On Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:10:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 29 Nov 2013 06:59:27 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

Yesterday, the 4M started acting naughty. It first began printing
the source file (rather than creating a document).

Data loss. Check your connecting cable.

No offense, Jeff, but I've been servicing electronic equipment for 55+ years.
You're assuming I don't know the basics.

No offense intended. I try to explain my logic in a manner that
anyone can understand and try not to engage in a personal discussion
where the reader might not be fully informed as to what's happening.
I also have the problem of writing to different target audiences. If
I apply the technobabble thickly and aim for the experienced reader, I
lose the beginners and those with limited experience. If I aim for a
general audience, as I did here, I insult readers with more
substantial experince. Can't win.

The cable is a USB cable. Windows 7 has USB support for printers. When I
bought this computer over a years ago, I bought a neat little adapter that
supports this protocol for parallel ports. It's been working nicely for over a
year.

I've used USB to parallel adapters with good success. In this case,
the alleged data loss would be at the parallel cable connector. Many
users allow the wire "ears" that secure the parallel connector to
remain loose, causing the connector to wiggle loose. As I mumbled,
I've seen it before.

In my never humble opinion, if the printer does a sucessful self test,
the computah is apparently functional, and the fault acts like there's
data loss (blank pages, printing PCL source instead of formatted PCL,
etc), then there's something wrong between the computah and the
printah.

I did, indeed, wonder whether the connection was bad. I checked at the
computer and printer. Everything was tight. I use a short USB cable to extend
the adapter's cable, which otherwise wouldn't be long enough. While monitoring
the printer under Devices & Printers, I brought the connection at this point,
and got an immediate "Printer Offline" response. This confirmed that the
computer and printer were communicating, on at least the control level.

Ok, but did you run a test print after moving the USB to parallel
adapter and extension cable? To the best of my knowledge, the only
thing that will NOT produce a front panel error code is a badly
connected parallel interface.

"Just to prove a point..." I just turned on the printer and printed a page. It
worked. This strongly suggests -- but does not prove -- that the problem is
"fixed".

Yep. It's easy to prove that something doesn't work. All it takes is
one failure. Proving that something is working is more complex. You
have to test literally everything. What few returns I get is usually
the result of not testing everything.

And I suspect the service shop would have had more trouble
finding the problem than I did.

It would have been working when you arrived at the repair shop.
It happens all the time.

"Claro", as the guy in the crazy-generous ad says.

Huh? I haven't seen a TV advertisement since I switched to watching
Netflix. What's a Claro?

I'm about to recycle all my HP LJ III and 4 parts because nobody
has wanted one repaired in about 3 years. Want a box of HP 4
maintenance parts and pieces? You pay shipping.

Please contact me directly, and let me know (in general -- you needn't go into
detail) what you have. I wouldn't mind a spare fuser assembly.

I probably have a good used fuser. I probably also have some ethernet
print server cards. I'll seperate out the LJ 4/5m stuff and send you
a list.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558