Problems with HP OfficeJet G85

CP30126

Member
I got an HP OfficeJet G85 printer from someone that threw it away because it leaked ink on his floor. The printer is rusty and the ink cartridges are most likely busted but that's not a problem to me as I only want to use the scanning function. Unfortunately I was unable to use it with my laptop. Using the USB connection, the computer was able to detect something but it was unable to install the driver. But the laptop is a bit old and it runs Windows 95 so I thought next day I'll try to install it on my modern computer and see what it does.

Unfortunately it appears that the printer broke during the night. When I found it in the morning the small lights on the front panel rapidly blinked while the printer was off. I thought this was quite strange. I disconnected the printer from power and when I reconnected it it was dead. The power button does nothing and interestingly all the squares of the dot-matrix LCD light up and remain on. Also, the power supply makes a machine gun sound if you listen to it using an AM radio.

I have four questions
  1. What's wrong with my printer?
  2. Where can I find disassembly instructions for it?
  3. Apparently there was a driver CD made for the printer. Where can it be found today in physical or image form?
And fourth. Here is a picture I found of the motherboard of the printer. I'm guessing U501 is the CPU. What are U700, U800 and U900 for?
 

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Have no idea
You can just look up diagrams for it.
You can get the drivers for it at HP for 2000 thur 10
 

terminator34411

New Member
Have you already found a solution to your problem? I once thought for a long time that my printer was broken. But actually it was just a faulty cable that i checked last of course...
 

CP30126

Member
I couldn't find any diagrams but I figured out how to get to the motherboard. I don't remember the exact procedure but you have to remove the back access door, first half of the modem and back ports panel. This will grant you access to the board. Then if you want to remove it you must disconnect all cables going to it, remove the two back screws, and remove the second half of the modem. After this you should be able to slide the board out.

Now that I have access to the board I was able to take measurements. I have 17.9 Volts at the 18 Volt test point, 4.9V at the 5V point, and 3.2V at the 3.3V point. Seems fine to me?
This is very interesting, read what "maxcottle" wrote here. Almost the exact same behavior as mine, in 2005.
The part number of the CPU is 2AA7-0002.

*update*
The reason it leaked ink is because inside there is some kind of ink disposal box with a sponge. The sponge oversaturated, which caused the mess. I guess this is a huge design flaw of inkjet printers. One way this could be avoided is by keeping track of how many time the printer is used, and after reaching a fixed value you'd have to empty the box and reset the counter. Another solution would be to make the box easily accessible, which would allow the user to periodically verify it. This is really dumbfounding isn't it.

terminator34411 said:
it was just a faulty cable that i checked last of course
The cables are in really bad shape. This is why I'd like to speak with an OfficeJet G Series owner. For example, does the printer still turn on if only the front panel is hooked up?
 

aldan

Active Member
heres the deal.printers are cheap.odds are the one you rescued was thrown away for a reason.fix it if its even possible.whats the cost?or just buy a new one??
 
Top