HP Laserjet Pro 300 Color MFP M375nw Sounds (knocking) and Unusual Scanner Motion ("dance") [ Edited ]

[D_Bro]

My new HP Laserjet Pro Color 300 MFP M375nw Printer has start-up and shutdown sounds and scanner start-up motion ("dance") that is unusual in my experience.  The knocking sounds at start-up and shutdown may be normal for this printer, but the unusual scanner back and forth motion appears to be a product defect.

I have posted a 3 minute 30 second video on YouTube.com that has the start-up and shutdown sounds (knocking) and shows the scanner start-up back and forth motion that appear to be the result of a bug in the printer firmware or a hardware defect.
    http://youtu.be/p6Rh3GIdJfY  
or
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Rh3GIdJfY

Are the start-up and shutdown sounds ("knocking") normal?  (Note: I had one of these printers before this one that had many more knocking sounds.  HP had me return the printer to the store where it was purchased as defective.  The printer was replaced with the one I have now.)

Is the scanner back and forth motion ("dance") for a few inches many times shortly after "power on" start-up and again about 15 minutes later normal for this printer?  Or, is what appears to be excessive and unusual scanner start-up motion the result of a firmware or other printer defect?

I have an open trouble ticket with HP Support (CASE:468356556) about this problem.  HP technical support said there was a problem and replaced the scanner and document feeder as well as instructing me to update the printer firmware.  The problem remains the same.  Then after the scanner and document feeder assembly was replaced HP said everything was normal even though nothing had changed.  The case is still open, but I have not heard from HP support since October 4, 2012.

How do I reach the HP printer design engineering group who should know how the printer should work?

P.S. This thread has been mobed from Printers - LaserJet to Multifunction and All-in-One - HP Forums Moderator

[Chris H]

I have a fairly new LaserJet 400 Pro Colour MFP 475dn (a slightly faster version of your model?), and it makes similar noises to yours, on startup and shutdown, and also about 15 minutes after power on.

I think that the latter is perhaps triggered by the Power-on calibration timing setting (default value is 15 minutes).

I was also surprised at how noisy the device is at startup, but I have no idea whether or not this is normal - I'll be interested in the responses.

Apart from the noise, and the proneness of the Automatic Document Feeder to jam if the paper stack to be scanned is not perfectly flat, the printer appears to work well.

[Kevinw]

Has this been solved? I have exactly the same problem on a new machine (Firmware 20120808) purchased a few days ago except it happens every 5 mins, not 15 and the display shows 49 Service Error each time Before it re-boots and initializes.

[danlih1]

I have the same problem every 5 minutes the printer restarts and initializes... I have installed the new firmware 20120808

[Chris H]

@danlih1

Possibly a 'corrupt' print job containing badly-formatted PCL which the formatter can't deal with.

If you disconnect the printer from the network and USB (whichever is applicable), then power-cycle the device, does the same thing happen?

if it does, this would imply a fault with the printer.

If not, it implies that a rogue print job is being sent to the printer every time it is powered-on, which causes a fatal error in the printer, which reboots itself, and the process then starts all over again.

Thread http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Issues-Troubleshooting/why-does-MF375NW-run-all-the-time-intia... (in the consumer forums) may provide some clues.

[Kevinw]

Mine never ended up being a corrupt print job or anyhting like that.   HP's famed service actually came out and did an install of a comm board they though was casuing it, but it wasn't.  Even though I had his cell phone number and he asked me to call him if it didn't he never called back.  Anyway,  I finally found a thread that suggested to start eliminating some of the communication protocals on the printer (I am on a Apple Network and have mostly iMac's and a couple PC's.   WHen I did this the problem stopped.