Question : Problem: HP Designjet 5500 1f50007 Boot issue

Plotter in question is a hp designjet 5500 (q1251a)
Receiving "Boot Failed" error 1f50007 Hard Disk Failure on startup. This is the second time I've had this issue. the first time I replaced the drive and it ran for a short period of time an now it's telling me the same thing again. (This plotter gets very little use and its shutoff when not in use).

Things I've done to troubleshoot:

1. Remove jet direct card.

2. Reseat Boot prom and Memory

3. Check status of LEDs on main PCB. On start up the orange LED lights then when the plotter tries to boot the green LED lights briefly then dims till it appears very faint.

4. Checked if HDD was spinning or even attempts to spin up. (It doesn’t)

5. Tried other IDE HDDs to see if they would attempt to spin-up but had same result as step 4.

Have not put a meter on the HDD power adapter to measure output voltage yet, I was hoping you may be able to tell me from the info provided, if I need to replace the PSU.

I really don’t want to order the wrong part.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank You

Answer : Problem: HP Designjet 5500 1f50007 Boot issue

Hello  michaelj777:

From the LEDs it sounds like you have a power problem.  

Just in case it got changed, check if the unit has a 120V/240V setting on the power supply - if it's at 240 V and you are on a 120 V service things won't work very well.  That would be a cheap fix! But unlikely...

Barring something as simple as that, the PSU does seem suspect.  Do you have a voltmeter and the ability to check the voltage at the drive and other points in the system?  The drive connector should have +12 and +5 on it (black - yellow, black - red, I think).  You might want to see what happens during the power on cycle, if anything.

Does the power supply have a fan and, if so, does it spin on power up?  Fans are a primary cause of power supply failure.

It's also possible that something else in the plotter is drawing a lot of power - perhaps the roller drive or other mechanical parts are jammed or sticking.  If the unit is trying to move these then it will draw a lot of current and cause the voltage to drop, giving the appearance of a failed power supply.  I have seen similar problems on large plotters that had infrequent use, especially over a period of years - the lubricant in the bearings gets stiff and makes it hard to turn the rollers.  Many plottlers 'exercise' the rollers/head drive on power up to initialize the posiiton sensors.

wb