1720dn printer Operator Panel Lights

Lee,

This is the info I have from my service manual:

Good luck

That is confusing, because this cartridge was working and then stopped printing and displayed this error code.  The cartridge is at least 3/4 full.

Don't know what to tell ya, especially since it "was working", then stopped.

You said you did a hard reset. Was it like this:
1. Power OFF the printer and UN-plug any data cable(s).
2. Open the front cover.
3. Depress and hold both the Continue and Cancel buttons.
4. With the cover open and both buttons depressed, power ON the unit.
5. Continue to hold the buttons down until the Error light is the only one active.  (you will see the lights cycle several times before this occurs)
6. Close the cover...... Done

Something else you might try is to reload the printer firmware from Dell's website.

If that fails, it sounds like the system board has failed in some strange way. (Dell p/n KX011)

That is exactly what I did.  I just tried it again to make sure.

The printer is set up on a network.  I tried to reinstall it, using Vista's add a printer dialog.  It found the printer and installed the driver that I downloaded from Dell today.  The status on the printers folder says that the printer is 'offline'.

The only thing left to do is update the firmware, which means I'll have to figure what we did with the parallel cable....

Lee,

Another thought just occurred to me..... attached to the cartridge underneath the right side, there is a very tiny circuit board. This contains the cartridge data. You may want to inspect the contact points inside the printer and the contact pads of the circuit board..... clean both areas..... just to be sure this isn't the problem. (pull out the enire cart, not just the toner half)

If this is a cartridge you ordered from Dell, I'm fairly certain they warrant toner and ink carts for 2 years against defects (obviously, using a cart until empty is not a defect :emotion-3: )

Just make sure you have the order number of the defective cartridge when you call them. Details of this warranty coverage is in your product owners manual in case you get any push-back.

Glad to help, and good luck.

Thanks for that.  I did not realize that there was an Embedded Web Service on the printer and I only read the first version of installing the firmware which was through the parallel cord.  I had read the paragraph about the EWS and thought it was referring to an external piece of hardware I didn't have.

I've now set up the e-mail alerts etc.

By the way, the EWS tells me that it is a defective cartridge.  I have ordered a new one.

Thanks again for all of your help.

An update:  The culprit was a refurbished toner cartridge bought from Quill.  My office manager has learned a valuable lesson, since it was her printer that was out of service for a week AND not to mention the time and energy I had to spend figuring out the problem.

As soon as I installed the Dell cartridge, the printer fired up and began printing....

Thanks for the update...... also a good verification of my service manual.

There's a reason why most printer manufacturers don't like 3rd party toner/ink suppliers, despite the "supposed" protections of the Magnuson-Moss law. It's dealing with this sort of stuff.

Anyway, glad to hear the problem is fixed. Take care.