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Date:	Mon, 8 Jul 2002 12:39:38 PST7
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Should I buy this LJ4 Printer

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Jack Huffman wrote:

> There is a Laserjet 4 printer available here. The seller tells me it was
> used at home only and has been in storage for two years. Under the
> circumstances I doubt that she can run it for me.
>
> If the printer and the cartridge were in storage separately, will the
> printer operate okay and will the cartridge be usable?

Re the former, it depends; you can probably write off the cartridge after that length of time. The good
news is that this model was a business standard, built like a tank (they don't hardly make 'em like this
anymore), maybe the best HP laserjet model ever. Some others in the 4 series (like the 4M, 4V, 4+) are
much the same, while the 4L is a tiny printer with very scaled down features.

I bought a plain 4 on Ebay about a year ago. It was cosmetically perfect, had a page count of 90K copies
(not considered terribly high for this printer, although it is very possible for someone dishonest to
tamper with the page count . . . . ), and the seller said it was in great operating condition. Had that
been true, what I paid would have been a good deal, even with the $35. in shipping cost. I think the
seller honestly believed what he said about the condition. Nevertheless, the paper assembly -- a
mechanical subsystem that moves paper through the printer -- began making grinding noises and mutilating
pages shortly after I hooked up the printer. Parts and labor to replace this with a new paper unit came
to over $150. Suddenly, this purchase no longer looked like such a good deal to me . . . but the
printer had come with certain extras, like maxxed out memory, all manuals, a PostScript card, and a
JetDirect card installed, so the repair tech insisted I _still_ got a pretty decent buy.

It's hard to predict whether you might run into such a problem, so figure these considerations into your
agreeable purchase price.

> What other potential problems could I have?

Mechanically, that is probably the most common problem. From what I was told, under normal
circumstances, that part -- and this printer as a whole, should not require service for at least 200K
copies, in some cases closer to 300. Another thing that can go bad is rubber rollers. These tend to dry
out and crack after 4 or 5 years, but I don't think these are expensive parts.

> What questions should I ask the seller?

Probably none she will have answers for, besides whether she is the original owner, and how heavy a duty
cycle the printer underwent.

> How do your answers to these questions and advice change if the printer
> was stored with the cartridge installed?

It's not quite the potential disaster that could arise in the case of inkjet cartridges, but it can make
a big mess -- much more so if shipping is involved. I'd pull the cartridge, carefully, before
transporting the printer. I don't know what possible damage might be done by trying to use a badly
expired cartridge. Maybe none, if no toner comes out. If there is a mess, you will probably see
evidence of it right away.

Jordan

P.S. if anyone is familiar with the JetDirect card, model J2555 (an old model, minimally covered on the
HP website), please let me know. It says "Token Ring" on it. I gather that is a somewhat obsolete
networking standard ? What are the implications for network printing, under Warp & Windoze, if one does
not have Token Ring ?

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