Looking for a Dell 3100CN Service Manual

I find Bing is better at computer related searches than Google. It came up with this: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/3100cn/

Printers do not have service manuals, only user manuals with info on solving problems. No user servicable parts in most printers. They are relatively cheap, unlike computers and usually replaced instead of serviced.

Tell me about the problem you are having with the printer. I may be able to help fix that problem. MaryG is right, Dell does not make the service manual available (to anyone except authorized service personnel).

Thank you llynster and MaryG. I was able to find the Users Manual without searching just by going to Dell's website, however it contains very little troubleshooting information. The problem I am having is that one of our customers has a Dell 3100CN printer (they have 35 total) that had some sort of message to replace the Imaging Drum. After replacing the Imaging Drum it immediately began displaying a 004-321 error "restart printer, if problem continues contact Dell suppot". We picked up the printer, brought it back to our shop and I found info somewhere on the internet that a 004-321 can be caused when the Imaging Drum's transfer belt is not centered over its roller (where it would make contact with the printer's transfer roller). After removing the Imaging Drum it did indeed have that problem, so I recentered the belt and reinstalled it in the printer and it cleared the 004-321 error, but then a second error appeared which is 016-310. If I hold down the Menu key while turning the printer on and say "no" at the "initialize password" screen the printer will become "ready" and I can print test pages without a problem. I can also go in to the CE Menu by turning on the printer and holding down the "menu up" and "menu down" keys and do test pages as well. One thing that I noticed though is that if I am in CE mode and I do a FontROM test I will get a "FontROM Error". All other tests pass ok.

FYI, eventually the replacement Imaging Drum's belt rolled off center again and I had to replace the entire Imaging Drum with another brand new one. So far it is keeping center but I still continue to have the 016-310 error and I cannot clear it no matter what I do. I have even downloaded and updated the Firmware. All internet posts for a 016-310 error are pointing to a bad ESS board but before I consider purchasing one I want to make sure that it is really bad. It seems odd to me that the printer would have a bad replacement Imaging Drum and a bad ESS Board both for the same printer but stranger things have happened. This is my first Dell 3100CN printer I will have worked on but I am HP printer certified and have been repairing b/w and color laser printers for about 10 years so I am very familiar with laser printer issues, however without a Service Manual it is challenging to work on this printer. What are your thoughts about the issue I'm having? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

To confirm, yes, the 004-321 is caused by the belt "walking" off center. The actual failure is "TR0 Failure", which means the optical sensor positioned under the drum unit "lost" the reflector on the IBT belt surface. The controller expects the see this reflector once per belt revolution. If not = 004-321. When you had the cover off the drum unit, you may have noticed two diagonal rollers, one on each side of the belt. These rollers are what keeps the belt centered. Dell noted that some of these had the roller mounted incorrectly that caused the belt to walk to the side. If you have the order #, you probably want to call Dell and have that drum unit replaced. They've got a fairly liberal replacement policy regarding defective consumables.

The 016-310 error is totally coincidental and has nothing to do with the 004-321 error. So, you were able to revive the printer once, but the error returned? This error is a Font-ROM failure. If re-loading the printer FW doesn't resolve it..... looks like the ESS board might be toast. Dell P/N N5949

Ok, thank you for confirming what I suspected. I will see now if the customer wants to spend the money for a replacement ESS board. One last question, if the customer does want us to replace the board is there any special considerations when replacing it? Will I need to print config pages before the replacement and reprogram settings like page count, serial number, etc. or are the printers unique settings stored on a different board? Again, thank you for your help.

The part will come with an instruction sheet. Basically, a chip needs to be moved from the defective board to the replacement board.

We might get a used part (which wouldn't have an instruction sheet) since one from Dell would probably cost as much as a used printer. I think the cheapest quote for a used part that we found is $125. We found another one that is just down the street for $150 that we will more than likely purchase. I will remember to look for a chip that needs to be moved from the bad board to the good one. Hopefully there are not too many that can be removed so it should be easy to figure out which one it is. Will let you know if I need additional help. Thanks.

This might help......

Excellent!

Glad yer running again......

I just replaced the ESS board with another one and moved the NVRAM chip over and it works like a charm! We were able to purchase an entire parts printer minus the Imaging Drum and the 500 Sheet Drawer for only $150. Hopefully this POST will help someone in the future. Thanks again!