CLJ Enterprise M652 wakes from sleep constantly

[wfr5]

Hi folks.

I'm working with a Color LaserJet Enterprise M652 which has suddenly developed a new symptom.

Printer is connected by ethernet only. It is printed to from several Windows PCs using the HP generic PCL driver, and also from several Linux systems using PostScript.

This unit is not under warranty.

The unit will enter sleep mode. 46 seconds later, the unit wakes from sleep. It displays "Clearing Settings" on the LCD panel, which disappears after a couple seconds. The unit remains awake for 129 seconds, and then goes back to sleep.

This cycle repeats continuously all day.

The users near this unit find the mechanical noises during the wake/sleep events very objectionable so we must find a solution.

This began last Wednesday. No changes were made to the unit immediately prior to the issue developing (that is, no new toner was installed, nobody tried to run a cleaning cycle, paper size was not changed, etc....no changes to the configuration happened). However, coinciding with this happening, the printer did notify the users that the toner collection unit was almost full. I have replaced the toner collection unit, as the old one was legitimately full, but the sleep/wake issue persists.

I have reset the printer to factory settings using the option in the menu. However, I noticed that this did not reset the network settings, so clearly it does not reset everything. The issue persists.

A small Xerox B210 is installed in its place temporarily until this can be resolved, as the noise is a serious problem for this work environment. I will note that the Xerox is configured using the same IP address, so all the same hosts which might send print activity (or any other packets) to the M652 are sending the same stuff to the Xerox. It has no issues staying in sleep mode until an actual document is printed.

Any suggestions please?

[Repairatrooper]

What firmware revision are you currently running? I also question in a busy environment why you have the unit going to sleep after 2 minutes. We typically set our sleep delay to the maximum during the day to reduce the wait time for users when they send jobs. 

[wfr5]

Firmware datecode is 20171102 which is consistent with being what this unit shipped with new - it was installed in 2018.

The unit had the identical symptoms relating to sleep/wake events, but less frequently, because it had a longer sleep delay. I do not know what it was set to as it was not significant to me, and I was not the person who initially configured it at installation time.

The issue (wake/sleep cycling without apparent cause) was was reported to me as happening regularly throughout the day, and when I tried to get feedback about exact frequency, I was told "about 6 times over a couple hours". After the factory reset, the sleep timer was actually reset to 0 minutes, but it seems like in practice the shortest it can really be is the approx 129 seconds we're seeing, which has sped up the frequency of the issue happening. I needed the frequency stepped up so I could actually observe it happening so I could describe it here.

Although shared by several users and systems, this printer goes hours without printing and generally just spits out a single job, then sits for a couple hours before the next one. Given the usage pattern, there is no advantage to extending the sleep delay.

However, minutes ago, I have put the M652 back in service and outright disabled sleep (this fw revision allows that - newer ones might not based on past experience with other HPs) and will have the users monitor to report if any odd behaviour happens. I'll report back about the outcome.

If the printer remains silent when idle, this will have resolved the users' complaint, but it will not indicate that the issue has actually been fixed. If the unit is configured to sleep, it should go to sleep and stay that way until a print job comes.

[Repairatrooper]

That firmware is way out of date and they have made changes to the sleep system since that time.

[wfr5]

I appreciate your input and I certainly agree that the firmware is out of date. I do find what you say about changes to sleep to be plausible, however:

- This printer needs to print PostScript jobs, and it has been my experience that HP does not test their PostScript functionality for bugs in new firmware releases. This unit will become e-waste if PostScript functionality breaks, which is a risk I cannot take on a unit that is out-of-warranty.

- This printer has been installed for 2 years in this location, with mostly the same employees working near it. They tell me it has never since installation done this behaviour. Certainly, the firmware could have defects related to sleep mode, but it cannot be the cause of this issue, as it has never happened before on a unit that is powered on 24/7/365 and which has employees working near it 24/7/365 as well. 

- As mentioned in my previous reply, HP has a history of removing the option to fully disable sleep from new firmware releases in other products. If updating the firmware does not fix the sleep/wake issue, but does remove the ability to disable sleep, then my only current workaround will no longer exist.

The users report that it has not made any unusual noises since disabling sleep. It can stay in production that way for the rest of its life if necessary, but I'd welcome further suggestions for how to determine why, when it is configured to sleep, it is unable to remain in sleep mode.

I am considering setting up packet sniffing to see if something is being sent to it that causes it to wake, but was hoping someone had a magic bullet idea for what it may be before going that route.