There have been a whole host of questions flying about regarding fuser errors on the newest Ricoh machines. Here are the answers.
When the latest machines suffer a fuser overheat error and display one of the following error codes, it is not possible to reset the error in SP5810 as it was with previous models:
SC543
SC544
SC554
SC564
SC574
In SP5810 there are now two sub-codes (5810-001 and 5810-002, unsurprisingly.) It is mandatory to execute the second of these codes to reset an overheating error as per the list above, however this process fails when you try it.
The reason for this is that Ricoh have added fuse to the replacement fusing unit (part number D1444022, wrongly listed in the parts catalogue as D1424022.) This fuse blows when the unit is installed and this in turn unlocks SP5810-002 and the code can be reset. They’d probably tell you that it’s some sort of safety feature, whereas I am a cynical old bugger who thinks that it’s a money-making vehicle.
Now, this is all well and good as long as you’re happy to shell out something like £600.00 + VAT every time this happens. It’s possible, of course, that it’s a false reading from a dodgy or damaged thermistor, a part costing roughly £10.00, so would you really be happy spending 60 times this amount? And, if the code comes straight back again, you’re into buying another fuser at £600.00.
The answer to this, fortunately, is quite simple. Go around all of the new type machines (any model numbers ending with a 2 or a 5, e.g. MPc5502 or MPc305) and back up the NVRAM data. We are now doing this in the workshop before machines are delivered too.
To do this, insert an SD card into the service slot (slot 2) on the machine and run SP5824-001. This writes a file conveniently named with the serial number of the machine to the SD card and should be kept. In the event of there being a fuser error in the future, simply repair the fuser using the spare parts as you would have done on previous models, then upload the good NVRAM data from the SD card using SP5825-001. This overwrites the data on the NVRAM and the machine effectively forgets that it ever had the code.
This is, of course, a proactive solution as it will only work if good data has been backed up for that specific machine before a fault occurs. That said, it’s a very quick and painless process, even more so on these new machines as an SD card can be plugged into the slot without having to turn the whole device off first. The latter point applies to firmware updates too, assuming that you can actually find the firmware on Ricoh’s all-new and astonishingly dreadful My-Ricoh portal.
If I can be chuffed, I’ll do another post on how to save yourselves a fortune by using one PCU throughout the Ricoh MPc model ranges. Don’t hold your collective breath though, I’m totally lazy.
