 degrees F. I was getting down to the bottom of that range. Thankfully buyer said he keeps his working environment at around 70F steadily. I should have let it sit there 1-2 hours to acclimate but started it after about 15-20 minutes--impatient.

I am waiting to hear whether the Z9+ continues to work OK.