OptiPlex Controller Restoration.
Warning! Read this entire post as there is important information at the end that may affect your decision as to whether or not you should complete a hard drive restoration.
I noticed there are quite a few Xerox trained independent dealer technicians who have had this hard disk restoration process demonstrated to them at some point but have forgotten the exact process. I have done it for about 10 years now so I am familiar with it.
I would like to say up front that this post is intended as a refresher for
those who have been trained by Xerox to carry out the OptiPlex controller hard disk restoration. It's not meant to teach someone how to do it that has never done it before.
Warning!, If you have not been trained by Xerox do not attempt this hard drive restoration!
If you don't have the Xerox wide format training and you read this post it may seem rather vague. Well, I wrote it in a vague manner so as to try and dissuade people from doing it if they aren't trained on this controller.
If you don’t get to practice this restoration on a regular basis you can forget this process. If you have forgotten how to do it hopefully this post will help to jog your memory. This process is in the OptiPlex controller
service manual that Xerox provides to trained technicians. Remember this restoration process only works
with OptiPlex controllers that were used on the Xerox 8825, 8830, 510, 6204 and other wide formats.
WARNING! RESTORATION DISKS WILL ERASE YOUR HARD DRIVE. DON’T
EVER INSERT THE RESTORATION DISK NOTED IN THIS POST INTO YOUR WORK COMPUTER OR
LAPTOP OR YOU RUN THE RISK OF ACCIDENTALLY FORMATTING YOUR HARD DRIVE, PERMANENTLY, ERASING ALL OF YOUR FILES.
The symptoms of a failed OptiPlex controller are pretty easy
to spot.
1.) The printer display is either blank or showing erroneous
information. The printer portion is quiet
even though the printer is plugged in and the power switch is on.
2.) The OptiPlex computer power button LED light
is on and is not blinking.
3.) The OptiPlex computer itself is restarting and is continuously
repeating the startup operation at about 30-second intervals.
When these symptoms are present the OptiPlex controller
hard drive will most likely require reformatting and restoration. The need to replace the hard drive is a
judgment call based on its age and condition.
If it is only a couple of years old and the machine has just
experienced a power outage or spike that condition may have only corrupted the software on
the hard drive. In that case, try the
restoration only. If the hard drive is
much older than a couple of years you may want to replace it just to be on the
safe side.
The items that are required to complete a restoration:
A new hard drive if
the old one is bad. You will need a
cross over network cable and the restore disk. (Note: The Xerox Corporation will
only provide the restoration disks to dealers who are qualified to repair the OptiPlex
controller). FYI: The printers that the
OptiPlex controllers are found on are reliable but they are also complex so get
your initial training from Xerox if it is available otherwise look for a
trained technician to do this repair. Try
to use the latest version of the restore disk. You
will also find it makes the job a lot easier to have a computer monitor and a USB keyboard is available as well.
When I have to do a restoration on the hard disk of the OptiPlex
controller I usually start by removing the controller from the Printer unit and
locating it near the monitor. Install
the hard drive if one is required then connect the monitor and keyboard to the OptiPlex
controller and power up the monitor.
Next, you should power up the OptiPlex controller. When the controller is powered on open the DVD
drive and insert the restoration disk.
WARNING! RESTORATION DISKS WILL ERASE YOUR HARD DRIVE. DON’T
EVER INSERT THE RESTORATION DISK NOTED IN THIS POST INTO YOUR WORK COMPUTER
OR LAPTOP OR YOU RUN THE RISK OF ACCIDENTALLY FORMATTING YOUR HARD DRIVE, PERMANENTLY, ERASING ALL OF YOUR FILES.
Next power down the controller and then restart it so that
the DVD can begin loading the software onto the hard drive. You may need to enter the OptiPlex setup to
force the OptiPlex controller to boot from the DVD but most of the time that is
not necessary and it will boot from the DVD automatically. Once the controller is booting from the
restoration disk in the DVD you should see a warning about the software’s
ability to format your hard drive and a password to enter if you want to
proceed. Take that warning seriously
because there is no undo’s on the choice that you make.
WARNING! RESTORATION DISKS
WILL ERASE YOUR HARD DRIVE. DON’T EVER INSERT THE RESTORATION DISK NOTED IN
THIS POST INTO YOUR WORK COMPUTER OR LAPTOP OR YOU RUN THE RISK OF
ACCIDENTALLY FORMATTING YOUR HARD DRIVE, PERMANENTLY, ERASING ALL OF YOUR FILES.
Once the OptiPlex controller has begun to load the software
from the DVD drive the monitor operation will be cut off and you will only be
able to note the progress by the activity LEDs on the DVD and controller. You
will have to watch and wait about 15 -20 minutes at which point the DVD will
open indicating that loading of the software onto the hard drive is complete and
the OptiPlex controller is about to restart.
Remove the restoration disk from the DVD when it opens and allow the OptiPlex
to restart. At this point, the software will be automatically extracted and
installed onto the hard drive which will take about 30 minutes. I usually wait
about 45 minutes to be sure everything is complete and then shut the controller
down and reinstall it on the printer.
When you have the OptiPlex controller reinstalled on the printer then power everything up and connect the crossover cable to the network connection on the OptiPlex controller. You will need
to mirror your computer’s network adapter to the default IP address of the controller which is noted in the OptiPlex controller restoration instructions provided in your printer's controller service manual.
Once you have the controller connected to your laptop
network adaptor you should be able to browse to its web page using the default
IP address.
At this point, you should download the firmware for the particular
printer from Xerox.com and drop it in the file upload tab. It will take about 20 more minutes for the
firmware to complete the connection to the printer which will be indicated by messages
on the display. When the firmware has
been correctly installed the only items that remain are to reinstall the
feature keys from the Xerox feature coupon redemption website and last of all
set the IP address to the customer’s normal IP address and check for normal operation. About the only problem I ever have with disk restorations is not waiting long enough for things to happen so be patient.
PS. You cannot install the feature keys on the OptiPlex controller unless the controller is attached to its designated printer so attach it first. Then upload the feature keys. Also, I cannot provide the restoration disks as those are only provided to Xerox trained technicians that have an account with Xerox. You will have to request those from Xerox directly. One more thing store the restoration disks in a safe place where no one can accidentally put them in a computer and damage it.
I hope this refresher will help you if you need to complete a hard
drive restoration on one of these rather elderly printers.
