hp 450c designjet

	hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/16/09 5:39 PM) reply	+ / -
We bought this plotter in 1995. It has always serviced us well. Over the years we have experienced quirks, but have always been able to work around. The motherboard in the XP professional computer used with the plotter died recently. I have tried to get it working on an XP home edition with no luck. Have tried different parallel cables and also purchased a centronix usb cable. The plotter works fine, runs all tests...seems OK. I can set up the plotter in the plotter manager, but it's as if the computer and plotter are not connected. Any advice?

	Re: hp 450c designjet by MichaelTech (6/17/09 7:08 AM) reply	+ / -
Try using a JetDirect card, and connect through a router or hub. The PC may have a port issue. Install XP Pro on the PC you are using.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/17/09 8:25 AM) reply	+ / -
Thank you Michael. I am traveling now but will heed your advice next week on my return. I read on another thread about checking the lpt port using a dos screen and will try that too.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (6/17/09 7:27 PM) reply	+ / -
You can not send a regular dos job to this printer since it only has hp gl2 language. You could do some research as there are some control characters you can send to have it print something from a dos prompt but regular text will not work. Also if you want to use a jetdirect you will have to find an external jetdirect with parallel port as this plotter can not take an internal jetdirect.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/18/09 4:54 AM) reply	+ / -
Thank you dmz. It seems both the 450c plotter and xp home computer are working fine...the problem being the cable or parallel port. I initially tried the 15' cable I have used for years. When that did nothing I got out the original cable that came with the plotter and again nothing. I bought a usb/centronics cable (don't even know if that's possible) but no success. Is there a way to test the port?

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (6/18/09 5:00 AM) reply	+ / -
Well if you replaced the mother board on the computer it is possible the parallel port on the computer is not working. Do you have another printer you can try on that port? You may want to go into the bios of the new motherboard and change the port type from ecp or epp to normal or standard.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/18/09 5:01 AM) reply	+ / -
The thread I refered to described sending a signal to lpt1 thru command prompt to get the ready light to blink...not necessarily to do a job. I figured that if I could achieve that it would tell me that the port and cable were fine and something else was wrong.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/18/09 5:08 AM) reply	+ / -
I didn't have the mother board replaced. Took it back to Microcenter and was told the replacement was no longer availble after 3 and 1/2 years. The xp home computer I'm using is the only other parallel port availble, but hasn't been used in years.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by Anonymous (6/18/09 5:18 AM) reply	+ / -
What kind of error message does the computer give you when you open the "active printers" page on the computer? Does it show printing progress or does it say "error printing" or something else? Have you tried plugging into a different USB port on the computer?

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (6/18/09 5:27 AM) reply	+ / -
You need to confirm that the port on the computer is working so you will need another parallel printer to connect or what is called a loopback tester. Also does the old computer have more than 1 parallel port. Sometimes a parallel card is added to the computer and lpt1 now becomes lpt2 or lpt3 depending on the setting. Also on some older computers you could change the port in the bios to a different address which changed the port name.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/18/09 5:40 AM) reply	+ / -
When I plot the computer goes thru its motions, plotter does nothing. Eventually the computer tells me that the document didn't print. As I said earlier, I'm traveling until next week, so I'm not with the 450c. Like the thoughts on isolating the lpt, trying another usb port and checking lpt1 thru BIOS. Thank you for those thoughts.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/26/09 12:57 PM) reply	+ / -
I checked the parallel port on the PC with another printer and it seems to be working. I notice that when plotting to the HP450c an error message does come up in autocad stating that the plotter is out of paper. I have had problems with the Ready + Data + Cartridge lights steady when starting up. I usually press cancel and then have to reload the paper. I cleaned the Mark Encoder and the Encoder strip this afternoon, but still have the R+D+C lights on and have to reload the paper. And still get the out of paper error message. Also the ready light doesn't blink when I press plot.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (6/27/09 5:27 AM) reply	+ / -
You are confusing us here. Does the plotter accept the paper after reload and is the ready light on solid? If you press the top left and right buttons on the plotter menu at the same time does the plotter print a demo plot? If yes to both, then you need to borrow an old laptop or pc with parallel port and try connecting using another machine. You need to determine if the issue is the port on the plotter which would be rare. When you get an out of paper message on the computer it only means you have a communication issue. The pc does not and will never know if the plotter is out of paper, just micrsoft's way to report an issue.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (6/29/09 7:36 AM) reply	+ / -
Sorry for any confusion. The plotter will load the paper and print a demo plot. I connected an old ME PC that I used to use with the plotter via the parallel port with same result. The plotter does nothing, the ready light doesn't blink. The PC says there was an error printing.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (6/29/09 8:04 PM) reply	+ / -
It appears your emod may have an issue. I assume you used the same cable for the plotter as the cable you used for the printer that did work. If not use the cable from the printer that worked and cables can and are known to go bad. If still nothing your only options are to replace the emod or to try and use the serial connection which is difficult to configure.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (7/5/09 5:08 PM) reply	+ / -
Is it possible that the centronics port has become disconnected? About the same time the pc motherboard died, I coincidentally moved the plotter to a different room. Is it possible that the centronics internal wiring has come loose? If so, is there some way to check the connections or replace the centronics port altogether? I have the service manual and have gotten as far as removal of the right end cover.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by dmzcompute (7/6/09 4:56 AM) reply	+ / -
The port is soldered to the main board so there is nothing to come loose. The only thing which I am sure since I do not want to read this whole thread again is did you use the cable that worked with the other printer with the designjet. In other words make sure you are using a known good parallel cable.

	Re: hp 450c designjet by gauzzarch (7/6/09 6:43 AM) reply	+ / -
DMZ I appreciate your help and patience. Yes I did use the cable that worked with the other printer.

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