HP Original Cartridges
Reliable Remanufactured Cartridges
One of the merits of the P4014 against a new printer is the low cost of good re-manufactured cartridges.
At the moment we don't sell in the US, but we hope to soon
Error Message 66 for HP P4014, P4015 and P4515 Series Printers.
66.XY.ZZ INPUT DEVICE FAILURE
66 Error means "an External paper handling controller found a problem" - probably one of the accessories. Messages can be:
- 66.XY.ZZ INPUT DEVICE FAILURE
- 66.XY.ZZ OUTPUT DEVICE FAILURE or
- 66.XY.ZZ SERVICE ERROR For help press ?
alternating with
66.XY.ZZ SERVICE ERROR Check cables and turn off then on
HP say about this problem: ...
The product has detected a problem with an input or output device, depending on the specific error message
If possible, print the configuration page to determine if the product is recognizing the device.
Verify that the following DC controller connections are seated firmly in the connectors.
- J83: envelope feeder
- J88: 500-sheet tray feeder or 1,500-sheet tray feeder
- J90: stacker, stapler-stacker, or mailbox
- J84: duplexer
If the message persists, replace the input or output device.
For some reason the P4014 service manual doesn't tell us what the subcodes mean for this printer.
The 66 Error has always referred to external paper handling devices on HP machines but we can't just suppose that error codes for the P4014 series will apply to them or vice versa.
However other manuals such as that for the Laserjet 5100 suggest that
- the first X is the device number in the chain
- the Y is the device type with 1 being input, 2 being output and 3 being a stapler stacker
- ZZ is device specific error.
Peripheral devices for input and output communicate with the DC controller over a stackable peripheral bus. We haven't seen anything definitive from HP, but its an I2C bus with low power microprocessors in each peripheral. Examining the innards of an accessory shows the active part is an M38503 - one of Renesas Technology's 8 bit CISC 740 family computer chips. Pin proposition names are OPSOUT, OPSIN and OPSCLK.
Remedies
As usual start by turning the printer off, check that all the accessories seem to be correctly seated, then turn it back on again. With luck the fault should de-materialise.
If there are a lot of peripheral accessories then unplug them all and add them back one at a time. Add them back until the error either isn't there or re-appears.
Examine the connector closely and use contact cleaner if there is doubt. However that is probably more relevant to "65 Error" where a device disconnected."66 errors" imply the device is communicating just fine, but the local microprocessor is saying it has an error condition.
Depending on the specific message that device may need reseating or some closer examination. Obviously the specifics depend on the device. Trays have a motor for paper lift and a clutch and solenoid for paper drive, together with size switches at the back of the tray and a photo-interrupter. The Duplexer has a feed motor, a reversing motor and three photo-interrupters.
Accessories are quite expensive and people won't want to junk them, even if they can just buy another. (Actually, the accessories for the LaserJet Enterprise M601 are mostly backwards compatible with the P4014 so new devices are available ). HP have put some moderately helpful diagrams in the service manual for each accessory, but there isn't a supply of new parts in every instance.
Most of the accessories including the motors and solenoids in the trays can be tested from the diagnostics menu.
Web Research
Because there are several possible error messages there are quite a few possible questions:
I tried querying Google with 66.XY.ZZ INPUT DEVICE FAILURE
in quotes and got a suggestion of About 1,180,000 results results
; implying a popular topic.
- laserprinterhelp are trying to "seed" a forum by cutting up the service manual and putting the fragments on individual pages. So far as we can see it isn't working at all well yet.
- hp.com"P4010 and P4510 Series Printers - Interpret control-panel messages" which is certainly relevant but doesn't really add anything to the service manual
- hp.comLaserJet 9000 ... 9040mfp and 9050mfp Series Products- Numerical Error Messages. Its the wrong printer but it shares the error messages of course. However this page doesn't advance things much.
- laserprinterhelp again - just a two-line entry so those hundreds of search results haven't much cometition.
- nefec.org support page for the LaserJet 4000. Quite a good page for its time, but not very relevant to this search.
- manualslib.com page out of the service manual. Like Scribd this is better than nothing. The page has pointless downloads for things like "FLV Video Player" and other things of dubious provenance. However there is quite a good list of "Related Manuals
- mindmachine page I'm working to improve.
- laserzone123 troubleshooting part of the HP LJ-8150 service manual. Not really relevant except that it shares the error code.
Non of this was very helpful. I tried a few other tacks such as P4015 "66" "INPUT DEVICE FAILURE"
and various attempts to follow up 66 with subcodes P4015 "66.01"
but basically got offered much the same stuff.
HP Error 66 means one of the accessories is reporting a device failure. At the moment we don't have the information to say which, but it can probably be easily discovered by unplugging them then adding them back. Most of the accessories contain a couple of motors or actuators and a couple opf photo-interrupters so there isn't a great deal to go wrong, on the other hand they aren't commonplace so technicians won't usually be very familiar with their habits.
Copyright G & J Huskinson & MindMachine Associates Ltd 2013, 2015. Some pictures derived from HP User and Service guides. These technical pages do not constitute an offer for sale; just our knowledge at the time of writing. See the catalogue. Sales pages on this Web site use cookies to store user information. We also use Google Analytics to track site usage patterns.