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- HP Community
- Printers
- DesignJet, Large Format Printers and Digital Press
- z6100 Won't Boot - no startup sound

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11-27-2023 07:05 PM
I've been having trouble with the printer for awhile. If I turn it off or there's a power outage, the printer wouldn't start up again. I was having to let it sit a day or two unplugged and then it would start. I assumed there must be a bad capacitor somewhere that needed to lose its charge. I had swapped out the Main PCA a few years ago because there was a bad capacitor on it, but that didn't help. It was all okay because once I could get it to start it would run fine. I just had to change the belt, so had to shut it off. I left it off and unplugged for a couple days, but no luck. I tried letting it sit unplugged for 3 days, but no luck.
Here's what happens: I switch the power on, but there is no initial start up beep. the screen lights up, but nothing is happening. It eventually shows an 08:11 error, but I can't narrow down what the issue is. This printer is pretty old, so I don't want to throw a lot of money chasing which part is bad. I've looked over all the boards that I can access in back and I don't see any bulging capacitors. I tried an old hard drive that I 'd pulled from another z6100, but I'm not sure if it was a good drive or not. I don't know if it's even getting to that point yet though.
Any best guesses or similar experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.
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12-03-2023 01:42 PM
Final note just to confirm that the issue was a bad memory module (Q1273-60249).
I restarted the printer via the reset button (because I'm still hesitant to shut it down) and I no longer got the 7 beeps at startup. I think that was probably a remnant of trying to boot with the bad memory. So, hopefully the Main PCA is fine.
11-29-2023 04:50 AM
Here's a link to the service manual:
There are LED's on the back above the power switch that should help diagnose any common power problems. Also some LED's on one of the circuit boards inside. Let us know what you find.
11-29-2023 10:55 AM
Thanks for the response. I did find a post that I originally missed on this site with the same issue although they didn't mention whether they had a startup beep or not (https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/DesignJet-Large-Format-Printers-Digital-Press/Designjet-Z6100-08-11/m-...). I guess it was the hard drive that was the issue for them. I have a second z6100 that I will do some experiments with when I get a chance. As I mentioned I have an old drive I'd pulled from that other machine – not sure if it's good or not, so we'll see what happens when I switch to the old drive.
Regarding the lights on the boards. First, when I leave the machine unplugged for a considerable length of time and replug it in, the power switch light is blue and the printer starts up when I flip the switch. When I only unplug the machine for a short period of time, the power switch light is amber and the machine has to be started from the front power button. Since I'm not getting past the start up, the power switch light never turns green.
I think this is what lights up – Interconnect PCA: 5V and 5Vsb, PrintMech PCA: 5Vsb, VAUX 12V, 5V and 3v3. Based on the service manual, these don't seem to tell me much since the front screen does light up and I don't get to the point where the 24V kicks in. The service manual mentions some other LEDs on the PrintMech board (Eridani and VAN), but I have no idea where those are. I couldn't run an Electronic Module Test if I wanted to though.
12-01-2023 02:51 PM
I confirmed that the old hard drive I had pulled from a different printer was good, by reinstalling it in the working z6100 it had come from. I tried that old drive in this machine, but same result. I also swapped out the IDE to SATA adapter just to make sure that wasn't an issue. I just don't think it ever gets to reading the hard drive.
So, I guess my next step is to start swapping out parts. I can pull the parts from the working Z6100 in order to avoid purchasing parts I don't need. That's twice as much work though. Since I'm still convinced it's a capacitor problem, should I try swapping the power supply first? I don't see any bad capacitors anywhere else. The next option would be the Interconnect PCA, I guess. I do have the old Main PCA board that I swapped out years ago when I started having problems booting. That board had a bulging capacitor, but as I mentioned before the problem continued after I swapped the board.
12-02-2023 02:04 PM
Did the power supply swap, but no change. The working z6100 works fine with the power supply from the non-working one. The working machine got hung up late in the initializing stage when I first turned it back on, but I rebooted it and it started fine. I ran the Electronics Module Test for the PSU on the working machine (now with the non-working one's original PSU) and it was fine.
So, guess I can try swapping the Interconnect PCA next. I took a look at the old Main PCA board I have that I pulled from the broken machine when I started having start up issues several years ago, and there's now 5 or 6 capacitors slightly bulging. They are all the same type/size capacitor around the CPU. Not sure if it's worth giving that board a try or not.
12-02-2023 06:53 PM
Well, I swapped out the Interconnect PCA, but no luck. I was then putting the working machine back together and said to myself, I know it's not the issue, but I need to try swapping out the memory module. Guess what, it looks like it's the memory module – at least partially. I have to kick myself for bypassing the easiest thing to swap and wasting hours fiddling with everything else. The prior working machine won't start with the assumed defective memory module in either slot and the previously broken machine boots fine with the memory module that I know is good. I am however getting beeps at startup (7 I think) which indicates the main PCA is damaged. I think it was doing that before as well, but I rarely restarted the machine and never counted the beeps. It seems to be up and running, but not sure how well it will restart going forward. Will avoid doing so as much as possible.
Now on to ordering a memory module, so I can get both machines going.
12-03-2023 01:42 PM
Final note just to confirm that the issue was a bad memory module (Q1273-60249).
I restarted the printer via the reset button (because I'm still hesitant to shut it down) and I no longer got the 7 beeps at startup. I think that was probably a remnant of trying to boot with the bad memory. So, hopefully the Main PCA is fine.