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hp officejet 4110 all-in-one

A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
I just found a hp officejet 4110 all-in-one printer-fax-scanner-copier
on the street in a pile of trash. It didn't have a printer cable; all
I have is the device itself. I picked it up in the hope that it might
have a stepper motor or other motor I might be able to use. Even if it
does, I'm not sure how to use it. Apart from that, I'd like to know about
anything else in it that might be salvageable. For example, it has an
LCD display.

I guess the more one knows about how the device works and how it is put
together, the more likely it is that one can contemplate leaving most
of it intact, even if it is arranged differently physically, and simply
giving it different instructions. I doubt that there is that much
information available about this machine.

Anyway, advice on how to get the most out of this discovery, without simply
using it as hp intended (which is not an option), will be welcome.
 
W

webpa

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan said:
I just found a hp officejet 4110 all-in-one printer-fax-scanner-copier
on the street in a pile of trash. It didn't have a printer cable; all
I have is the device itself. I picked it up in the hope that it might
have a stepper motor or other motor I might be able to use. Even if it
does, I'm not sure how to use it. Apart from that, I'd like to know about
anything else in it that might be salvageable. For example, it has an
LCD display.

I guess the more one knows about how the device works and how it is put
together, the more likely it is that one can contemplate leaving most
of it intact, even if it is arranged differently physically, and simply
giving it different instructions. I doubt that there is that much
information available about this machine.

Anyway, advice on how to get the most out of this discovery, without simply
using it as hp intended (which is not an option), will be welcome.

A good place to start is to download the manufacturer's user manuals.
Study them for possibilities. For example: If this is an all-in-one,
that means it includes a scanner as well as a printer...which means it
has optics (mirrors, lenses, an image sensor, etc.), as well
printer-related stuff. If it also functions as a fax machine...then it
includes a telephone interface. USW
 
J

jasen

Jan 1, 1970
0
I just found a hp officejet 4110 all-in-one printer-fax-scanner-copier
on the street in a pile of trash. It didn't have a printer cable; all
I have is the device itself. I picked it up in the hope that it might
have a stepper motor or other motor I might be able to use.

it should have some of them.
Even if it does, I'm not sure how to use it.

There's plenty about that on the interweb
Apart from that, I'd like to know about anything else in it that
might be salvageable.

most of it potentially,
For example, it has an LCD display.

(I note you're using gnus) I think there's a linux driver for the small
character-based LCD displays (displays based around some hitachi chip I think).

I had one but destroyed it before i got it working correctly (not sure what
I did wrong)
Anyway, advice on how to get the most out of this discovery, without simply
using it as hp intended (which is not an option), will be welcome.

that very much depends on your goals.
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan Adler said:
I just found a hp officejet 4110 all-in-one printer-fax-scanner-copier
on the street in a pile of trash. It didn't have a printer cable; all
I have is the device itself.

USB cable? Dollar store?

I'd see if it works before trashing it for parts. It may just need new ink -
eBay.
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
webpa said:
A good place to start is to download the manufacturer's user manuals.
Study them for possibilities. For example: If this is an all-in-one,
that means it includes a scanner as well as a printer...which means it
has optics (mirrors, lenses, an image sensor, etc.), as well
printer-related stuff. If it also functions as a fax machine...then it
includes a telephone interface.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm downloading the HP Officejet 4100 series
all-in-one (English) Reference Guide and setup poster now.

Abbreviation for "und so weiter"?
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
jasen said:
(I note you're using gnus) I think there's a linux driver for the small
character-based LCD displays(displays based around some hitachi chip I think).

I'll see what I can find out. Yes, I'm using gnus but not on the PC I would
be using for any interfacing. The PC in question has both RH 7.1 Linux and
Freedos installed. I would probably start with Freedos interfacing, since
I think it is easier to get things to work, but I don't really know. Once
something works under Freedos, I'd imagine I actually know something and
try to get it to work under Linux.
that very much depends on your goals.

At this stage, my goal is to be better educated and I view the hp 4110
as a means to that end. Then I'll be better prepared the next time fate
favors me with garbage. I don't have a particular construction project
in mind at the moment, although I have seen things on the web (www.hackaday...)
such as using stepper motors from printers to make a numerically controlled
milling machine. I'm not ready for that. Just to know how to fillet and bone
the fish will be a sufficient goal, and if I can do better, that's even
better.
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Homer J Simpson said:
USB cable? Dollar store?

It has 3 sockets that look like they take:
(1) phone jack
(2) power cord
(3) I don't know. The symbol next to it looks something like the symbol
for a USB connector but there are 4 prongs in in the almost square hole,
not at all like the USB receptor for my flash drive.
I'd see if it works before trashing it for parts. It may just need new ink -
eBay.

I'm running RH 7.1 Linux and it has no driver for this printer. The hp
website doesn't have a Linux driver for it. So, there is no chance of
my using it as a printer in the near future, even if I did feel up to
trying to buy ink for it.
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm running RH 7.1 Linux and it has no driver for this printer. The hp
website doesn't have a Linux driver for it. So, there is no chance of
my using it as a printer in the near future, even if I did feel up to
trying to buy ink for it.

It may be very similar to another model.
 
M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan said:
I'll see what I can find out. Yes, I'm using gnus but not on the PC I would
be using for any interfacing. The PC in question has both RH 7.1 Linux and
Freedos installed. I would probably start with Freedos interfacing, since
I think it is easier to get things to work, but I don't really know. Once
something works under Freedos, I'd imagine I actually know something and
try to get it to work under Linux.
But he's saying he thinkgs there's a driver for small LCD displays for Linux.
Which means that if you were lucky, the printer's display is the same and
you now have the means of using it, or at least you have a driver that
you can study to see how you can drive such a display. If a driver exists,
it's a lot easier than whatever you may think of the operating system.

At this stage, my goal is to be better educated and I view the hp 4110
as a means to that end. Then I'll be better prepared the next time fate
favors me with garbage.

Based on people's questions about making use of scrapped electronics,
a common mistake is to strip it down without taking notice. So
they end up with components that have no information, or they save
some key parts but neglect to save the associated parts that may
also be difficult to get.

Often, one can extract information from the complete unit, and once you've
taken it down to individual parts that information is lost.

So you find a radio, and you can start making guesses about the ICs even
if you can't find part numbers, because you have the whole thing in front of
you and have a general idea what sorts of ICs are needed. Unsolder those
ICs from the board, and they are just ICs with no recognizeable part number.
On the board, you can trace the circuitry to get an idea of what the pins
do, or to verify whether a guess at what the IC might be (under a house
number) matches a common IC. Even things like what pins are grounded and
what pins get power can pretty much immediately sort out IC guesses; if
there's no match to the guessed IC, then you need to guess again. Each
iteration brings new information.

You look for the same sort of function in a databook, and then see if
they match the unknown IC. A differing number of pins immediately rules
out the guess, the wrong ground pin eliminates others. But then you
trace the circuit board following the guessed IC's external connections,
and you may find a match. Often that can be easier, imposing a known
circuit, on a circuit board circuit, than tracing out everythying
first and then trying to make sense of it.

Or, a common item in radios are ceramic filters, which can be useful
if building radios. But once those filters are desoldered, you've lost
what the terminating resistors are, and which pin goes to ground, and
how the inputs are connected to the driving source, and what's connected
to the output pin.

Or sometimes you have small boards that could be used as is, so long as you
know how to connect them. So the IR receiver in a VCR is actually on
a small board, or you can hack out the area with a hacksaw. Take note
of what is ground, and what is the power supply line, and then that
third line must be the data output. You don't even have to know
what's inside the module, because you can treat it as a black box.
Desolder the parts, and you have an IC that you have to find data
for, and then you have to find out how to wire it together, and get
the parts, which is what you started with originally.

Find things with exotic parts, that you know are valuable or you
are especially interested in, and if you aren't going to use them
right away, it makes sense to keep the boards or equpment intact to some
extent. Because when the time comes when you need that exotic part, you
will be glad to have the information you can extract from tracing the
circuit, and in some cases glad to have the connected parts.

At the very least, marking parts that can't immediately be identified
with whatever information you can gather form the board (and even
where you got it, since you might want to look for similar equipment,
or you might get lucky later and find a schematic that explains the parts.

A few years ago, I needed a 24V power supply to run something, and for
some reason I remembered that I'd seen indications of higher voltages
in printers. So I grabbed one of the injket printers that I'd brought
home, and it offered up a switching supply of the needed voltage. I
wish I'd recorded the brand and model, because it would be handy to
find some more of the same type, rather than randomly bringing them
home or taking them apart on the sidewalk until I found a match.

For that matter, I know I've taken other inkjet printers apart
where the power supply was a separate board, kept them intact because
I am far more likely to make use of a power supply than to build
one up from parts lying around.

Michael
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan Adler said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm downloading the HP Officejet 4100 series
all-in-one (English) Reference Guide and setup poster now.

I downloaded it. It is your typical user manual with no information about
internals. Just how to turn it on and use it. On the other hand, the web
site also offers to sell parts to hp 4100 series printers, so maybe their
parts "catalogue" will have some useful information.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <[email protected]>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
But he's saying he thinkgs there's a driver for small LCD displays for Linux.
Which means that if you were lucky, the printer's display is the same and
you now have the means of using it, or at least you have a driver that
you can study to see how you can drive such a display. If a driver exists,
it's a lot easier than whatever you may think of the operating system.
Maybe.

Based on people's questions about making use of scrapped electronics,
a common mistake is to strip it down without taking notice. So
they end up with components that have no information, or they save
some key parts but neglect to save the associated parts that may
also be difficult to get. [very good advice deleted]

Thanks, this is very sensible and helpful.
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Homer J Simpson said:
It may be very similar to another model.

I'm running printtool now to see what models might be close to it.
It lists the following OfficeJet models:
500, 600, 625, 635, 720, G55, G85, G95, Pro 1150C, Pro 1170C, Pro 1175C,
R45, R60, T45, T65.

They don't sound very close to 4110. However, if a friend with a
PC running Windows shows up, I might be able to try it out on his
machine. It just might not be in the near future.

Anyway, I'll keep in mind the possibility of actually using it and
thereby adhere to Michael Black's advice not to destroy anything that
I might want to use or know more about.
 
W

webpa

Jan 1, 1970
0
Abbreviation for "und so weiter"?
--

Exactly: "and so on" or "and so forth" in German. Where I went to
school, the favorite blackboard shortcut of all my math and engineering
science professors when they didn't want to complete a long, boooooring
equation.
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Exactly: "and so on" or "and so forth" in German. Where I went to
school, the favorite blackboard shortcut of all my math and engineering
science professors when they didn't want to complete a long, boooooring
equation.

Mine preferred, "And it is obvious to the meanest intelligence that ..."
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan Adler said:
Homer J Simpson said:
It may be very similar to another model.
I'm running printtool now to see what models might be close to it.
It lists the following OfficeJet models:
500, 600, 625, 635, 720, G55, G85, G95, Pro 1150C, Pro 1170C, Pro 1175C,
R45, R60, T45, T65.
They don't sound very close to 4110.[snip]

I just went for a walk and found a discarded computer system. The computer
case had been broken open and little was left unscavenged. In addition to
the computer and monitor, there was a HP LaserJet 4, and I decided to give
the printer a home. It has no cables and I have no idea at the moment whether
it works. Unlike the hp 4110 all-in-one, the HP LaserJet 4 *is* known to
printtool on my RH 7.1 Linux PC. So, trying to get it to work is a possibility,
if I can get the cables and maybe replacement cartridges or whatever, which
might add up to a significant amount of capital that I'd rather spend on
other things, especially since I don't know if the thing works in the first
place. Better to stick to looking for stepper motors and other useful
subsystems.
 
S

Steven

Jan 1, 1970
0
Gakk! it's a printer cable! Go to the computer store, buy one. Pay them
a fee they might tell you if it works, DL the driver, BAM. Laserjet 4
is maybe one of the least brain-consuming things to maintain compared
to USB DeskJet setup which they seem to change every two weeks with
every new model.

Have fun!
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Steven said:
Gakk! it's a printer cable! Go to the computer store, buy one. Pay them
a fee they might tell you if it works, DL the driver, BAM. Laserjet 4
is maybe one of the least brain-consuming things to maintain compared
to USB DeskJet setup which they seem to change every two weeks with
every new model. Have fun!

I think I'm having fun. I'm not sure. I scavenged a power cord from an
old computer and used it to power up the printer and pushed some buttons
on the console to get it to run through a print test. There was a paper
jam and there have been about a dozen paper jams without any successful
printings. I'm not sure why. I was doing this with the printer sitting
on top of some old books. I moved it to the floor a little while ago
and tried again and now, for some reason, it makes a truly ghastly sound
every time I turn it on and run the print test.

When the paper jams, I remove the cartridge in order to remove the jammed
page. The print on the paper wipes off easily.

I have the service manual. I expect to learn a lot about this printer.
I don't really expect to ever get it to work properly, but I will have fun.

One cause for optimism is that the entire computer system was thrown away,
not just the printer. So, probably it really does work. The thing is, I
never owned a laser printer before and I don't know ANYTHING about them.
 
S

Steven

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan said:
I think I'm having fun. I'm not sure. I scavenged a power cord from an
old computer and used it to power up the printer and pushed some buttons
on the console to get it to run through a print test. There was a paper
jam and there have been about a dozen paper jams without any successful
printings. I'm not sure why. I was doing this with the printer sitting
on top of some old books. I moved it to the floor a little while ago
and tried again and now, for some reason, it makes a truly ghastly sound
every time I turn it on and run the print test.

When the paper jams, I remove the cartridge in order to remove the jammed
page. The print on the paper wipes off easily.

I have the service manual. I expect to learn a lot about this printer.
I don't really expect to ever get it to work properly, but I will have fun.

One cause for optimism is that the entire computer system was thrown away,
not just the printer. So, probably it really does work. The thing is, I
never owned a laser printer before and I don't know ANYTHING about them.

1. Clean the rollers. They are dirty, same as any printer, and the
paper may not be the right quality for the printer. See the website or
office supplies store for details.

2. Either your toner is bad or something else in the printer is awry. I
would call somebody who deals with them on a regular basis (office
supply store, copier repairman) or go to www.hp.com and enter the
product name and look for Troubleshooting somewhere in the menu. HP
usually provides tutorials or maintaining their printers. HP LaserJets
are supposed to provide a fairly dry copy, not smear badly as in a
DeskJet using too much ink for instance. Toner is different than ink, I
think it's electrostatically charged and bonded to the paper, but I
really don't know a lot about them.

This is pretty general knowledge from someone who's first printer was a
used 500C, but I'm sure they aren't rocket science (only the USB
drivers).
 
M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan said:
When the paper jams, I remove the cartridge in order to remove the jammed
page. The print on the paper wipes off easily.
I gather there are two steps, at least, to the printing process. The first
applies the ink, the second fuses it to paper.

If that's correct, it still may be a paper jam issue. Because if the jamming
comes before the fusing, of course the ink is not properly attached to
the paper.

I got a nice small laser printer for ten dollars at a school rummage sale,
and when I tried it, it jammed. It turned out to be something as simple
as scotch tape stuck inside the paper path. Once that was cleared out,
it worked fine. But it was really slow, so I didn't stick with it. Too
bad because it was a real postscript printer, and nice and small.

Michael
 
A

Allan Adler

Jan 1, 1970
0
If that's correct, it still may be a paper jam issue. Because if the jamming
comes before the fusing, of course the ink is not properly attached to
the paper.

I think you're right.
I got a nice small laser printer for ten dollars at a school rummage sale,
and when I tried it, it jammed. It turned out to be something as simple
as scotch tape stuck inside the paper path. Once that was cleared out,
it worked fine. But it was really slow, so I didn't stick with it. Too
bad because it was a real postscript printer, and nice and small.

I'll have to read the service manual until I get a sense of how the thing
is put together and what can be accessed. That will take a while. Presently,
my theory is this:
(1) The ghastly sound and the paper jam have a common origin.
(2) The ghastly sound is due to some gear that is not engaging properly.
(3) That gear probably turns some chain that is responsible for making the
paper go through the fuser.

If that is correct, the questions become:
(4) Can I really access the relevant part of the printer?
(5) Can I get a replacement part, if that is what is required?

I expect the answer to (5) to be "yes, from hp's website", which would
also suggest that the answer to (4) is also "yes, if you have the right
tools".

Anyway, the first thing to do is read the service manual, all 450 pages
of it. I prefer to read hardcopy, but at the moment that presents a
chicken-and-egg problem.
 
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