OK guys hope some of you are plotter wizards. I was given an old Xerox 2240IJ plotter with all the hardware, drivers, etc. I have a Windows 95 machine set up for this unit and AutoCAD 14. The problem I am having is the plotter is not receiving any info from the computer. The plotter screen says "CHECKSUM ERROR" on it. Turn it off and on again, same thing. Unplug from computer and turn in on same thing. I have changed cords, cleaned the ram connectors etc. and still the same message. I have contacted Xerox service and they said I need to pay $300.00 plus for a tech to come look and tell me if it can be fix. Of course there is an additional cost of $51.00 each 15 minutes for this discussion!!! I wonder why you don't hear much about these units. Any suggestions?

Bob Harris
Early RC Models
www.earlyrcmodels.com

Sounds like the pin out arrangment on your cable may be wrong. See if you can find the pin out and check the cable cont.

Bob:

Xerox used parts and drivers from (I think) Cannon, then put theirown lable onto everything. Part of the service was sold off to OCE'

The Cheksum error message is that your computer is send data too fast to the plotter. It is overloading it with information. If you had a drawing with just a single line, it may accept it, and draw it, but most of use begin with large drawings and try from there. The Lorand Plotter talk site is done now, but will try to remember what was noted there. I have some Xerox plotter drivers, but they are for R-12 and R-13. Got them from CADALOG.

All your problems are software related. Has little to do with the plotter or other hardware. Main thing is to make sure set up on the plotter matches the driver, which matches the software. Begin with baud rate. Set everything to 9600. See if flow control is set for hardware or software. Begin by setting for hardware control. Make sure that Ack-Nak is set to OFF. Make sure you are using a straight through serial/parallel cable. Do not use the H-P style plotter cords, as they have twisted ends, and are otherwise referred to as Null-Modem and only seem to work on elderly H-P pen plotters running in original HPGL.

Most times I have found the Aotocad set up instructions to be wrong. Use whatever that Xerox indicates for set ups. You should also be using the Windows printer driver. This will indicate what port you need to be hooked up to. There is also some set up information at the Autodesk site.


Wm.

I have found out that this plotter was made for Xerox by Encad. It was close to the same as the Cadjet 2 with a different cartridge holder. I spend several hours on the phone with their techs as well as with Xerox. They tell me I need a tech to look at it. I have all the original drivers that came with the unit and I am using an old 166 computer with AutoCAD 14. I have installed the drivers and even installed the upgrades from the Xerox site. I get this message if the computer is plugged up to the plotter or not. Same message nothing changes. I have tried the original cable that came with it as well as another cable I had for an old Epson color printer. I can print on the Ebson from this computer but again nothing happens to the plotter. I will check the pin count which is shown in the manual but the error code is not listed. Thanks guys for the help. I'm about ready to throw it in the river!!

Bob Harris
Early RC Models
www.earlyrcmodels.com

Are you running this off of the parallel port or the serial port on your computer?


What does system resources/devices within Windows indicate as your software being installed upon. It has to be a dedicated port, and cannot be shared with another printer, nor a modem, nor a game controller. You then should be seeing what the Windows printer settings are noted as being.

You just have a configuration error. Not a plotter error. The problems with telephone calls, is that they cannot quickly see or match this to that and see if there are conflicts.

CheckSum error means your computer is communicating with the plotter, but the data is being sent incorrectly. Go to the Autodesk site as this was a popular plotter back about 10 years ago.

Wm.

I will try their site. It is plug into parallel port. Windows has it desinated for this plotter as per the driver install. Window confirms port is working and assignment. I will check with the autodesk site this evening and see what happens.

Thanks,

Bob Harris
Early RC Models
www.earlyrcmodels.com

BobbHH,
While I know nothing of your particular plotter, I'm a Tech, and have been one for almost 20 years.

In all cases I have ever seen, a CHECKSUM error is an indication of a PROM/ROM/EEPROM error. CHECKSUMs are derived by mathematically manipulating the data stored in memory, then comparing it to a last known good value to determine if the data has been corrupted.

Some of the other posts which talk about communication are surely more indicative of a parity error than a checksum error, especially with the symptoms you describe where the error is reported apparently before anything gets passed to the plotter anyway.

I would suggest that you research a method to perform a HARD RESET on this machine, possibly resetting the data stored in non-volatile memory to factory settings. Look for it in a manual, examine the plotter for a set of pins marked RST, or a battery that would have been used for long term storage. Remove said battery for a time and replace, probably with a new one.

Let me know if this helps.

Joe Myers

Joe, I took the cover off to check the ribbon connectors and did not see a battery but that’s not to say I would be able to ID it. Would it be hard wired in like soldered to the board? There was 4 meg of ram I pulled and cleaned the contacts with contact cleaner. I do have the firmware loaded on the computer and have gone through the motion per the instruction sheet but get the same message cannot contact plotter check cable, output, etc. The pin count looks correct on the cables but they are not true Xerox cables. One is a Belden cable that came with it and the other I have tried is the old cable that came with the Epson printer. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Bob Harris
Early RC Models
www.earlyrcmodels.com