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warning: Designjet 500/800 printhead fail

10/27/2019

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HP 11 Printheads marked with Warranty Ends dates in the ranges indicated below might fail on installation, resulting in a printhead error message.
Printhead Affected date range (YYYYMMDD format)
  • HP 11 Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (C4811A, C4812A, C4813A)
    • March 2020 and later (marked 20200301 and later in YYYYMMDD format)
  • HP 11 Black (C4810A)
    • )April 2020 and later (marked 20200401 and later in YYYYMMDD format)

The Warranty Ends date is printed on the printhead packaging and on the printhead itself in the locations shown in the picture.

If you have an affected printhead, follow these steps:
  1. On a Windows XP, 7, 8, or 10 PC with a USB connection to the printer, download a zip file with your firmware.
  2. Open the zip file and run the HP DesignJet 500/800 Firmware Upgrade Tool A.05.01.
  3. Wait for the upgrade to complete, and then turn the printer off, and then back on.
  4. If the steps above do not help, contact HP Support for a replacement. Contact HP directly, rather than returning to the retailer.
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Can't print due to expired ink? try this...

1/29/2018

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This may work with your Designjet 500 or 800 if the install of the latest firmware now makes your plotter aware of expired inks --- I haven't tested it. Let me know if it works. Thanks!

If you cannot print is not because the ink is expired.

Try this.

1- delete all the pending jobs at the printer panel
2- reset the ink cartridges and acknowledge the warnings
3- print the Image Quality Print to check the status of the nozzles ant the printheads.
4- replace any bad printheads
5- do the printhead alignment and paper advance calibration
6- print an internal demo to test the hardware

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Which to pick? hp Designjet 500, 800, or 600?

1/8/2017

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I met the nicest couple from Waseca Minnesota  today! Dave and Calley Jo drove almost 2 hours to Lindstrom to looks at what I have in my inventory. I thought they'd like the $300 Designjet 600 monochrome a basic black and white plotter (wide format printer) from 1992. A solid workhorse that never dies! When I refurbish these they never need a new belt, but always need covers off and a complete clean out just due to normal dust and debris. Next I lubricate the rails and the gears. Check the encoder strip, often changing it as the thousands of tiny lines tend to delaminate about 20+ years later. Next I recalibrate the accuracy and a number of other parameters and then I proceed to test the hell out of it. I print 5 to 20 prints because IF it is going to misbehave I want it to happen right here at my house, in my little one car garage workshop!

Instead they chose the HP Designjet 800 - 24 inch model because of its versatility. Not only can Dave print his blueprints, but this plotter can print on vinyl, tyvek, canvas, photo paper, back-lit film, card stock and plain old paper. I watched as the two of them came up with more things they could do with this wide format printer...giant graphic for the kids' walls when they redecorate their rooms and family photos printed on canvas...It was fun to watch them come up with ideas! Dave works in construction and I shared the trick of printing field blueprints on waterproof vinyl so that even in sloppy wet spring environments the plans stay intact!

This printer was built in 2001 to 2003 -- the big bonus being that you can still find supplies at your local stores and HP hadn't yet figured out how to stop users from using expired ink! I sell lots of these in both the smaller 24" and the larger 42" models.

The moral of the story is I will sell you what you want and won't sell you something you don't need. We spent more than an hour looking at three different plotters. Ultimately the customer picks one and then I train them on what little maintenance it needs and how to load paper and buy ink, etc.
Two more things they get from me...I load the drivers for them and I give them phone support for life! They also know where I live...how can I be anything but a perfectly honest Princess for folks who know where I live?
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HP Designjet 500 and 800 Series - Drawings or Images Are Shifted / Clipped in AutoCAD 2000, 200i or 2002

5/20/2016

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​ISSUE: When printing an AutoCAD drawing/image on any of the HP Designjet 500 or 800 series printers using either roll or sheet fed media the drawing/image shifts and is clipped.
WORKAROUND: In Autocad 2000, 2000i and 2002, use the following steps:
  1. Select File, Plot.
  2. Click the Plot Device tab, and select the correct driver.
  3. Select Properties.
  4. Click Modify Standard Paper Sizes.
  5. Click Modify.
  6. Click Specify.
  7. Specify non-Printable edge.
  8. Select Next.
  9. Enter the following values:
    1. Top margin 1.33 inches (34 mm)
    2. Bottom margin 0.0 inches
    3. Left margin 0.39 inches (10 mm)
    4. Right margin 0.0 inches
      NOTE: Remember to allow enough room between the image and the page size for the hard margins.
For an alternate solution using sheet fed media, cut a sheet larger to allow for the hard margin offset and trim the page after the print is made.
Other possible causes include:
  • Incorrect paper size is selected
  • Incorrect scaling factor has been chosen
  • When creating different lay-outs the correct printer driver is not used

SUMMARY: The printer has hard margins of 17 mm leading and trailing edge, and a 5 mm left side and right side edge. The printer will offset the jobs 17 mm up and 5 mm in from the bottom-right corner. This may cause the document on the left and top side of the drawing/image to clip in portrait mode.
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Firmware Upgrade for Designjet 500 and 800 

5/19/2016

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Here's a link to the HP website for the Designjet 500 and 800 to input the latest software into your wide format plotter. You can download from the HP site or download the file below. This is strictly for  the 800 and the 500 not any others. The firmware is version 04.02. It works with these operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for 64-bit Extended Systems
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)
  • Microsoft Windows Vista (64-bit)

Instructions:
  1. Download and save the update file to your hard disk, be sure to remember where you saved it.
  2. Ensure that all printers that are going to receive the update are turned on. Ensure that you can print to each printer from the computer that is running the update application.
  3. Start the installation application. It will install all necessary files first. The application will then analyze each of the printers configured for the computer and report on their current status.
  4. If any of your printers are out of date, the application will prompt you to update them. The update process sends a special file to your printer.
  5. Once the update is complete a drawing will be shown on the front panel indicating that the printer must be disconnected. Disconnect the printer, wait for a few seconds and then reconnect the printer. This will delete all pending print jobs. For this reason, you should not print during the upgrade process. The update process may take several minutes.
Important: Do not turn Off the printer before the disconnect drawing is displayed on the Front Panel

​
Firmware DJ 500 800
File Size: 30357 kb
File Type: exe
Download File

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HP Instant Printing Utility Download

4/24/2016

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HP has an amazingly simple little app that you can download and use with 500. 800, Z series and T series plotters. It is the HP Instant Printing Utility 3

It allows you to drag your file to the open application and click PRINT and it just simply prints....easy peasy.

It works with these operating systems:

Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows Vista (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows 10 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)
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Putting the Designjet 500 and 800 on a Network

10/9/2015

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There's a great video on YouTube that shows you how to configure your Designjet 500 or 800 through the front panel to connect to your network. This assumes that your plotter has a network card installed. 
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Designjet 500 won't align printheads after belt replacement

8/8/2015

1 Comment

 
I've been working hard in my workshop trying to get a plotter to work. It is a Designjet 500 that I purchased from someone who stated "The belt has been replaced but it still needs some adjustment." What he didn't say was that HE'D replaced the belt himself and he didn't have a clue what he was doing. When I took the covers off I found many parts that were loose and missing screws. I kept running the printhead alignment and it kept failing. Everything was back together properly, but it just wasn't able to align. So "Googled" it and found this HP forum posting...Now, I never take the bushings off the carriage when replacing a belt. But it appears the seller of this machine had! I switched them around and yes, the alignment came out perfect! So if you are in the same situation and it is possible that the bushings have been switched, give it a try.

From: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-Designjet-Large-Format/Double-Lines-being-Printed-Designjet-500/td-p/1091490?notmigrated#.VcVVSXFViko
Re: Double Lines being Printed - Designjet 500
Post Options
‎02-01-2010 08:46 PM

Here's my solution to the common double printing, blurred images on the Designjet 500 & 800.

When the carriage was removed to install a new belt, I had also removed the two "C" shaped bushings as well, one on each side of the carriage. I didn't need to, but thought I could get the carriage off without removing the right-hand side cap and service-station... BTW, you DO need to. 

Anyway... when they were reinstalled, they were swapped accidentally left for right (they only go in one way) and they fit pretty loosely in the carriage when they are swapped.

The resulting slop will allow the carriage to "cock" on the carriage return, and since it prints in both directions, the result is two images, identical, but shifted and produces a "blurry" or double-printed output.

We pulled the carriage again today, and sure enough, they were installed backwards. When the bushings are inserted in their little cavities correctly, it is a very light 'press-fit'. They will fit snugly, and will not fall out if you tilt the carriage left or right. You then secure them with the one small screw and washer for each side.

Buttoned the plotter up, and did a plot... voila!! Perfect plot without even doing a head alignment or anything!!!

It's worth a try... if you didn't remove these bushings, then I don't have any solutions for you. It's an elusive problem, but this repair sure fixed our broken plotter.

Sure beats buying a new $450 carriage assy.!!
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