Z3100 printhead alignment canceled, due to scan problems

[jasonmiamifl]

For couple months, I have this problems with DJ z3100 44" & I never bel able to alignment printhead sucessfully & error  " Printhead alignment canceled, due to scan problems. 

I already replaced all printheads, color sensor, also line sensor. same error.

Color calibration             pass
all colors, lines                perfect.

When I did the line sensor test & I got :
line sensor to black internal checks failed.
returned error 2.

After line sensor test & follow by printhead alignment.

Printhead alignment canceled, due scan problem.

What else can I try, in order to solve this problem  ?

With this error, I printed nice beautiful pictures, unfornately not consistent  & from
time to time it printed lousy horrible pictures.

Thanks in advance for your kind help or suggestions.

[jasonmiamifl]

On this printer, I could not update fimware & hundred times.          failed.

Could it be the formatter board problem ?

I tried with my friend's formatter board & I had no luck also.

[Roy_Kuzmich]

Try doing the paper advance calibration first then see if all the other calibrations will work.

Good Luck,

Roy

Don't Forget the Kudos for help.

[jasonmiamifl]

Thanks for your advise and I tried my rolls & none was accepted.

I have glossy & mat canvas rolls, also HP photo paper with canvas textures, hp instant dry  satin papers

( printer smartly detected was 2011, not 2012 & rejected )

I Have order a roll of HP photo papers , in order to test the paper advance calibration.

Will try once paper arrive.

Regards.

[Mikeg81]

Hi,

A few things can the cause.

1- Printheads.

  Print the diagnostic page to check any problems with the printheads

2- Paper.

  Sometimes the reflection of the light that comes from the line sensor on the paper.

3- Line Sensor

  Sensor could be bad or dirty and is not able to see the reflecton of the light on the paper.

4- Damage belt / Dirty or Damage encoder strip

  This will cause the carriage not to move to the right location to read the pattern and/or print the pattern correctly.

5- Carriage PCA.

  A bad carriage PCA will cause this.

Most of the time is a paper or printhead issue. I hope you wont get to repalce any parts.

[jasonmiamifl]

Mike:

Thanks for your advise & I had tried the following hp materials :

HP instand dry premium photo glossy paper 18 inches ,  ( bad choice ) unfornately minimum needed 24"

HP semi satin photo paper 24"
HP mat canvas                  worset result

hp premium satin paper with canvas texture.

non hp glossy photo paper               no good

All failed & same error.. due to scan .

Which material do you recommend ?  

 I was thinkinh order the    HP everyday pigment glossy photo paper 24" x100 feet.

[Mikeg81]

Hi,

Instant dry photo gloss is the best choise, this is actually the paper used to perform service calibrations, unfortunately the one you have is too narrow.

Matte Canvas is great for printing, not soo much for calibrations as you notice :P.

Everyday pigment and universal photo gloss should be fine, but have you check the diagnostic print, belt and encoder strip.  I just dont like the Idea to spend money when you dont have to.

Do you have any handy, try matte technical media, like Coated, bright white inkjet bond.

Also, are you using the default paper presets or costume?

[jasonmiamifl]

Thanks again, Mike.

I will order the HP everyday pigment glossy paper which is about $65 included shipping. Already wasted lots of

expensive materials, plus inks as well.

Right now, I have one 44" Z2100, one Z3100 44" and Z3100 24" , all have same problems & I could

not successfully align printheads & they all useless.

Diagnostic prints all perfect in colors, vertical & horizontal lines etc. 

I will reply again after I did tests with new paper.

Regards.

[bolo11161973]

I'm having the same issues with a HP Z6200 plotter, anybody been able to fix this issue?

[jasonmiamifl]

I saw this occured on my Z3100, Z3200, even Z2100 which caused by #1 printheads & #2 near empty inks .

Print out a diagnostic chart & check all colors... if one or 2 color missing  ( even no warning from printer ), change it..

do all printheads cleaning, increase success chance..

I saw one time was the sensor on left side of carriage box & I changed another one & no more problem.

Keep mind calm & check them carefully.