Laserjet 5Si with mailbox unit

Hi all!

At first sorry about my language. I hope you'll understand my problem.

I recently purchased used HP 5Si with 2000 sheet input try and 8 bin
output mailbox. Operating system is XP. Drivers are windows' plain 5Si,
LJ371 (HP PCL5) and all I collected from various pages on Internet.

What's the problem? When I print document with several pages, in let's say
5 copies, I'd like each copy of this document to be send to a different
mailbox. I think this method is calling collating (sorting) copies. All
I've done till now is that I can send all printed to either of 8 mailboxes
at the time but not separated. I hope this is understandable. I saw this
method is used in copy services.

Does anybody use such printer in such way "collating" copies. This term I
saw only in property's help of "Laser Jet 5si" driver but I can't choose
such possibility. The possibilities are: Mailbox, stacker, Job separator.

Is problem driver, hardware or what?

Best regards and thanks in advance, Jovan

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:28:36 +0100, "jova-ns" <>
dijo:

>Does anybody use such printer in such way "collating" copies. This term I
>saw only in property's help of "Laser Jet 5si" driver but I can't choose
>such possibility. The possibilities are: Mailbox, stacker, Job separator.

The problem is in the printer formatter board, and you are stuck with
it.

When the 5Si family of printers was released no printers at the time
could print multiple copies collated. Some application software could
manage it by spooling multiple individual copies to a massive spool
file on the computer hard disk. (E.g., PageMaker, among others.) But
the printer itself could print only one collated copy at a time

Later HP came out with the Mopier family. The Mopier is the same as
the 5Si, except that the formatter board in the printer was changed so
the printer could handle multiple copies collated. The computer sent
one copy of the document together with a counter for how many copies
the user indicated in the print dialog box.

At the time the Mopier was released HP also released an upgrade kit to
convert a 5Si to a Mopier. This kit is no longer being sold.
Occasionally you can find one on eBay, but I haven't seen one for a
long time.

Later HP came out with the 8000. The 8000 is the same as the 5Si and
the Mopier, but has all the Mopier features (multiple collated
copies), plus a few additional features.

I hope that clarifies the problem for you.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:02:42 -0800, Marek Williams <>
wrote:

>On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:28:36 +0100, "jova-ns" <>
>dijo:
>
>>Does anybody use such printer in such way "collating" copies. This term I
>>saw only in property's help of "Laser Jet 5si" driver but I can't choose
>>such possibility. The possibilities are: Mailbox, stacker, Job separator.
>
>The problem is in the printer formatter board, and you are stuck with
>it.
>
>When the 5Si family of printers was released no printers at the time
>could print multiple copies collated. Some application software could
>manage it by spooling multiple individual copies to a massive spool
>file on the computer hard disk. (E.g., PageMaker, among others.) But
>the printer itself could print only one collated copy at a time
>
>Later HP came out with the Mopier family. The Mopier is the same as
>the 5Si, except that the formatter board in the printer was changed so
>the printer could handle multiple copies collated. The computer sent
>one copy of the document together with a counter for how many copies
>the user indicated in the print dialog box.
------ snipped

------ snipped

>I hope that clarifies the problem for you.

Thank you Marek for the answer. Sorry for such late answer. I was busy
these days but was also searching for my problem's answer. Searching
solution, I read, I suppose all your and others post about 5si's and
8000 series printers.

Meanwhile, I got hard disk for the printer (not original, than 2,5"
disk taken out from an old notebook comp), and connected it using two
adapters from 2,5" to 3,5". Disk appears itself on postscript
configurations page but when I turn on the printer, after few seconds
on printer's control panel (display) appears message 30.1.1 DISK NOT
INITIALIZED. Reading service manual for the printer in such case I've
found that I should use "Windows Jetadmin Utility to initialize disk"
so I downloaded HP Web Jetadmin, installed it and connected with
printer and in Device status window appeared:
11x17/A3 Media Yes
Collator No
HCI 2000 She
PCL Yes
PJL Yes
Postscript Yes
Installed RAM N/A
Duplexer Yes
Hard disk No
Ram disk No
HCO Multi-Bin

Reading test page I've found:
Firmware datecode: 19950711 v7_9

I suppose that "no disk" message is because the disk is not properly
initialized.

I suppose also, Firmware datecode should be newer for any
intervention. Where to find it? How to do this? If I successfully
initialize the disk, how to download fonts and print jobs? I remember
you had such problem with 8000 printer. You resolved these problems
for sure yet.

Why I'm trying to do this without upgrade kit or original Mopier
formatter board? Reading file HP5SIM.GPD which takes part in driver's
list I've found these lines:
*Command: CmdSelect
{
*Order: JOB_SETUP.5
*% Collate requested with disk => printer collate
enabled
*% Printer will take care of collated copies
*Cmd: "@PJL SET QTY=" %d{NumOfCopies}"<0A>"
}
so I think there's a chance to achieve my first intention to print
multiple copies collated.

Please, find time to answer my questions about firmware, disk
initializing and my other doubts. I hope there is noting bad sharing
experience with other people.

regards, Jovan

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:15:42 +0100, jova-ns <> dijo:

>Meanwhile, I got hard disk for the printer (not original, than 2,5"
>disk taken out from an old notebook comp), and connected it using two
>adapters from 2,5" to 3,5". Disk appears itself on postscript
>configurations page but when I turn on the printer, after few seconds
>on printer's control panel (display) appears message 30.1.1 DISK NOT
>INITIALIZED. Reading service manual for the printer in such case I've
>found that I should use "Windows Jetadmin Utility to initialize disk"
>so I downloaded HP Web Jetadmin, installed it and connected with
>printer and in Device status window appeared:
>11x17/A3 Media Yes
>Collator No
>HCI 2000 She
>PCL Yes
>PJL Yes
>Postscript Yes
>Installed RAM N/A
>Duplexer Yes
>Hard disk No
>Ram disk No
>HCO Multi-Bin
>
>Reading test page I've found:
>Firmware datecode: 19950711 v7_9
>
>I suppose that "no disk" message is because the disk is not properly
>initialized.
>
>I suppose also, Firmware datecode should be newer for any
>intervention. Where to find it? How to do this? If I successfully
>initialize the disk, how to download fonts and print jobs? I remember
>you had such problem with 8000 printer. You resolved these problems
>for sure yet.

First, my 5Si has never had a hard disk, so I am unfamiliar with how
one would install it. I did purchase a 2 Gb hard disk for my 8000, so
I know something about it.

As far as I can recall, when I installed the hard disk in the 8000,
the printer initialized the hard disk all by itself as soon as I
turned the printer on. I do not believe I had to use JetAdmin to
initialize it.

I installed the hard disk in the 8000 mostly because I wanted to be
able to save print jobs. I was under the impression that you could
then reprint the print job directly from the printer's control panel,
rather than having to resend the job from the computer. It turned out
that this was not correct for the 8000. Being able to save print jobs
and reprint from the printer's control panel is a feature that was not
added until the 8100.

But since I had already paid for the hard disk and installed it, I
decided to download all the fonts I use to the hard disk. At least
this might speed up printing, I thought. It took some effort, but I
finally got all my fonts onto the hard disk. (You have to use
WebJetAdmin software to download the fonts to the hard disk.) But
after I did that I discovered that there is no way to tell the printer
driver to use the fonts on the hard disk. For example, in the printer
driver setup it lists the fonts resident in the printer and you can
tell it to use the printer resident font or a downloadable font
installed on the computer. But even after downloading my fonts to the
hard disk they do not appear in the list in the printer driver. The
only fonts that appear are the original fonts installed in the printer
at the factory.

The long and the short of it is that downloading the fonts to the hard
disk was pointless. And since you can't save print jobs to the hard
disk and you can't use fonts from the hard disk, the whole hard disk
is totally useless and a waste of money.

>Why I'm trying to do this without upgrade kit or original Mopier
>formatter board? Reading file HP5SIM.GPD which takes part in driver's
>list I've found these lines:
>*Command: CmdSelect
> {
> *Order: JOB_SETUP.5
> *% Collate requested with disk => printer collate
>enabled
> *% Printer will take care of collated copies
> *Cmd: "@PJL SET QTY=" %d{NumOfCopies}"<0A>"
> }
>so I think there's a chance to achieve my first intention to print
>multiple copies collated.

From this it would appear that you might be able to print multiple
copies collated to a 5Si. However, I have zero programming ability, so
I would not be able to help. All I can offer is that the whole point
of coming out with the Mopier was to be able to print multiple copies
collated. Everything that I have read about these printers indicates
that it is impossible on the original 5Si. If you do manage to figure
out how to do it, please post back, because I sure would like to be
able to do so with my old 5Si.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:07:46 -0800, Marek Williams <>
wrote:

>On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:15:42 +0100, jova-ns <> dijo:
>
>>Meanwhile, I got hard disk for the printer (not original, than 2,5"
>>disk taken out from an old notebook comp), and connected it using two
>
>First, my 5Si has never had a hard disk, so I am unfamiliar with how
>one would install it. I did purchase a 2 Gb hard disk for my 8000, so
>I know something about it.
>
>As far as I can recall, when I installed the hard disk in the 8000,
>the printer initialized the hard disk all by itself as soon as I
>turned the printer on. I do not believe I had to use JetAdmin to
>initialize it.
--------------
snipped
________
>The long and the short of it is that downloading the fonts to the hard
>disk was pointless. And since you can't save print jobs to the hard
>disk and you can't use fonts from the hard disk, the whole hard disk
>is totally useless and a waste of money.
>
>>Why I'm trying to do this without upgrade kit or original Mopier
>collated. Everything that I have read about these printers indicates
>that it is impossible on the original 5Si. If you do manage to figure
>out how to do it, please post back, because I sure would like to be
>able to do so with my old 5Si.

I think this is possible using PJL language. Using routine I found in
PJL manual I initialized the disk so no more error 30.1.1. For future
use and help people with similar problem, I'll live this routine here:
%-12345X@PJL
@PJL FSINIT VOLUME = "0:\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\pcl\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\pcl\macros\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\fonts\"
@PJL FSDOWNLOAD FORMAT:BINARZ SIZE = 0 NAME =
"0:\pcl\macros\pclResourceFile"
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = PCL
&n16W4pclResourceFile%-12345X

You can find this on HP site too:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...5&locale=en_US

with explanation how to send these lines to the printer.

There are a lot routines in PCL/PJL Technical Reference Manual so I
hope that will find some for Multiple copies collating. I'll post
results I achieve.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:07:46 -0800, Marek Williams <>
wrote:

>On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:15:42 +0100, jova-ns <> dijo:
>
>>Meanwhile, I got hard disk for the printer (not original, than 2,5"
>>disk taken out from an old notebook comp), and connected it using two
>
>First, my 5Si has never had a hard disk, so I am unfamiliar with how
>one would install it. I did purchase a 2 Gb hard disk for my 8000, so
>I know something about it.
>
>As far as I can recall, when I installed the hard disk in the 8000,
>the printer initialized the hard disk all by itself as soon as I
>turned the printer on. I do not believe I had to use JetAdmin to
>initialize it.
--------------
snipped
________
>The long and the short of it is that downloading the fonts to the hard
>disk was pointless. And since you can't save print jobs to the hard
>disk and you can't use fonts from the hard disk, the whole hard disk
>is totally useless and a waste of money.
>
>>Why I'm trying to do this without upgrade kit or original Mopier
>collated. Everything that I have read about these printers indicates
>that it is impossible on the original 5Si. If you do manage to figure
>out how to do it, please post back, because I sure would like to be
>able to do so with my old 5Si.

I think this is possible using PJL language. Using routine I found in
PJL manual I initialized the disk so no more error 30.1.1. For future
use and help people with similar problem, I'll live this routine here:
%-12345X@PJL
@PJL FSINIT VOLUME = "0:\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\pcl\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\pcl\macros\"
@PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\fonts\"
@PJL FSDOWNLOAD FORMAT:BINARZ SIZE = 0 NAME =
"0:\pcl\macros\pclResourceFile"
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = PCL
&n16W4pclResourceFile%-12345X

You can find this on HP site too:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...5&locale=en_US

with explanation how to send these lines to the printer.

There are a lot routines in PCL/PJL Technical Reference Manual so I
hope that will find some for Multiple copies collating. I'll post
results I achieve.