Life skills (in IT)

This story is a long time coming… it happened to me about two months or more ago and I forgot to do much more than write up what I could and save it as a draft in my email.  However, here it is, rough and unpolished.  For reference, please look up an image of an HP 4650 printer.

A while ago I was called out for an HP 4650 printer that would constantly jam and not print at all.  I found a broken plastic piece, apparently off the underside of the paper feeder, unjammed the printer, and left a note on it saying not to print to it.  Two weeks later the replacement paper pickup assembly (ppa) arrived.  Although initially told (third hand) it would only take undoing a few screws, it turned out to be quite a bigger ordeal than that. First, remove tray 2 and examine the bottom of the broken ppa.  Any screw needing unscrewing?  Nope.  Open the front of the printer, remove all ink cartridges and learn how to remove the transfer unit (two blue buttons – one on each side.  Press in; transfer unit falls into your hands).  There!  I could finally see the ppa.

Two screw to unscrew, one on each side, and I could lift the device – and it was attached by a little purple cord.  Okay.. find out where the cord goes.  I borrowed a flash light and found that I needed to get at the left side of the printer.  But how?  To take off the side piece I had to take off the top.  To take off the top was two screws right on the top, then a third under cover.  There were an additional two plastic bits that allowed the right side of the cover to lift up and another screw between them.  Then the cover wouldn’t sit or more correctly, but the top could come off.  It looked as though teenage dust bunnies had a party in their frat house and forgot to clean up.

Finally I was able to remove the plastic cover for the left side of the printer.  After three or four more screws, of course.  Then there was the metal cover to protect the components under it, and that was another five or six screws, some of which were tucked away such that it was impossible to see they existed without the use of a flashlight.  However I was finally able to pull that cover off and see the place where the ppa’s purple cable plugged into the board.  Great – pull it out, untangle it from other wires, and remove the kit.  Put in the new ppa, screw it in, plug it in, and slowly but surely (but mostly slowly) put all the plastic coverings back on.

The cover + top was a pain in the arse – the right swing arm was hard to get back in to the little white plastic piece that had to be screwed down.  Finally I put the top back on FIRST, then put the cover swing arm into the plastic piece, set the plastic piece in place, and very carefully screwed it down.  Then the little black plastic piece went on top of that, the fuser kit went back into place, everything went back in and all remaining screws were put back into place.  Except for one.  Which I discovered when I turned the printer on – it counted RAM and then began the diagnostic during which time there was a terrible noise coming from the printer.  I unplugged it, remembered the screw I had dropped inside the printer, shook the printer and turned it on it’s side, upsidedown, and the screw fell out.  Screwed it into the right place and everything was great!  Wish me luck that I never have to do that again.

P.S. One day I’m going to write a book called “Stories of the helpdesk: My computer won’t boot and other stories (if there’s time)”