Ricoh IS420 Scanner

[JC]

Any scanner experts? I picked up a Ricoh IS420 (similar to IS430, manual
is available online) for cheap, (yeah right), so it does all its
initializing things then gives the 2 flashing lights on the front which
indicates a bad lamp. This is a big large format scanner so worth fixing
in my opinion as parts are available. So, the lamp is green (?), and is
bright enough to hurt my eyes so I guess its ok? When the scanner
initializes it moves the lamp assy an inch or so back and forth then
raises the paper feeder and beeps and fails. Now I got it cheap enough
to buy a new lamp, BUT is there some other stuff I should check? The
mirrors are very clean and I guess installed correctly, this printer is
very user friendly from a lamp/mirror replacement point. Any ideas? Do
the ccd's fail? TIA

 

Are you saying the SCANNER lamp is green, not the LEDs that are supposed to indicate something ?

I assume that's a color scanner. At Ricoh's website it looks like the drivers are available but I couldn't get the manual. Maybe it is somewhere else but, it seems to me tht a color scanner should have a white light. Every one I've ever seen did.

However I think it would be one hell of a strange failure mode for the lamp to turn green.

Maybe it uses three lamps ? That doesn't sound too likely but I guess anything is possible.

 

JC <Chipbee40_SpamNo@yahoo.com> wrote:

I picked up a Ricoh IS420 (similar to IS430, manual is available
online) for cheap, (yeah right), so it does all its initializing
things then gives the 2 flashing lights on the front which
indicates a bad lamp.

I think I found the IS420 manual, but it's 1) in German and 2) on a site
that does a drive-by download of a suspicious EXE along with the PDF.
It also doesn't ever say "I am the IS420 manual" in it. But anyway:
the two LEDs on the front of the scanner and the two LEDs on the ADF
have to be read together; the combinations that involve the two on the
front both blinking are:

Scanner ADF
green amber green amber Meaning
blink blink off on Lamp protection cap open
blink blink on on Lamp error
blink blink blink blink System error

If you have the first one, apparently the plate that covers the lamp,
at the back edge of the scanner glass, is removable. The fix is to
remove it and reseat it. You might also look around for how it knows
that the plate is loose, like a microswitch or photo interrupter, and
see if that looks beat up.

If you have the second one, it says the CCD is not detecting any light
from the lamp. It says to 1) reinstall the lamp you have and then 2)
try a new lamp. To do 1), you remove the lamp plate, remove the cap
over the lamp connector, unplug the lamp connector, hold the green part
at the right end of the lamp, shove the lamp to the left, and lift up
the right end.

Now I got it cheap enough to buy a new lamp, BUT is there some other
stuff I should check?

You might look to see if the CCD is dirty, or maybe has a sticker or
something over the "lens". Check the optical path in general for
reflectors/mirrors that are loose, out of place, etc.

If you know what the lamp voltage is supposed to be, you might measure
the voltage as close to the lamp as you can, and compare it to specs.
This lamp will draw relatively a lot of juice, so if any of the
contacts, wiring, connectors, etc have higher than normal resistance,
the voltage to the lamp will drop by a lot.

Maybe lay a mirror on the scanner glass when it starts up? If the lamp
or CCD is just barely out of spec, perhaps the extra light from the
mirror (vs the presumably white plastic underside of the lid) will make
it happy.

There is a "reset" button (needs a pencil) to the left of the DIP
switch block. You have to reset it to get it to take a new SCSI ID.

The factory setting of the DIP switches is apparently #1 on (down) and
all the rest, #2 through #8, off (up).

Matt Roberds

 

[JC]

On 12/4/2013 1:45 AM, mroberds@att.net wrote:

JC <Chipbee40_SpamNo@yahoo.com> wrote:
I picked up a Ricoh IS420 (similar to IS430, manual is available
online) for cheap, (yeah right), so it does all its initializing
things then gives the 2 flashing lights on the front which
indicates a bad lamp.

I think I found the IS420 manual, but it's 1) in German and 2) on a site
that does a drive-by download of a suspicious EXE along with the PDF.
It also doesn't ever say "I am the IS420 manual" in it. But anyway:
the two LEDs on the front of the scanner and the two LEDs on the ADF
have to be read together; the combinations that involve the two on the
front both blinking are:

Scanner ADF
green amber green amber Meaning
blink blink off on Lamp protection cap open
blink blink on on Lamp error
blink blink blink blink System error

If you have the first one, apparently the plate that covers the lamp,
at the back edge of the scanner glass, is removable. The fix is to
remove it and reseat it. You might also look around for how it knows
that the plate is loose, like a microswitch or photo interrupter, and
see if that looks beat up.

If you have the second one, it says the CCD is not detecting any light
from the lamp. It says to 1) reinstall the lamp you have and then 2)
try a new lamp. To do 1), you remove the lamp plate, remove the cap
over the lamp connector, unplug the lamp connector, hold the green part
at the right end of the lamp, shove the lamp to the left, and lift up
the right end.

Now I got it cheap enough to buy a new lamp, BUT is there some other
stuff I should check?

You might look to see if the CCD is dirty, or maybe has a sticker or
something over the "lens". Check the optical path in general for
reflectors/mirrors that are loose, out of place, etc.

If you know what the lamp voltage is supposed to be, you might measure
the voltage as close to the lamp as you can, and compare it to specs.
This lamp will draw relatively a lot of juice, so if any of the
contacts, wiring, connectors, etc have higher than normal resistance,
the voltage to the lamp will drop by a lot.

Maybe lay a mirror on the scanner glass when it starts up? If the lamp
or CCD is just barely out of spec, perhaps the extra light from the
mirror (vs the presumably white plastic underside of the lid) will make
it happy.

There is a "reset" button (needs a pencil) to the left of the DIP
switch block. You have to reset it to get it to take a new SCSI ID.

The factory setting of the DIP switches is apparently #1 on (down) and
all the rest, #2 through #8, off (up).

Matt Roberds

Its the 2 scanner lights that flash, the ADF is solid.

The lamp is not cheap so I want to make sure its not something else.

I have the software and scsi setup, it just says scanner problem when I
try to connect. No helpful info there!

I'll try the mirror trick, makes sense and I'll try to check the state
of the ccd, its not easy to get at.
JC

 

[JC]

On 12/3/2013 10:47 PM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:

Are you saying the SCANNER lamp is green, not the LEDs that are supposed to indicate something ?

I assume that's a color scanner. At Ricoh's website it looks like the drivers are available but I couldn't get the manual. Maybe it is somewhere else but, it seems to me tht a color scanner should have a white light. Every one I've ever seen did.

However I think it would be one hell of a strange failure mode for the lamp to turn green.

Maybe it uses three lamps ? That doesn't sound too likely but I guess anything is possible.

Its a mono copier, I believe green lamps were used in mono copiers, you
can also get a red lamp to make red writing invisible?
JC