For the love of God will KM PLEASE release block diagrams of how information moves between circuit boards, etc. Ricoh gives nice block diagrams of circuit information along with in depth information on HOW **** works!
New Km manuals are almost good enough to use for cat liner!

Had a KM5050 a couple of months ago kick a fuser code. Could NOT get into service mode. Tech replaced the DIMM, Main and Engine, nothing.
I took out the hard drive, got into service mode and reset the code. Check drive, DEAD.

Today, assisting another branch; KM2520, no power. Techs replaced PSU. Long story short KM Reps comes out after it's escalated to me (He calls looking for something to do, I say hey I gotta....) we do the power off troubleshooting, etc replace the main (IPU) and Engine after verifying the PSU is good. Do the obvious, removing attachments and loads. Nothing.
I unplug the hard drive, fires right up. Put the drive in a computer to try to format, DEAD!

If you guys have weird unexplained problems in F3's or Voyagers try a friggin hard drive! And NO they have no low level info on them. Straight up 5400 RMP, IDE drives.
Z

Z - great info.

On a further note - for replacement drives ALWAYS over-spec. The cost difference is literally $4.00 or less.

The most consistently successful replacements I have used are 7200 RPM 80GB Western Digital drives with the 8mb cache. There is a 2mb cache version for a couple of bucks less - I have had them fail in the past, but have never replaced one that has an 8mb cache.

Also - just of note: size DOESN'T matter. The machine may not use the full capacity of the drive but it will work.

quote:

Originally posted by Scotty:
Z - great info.

On a further note - for replacement drives ALWAYS over-spec. The cost difference is literally $4.00 or less.

The most consistently successful replacements I have used are 7200 RPM 80GB Western Digital drives with the 8mb cache. There is a 2mb cache version for a couple of bucks less - I have had them fail in the past, but have never replaced one that has an 8mb cache.

Also - just of note: size DOESN'T matter. The machine may not use the full capacity of the drive but it will work.

True, right now the only machine that requires a 7200 rpm drive is the Task Alpha color "high".
Z

Also - the Taskalpha 'High' models use SATA (which may require a matched pair for RAID) instead of PATA. 'Low' models use a single PATA.

Ahh, but do the "Low" models use a single PATA? Or, is it a single SATA?

Me believes it is a SATA drive.

Single PATA.

Low, PATA 5400
High, SATA 7200

PATA looks like


Here is the SATA connection for the hard drive on a TASKalfa 250ci:

It happens to be a 7200 RPM drive. I guess this hdd is popular in DVRs.

I don't know if the copier will care or notice if it has a 5400 RPM drive instead. Also on size, I've heard the copiers partition the drives using percentages. I believe some of the Falcon 3s came with 40GB and others came with 80GB, and the copier could use all of it.

Wow, that is not what we were told in class. Of course we only had 400/500's in class.
Thanks for that clarification. I would say though that the machine WILL care is you install a 5400 though. In Ricoh's a 5400 rpm drive in a 7200 machine would give errors.
Z

PS- when are you going to Japan? And how did you get those pics to post? I've been asking and was told I have to start a thread to do that.

I haven't heard any updates on the Japan trip. They'll probably schedule it for the week I have jury duty that I can't postpone anymore

I have a little website with dreamhost where I upload pics and other random files to. I also use the site's email servers for scanning and receiving copy count reports. It costs $6-10 per month depending on how much you pay at a time (monthly or yearly).

I'd guess the copier wouldn't care because the linux system on it shouldn't care. I see it similar to how the machine doesn't care if you format your USB drive as FAT or FAT32 for updating firmware, because linux just uses the vfat driver to view them both. If I was ordering a drive to replace a dying/dead one in a machine, I'd definitely go with a 7200rpm, but if I had to scrounge around for one to replace immediately, I hope a 5400rpm would suffice.

Well guess what folks. Falcon 3's use 7200 rpm drives. I am currently working on a 3232 non E and a 7200 drive (sent after specific instructions from our it staff to send a 5400) does not work.
Have a OEM drive for an F3, installed it, nada. Google the drive since the speed isn't on the label, 7200 rpm.
Ah the fun of saving $200.00
Z

quote:

Originally posted by Scotty:


The most consistently successful replacements I have used are 7200 RPM 80GB Western Digital drives with the 8mb cache. There is a 2mb cache version for a couple of bucks less - I have had them fail in the past, but have never replaced one that has an 8mb cache.

Not having luck getting 7200's to work with Voyagers. You?
Z

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 313ZD,

Okay, mystery solved. The 2520 that I had with the dead drive causing a no power condition, figured out what the problem was with the 7200 rpm drive.
I replaced the drive and the machine came back to life and copied but no ADF, no counter report, etc. Entered sim 024 to format the drive and did not get the soft button to execute. Figured it was the drive. I asked our IT staff to supply a 5400 but the did not. I replaced the new drive with a 5400 and still had the same problem. Hmmmm, replaced the IPU and ordered a $300 KM drive. As soon as I powered it up I got the Hard drive failure code, formatted and all was good.
Replaced the OEM drive with the 7200 drive, hard drive error and formatted. The IPU was bad as well as the original drive. By the way, the replacement Kyocera supplied drives are now 7200 rpm as well.
It only makes sense that a faster drive will work but a slower drive would not in a machine that requires a faster drive.
Z

The only times I have had trouble with faster drives is in the case of 2.5" drives (laptop). This has only been with laptops and external USB powered drives - the 7200RPM ATA drives use more power and frequently cause issues in USB powered enclosures and occasionally an old laptop can't provide enough power to spin the drive up consistently.