Dead Display, HP LaserJet 5M

[Nehmo]

A friend (saying it worked) gave me an HP LaserJet 5M with an unopened box of toner. I connected the printer and set it up using XP's Add Printer. Although
the printer makes noises like it's getting itself ready, it doesn't
print and the display on the printer is blank, yes, blank.

I used a pen to press the recessed test button on the inside right of the manual tray opening, and the printer printed a nice page of parallel lines.

What would be my next step troubleshooting this printer?

[woodss]

Try sending a print job to the printer, the printer's engine is working fine as the printer can printout lines.

if I can print a engine test page thats whats that line printout is called then the eletricals of the printer is fine by engine wise.

However if it doesnt want to recieve a print job from the computer then its a sign that the forrmatter PCA is faulty or not seated properly on the DC controller PCA what you need to do, is take out and reset the forrmatter PCA a couple of times to clean the connectors of the PCAs.

I suggest you do this first clean the connectors of the DC Controller PCA and Forrmatter PCA by reseating the formatter PCA and DC Controller PCA.

As all I am consern that the printer's engine is working fine, and the Forrmatter is either faulty or have a dirty connection.

As for the display it could be simply disconnected from the forrmatter that would expalin why that its blank, I believe its not faulty if thats faulty that needs replacement as well.

[Nehmo]

Try sending a print job to the printer, the printer's engine is working fine as the printer can printout lines.
Of course, I tried that, but the job failed to print.

Even though, throughout my live, I’ve taken apart almost everything that’s been put together, I hesitate to open things sometimes. I already have a bunch of stuff in various stages of troubleshooting and repair all over this house, and even at other people’s houses. I can’t help it: I lose interest sometimes, or I need a part, and the thing stays disassembled. In a sense, it doesn’t make sense to reassemble, because you’ll have to go through the same steps again when you regain interest or get the part.

Anyway, this broken printer has been sitting around for months. It took me months to even hook it up. Now it’s working.

After I took the plunge and opened the box, I could see two cards were askew. Then I realized the biggest plug-in card, perhaps the formatter (?), was in backwards. After I correct the situation, I tired again. The display then worked, but it said 53.11.03 error, apparently a SIMM error. I removed the SIMM, and now the machine works completely.

I’ll try to insert the 16Mbytes SIMM again, but if it still produces the error, I might just live without it. As I said the machine works fine. I’m not sure how much benefit a working SIMM would yield.

Thanks for the help.