QUESTION pagecounts

  • Thread starter Thread starter tiktak
  • Start date Start date
But with respect to page counters.....several older and/or low end monochrome
Really? My HP IIp had one as does the IIIp that now sits in a corner in
case of emergencies.
Click to expand...

I have to admit, I can't think of a single laser printer that didn't
have a counter somewhere. I have seen some trully oddball ones that
had a manual counter somewhere inside, but these were very very odd
beasts back when the HP LJ was young. The HP II series while popular
were not really the first by any means. The oldest laser I know of was
the LBP-10 and that is by name only. There were some earlier 70s
versions by xerox, but I know nothing at all about those, far too big
and heavy to store on my desk.
 
In message said:
I have to admit, I can't think of a single laser printer that didn't
have a counter somewhere. I have seen some trully oddball ones that
had a manual counter somewhere inside,
Click to expand...

Strangely enough my colour photocopier/printer has both manual ones and
the system board ones. My black and white photocopier has a manual
counter only.
 
[email protected] said:
Really? My HP IIp had one as does the IIIp that now sits in a corner in
case of emergencies.
Click to expand...

Timothy
Oh by the way...I'd forgotten these.
HP LaserJet 4L,5L and 6L printers don't have any NVRAM available, so there is
no way for the printer to retain a page count once the printer is powered off.
These printers have a page counter that operates until the printer is powered
off. At power off the page count is reset to zero.
I guess you could argue that they do count pages but they suffer from medium
and long term memory loss <g>.
Yep, old printers but still around.
Tony
 
"Note: Because the LaserWriter IInt component that registers the options
can wear out with excessive use (several thousand changes), change the
options only when necessary."

Nothing about NVRAM but I'm sure there must have been something else.
Note that this is on the IInt; the IIntx didn't have the EEPROM
(probably it was straight battery backed NVRAM) because the manual says
that it didn't have the same restriction.
Click to expand...

Righto... when I swapped out my system board in my laser printer (note
the generic because the particulars are beside the point)... there was
no way for me to know the page count because the system board was
kaput, and while it normally would tell me the page when I turned on
the printer... I turned that feature off. When I finally gave away
that printer, I had to say in all honesty I had no idea what the page
count was as I swapped out the system boards.

I could be incorrect in thinking that info was stored on the system
board, or I could be correct. It's generally a safe assumption on most
lasers. The mechnism that stores the information is beside the point
when in the case of a systemboard failure there is no real means of
telling what the page count is. If your lucky there is a log
somewhere that'll give you a ball park figure.. but generally speaking
unless the printer had any sort of service... that information is lost.

Anyhow there are rebuilt lasers who have a pagecount of zero. Perhaps
this was set to keep track of the new referbished pagecount, or perhaps
they replaced the system board and had no clue what the page count
was... very likely in the PC recycling world where you don't meet the
prior owners it's just surplus. While this may be contrary to the
written world of the service manual... reality is contrary to the
written word of the service manual as there is really no way to know
the page count on a system board that is fried. If using NVram or some
form of flashrom you "might" be able to pull it and put it in the new
one.... if your lucky, but in a real world situation it's perfectly
normal for that data to be gone.
 
You keep digging yourself further into your own hole.

Here and in a previous posting you admit how accessible the service
manual is; well out of the secret cloisters of HP and their official
techs, obviously making the reset procedure VERY accessible to the
general public, and therefore NO engineer is required, nor is there any
need for a board change or an internal reprogramming of the non-volatile
RAM.

THEREFORE, the original statement that the page count numbers being a
potentially unreliable benchmark of the use the printer has received
which you tried to refute with your statement about the need for
engineers and programming knowledge is indeed accurate and your
statement that is was not, is the bogus one, just as I pointed out.

You now seem to be refuting your own postings by stating that it is easy
to change the page count if you have the service manual, and that the
service manual is no longer in the control of HP and the technicians
they wish to have it.

I really don't know how much clearer the logic of my argument could be made.

Art
 
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