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Bug Printer IT

Lexmark Recalls 40,000 Laser Printers 114

Posted by timothy from the save-your-toner dept.
ack154 writes "An electrical shock hazard has caused Lexmark to recall about 39,400 laser printers. The printers were sold under the nameplates of Lexmark, IBM, and Dell. From the article: "The recalled printers include Lexmark E232, E232t, E330, E332n, E332tn; IBM Infoprint 1412, 1412n; Dell 1700 and 1700n." Contact information is provided in the article in order to get your free replacement."
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Lexmark Recalls 40,000 Laser Printers More

Lexmark Recalls 40,000 Laser Printers

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  • Open source printers (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:05AM (#10187501)
    See, if the printers were open source, then this problem would have been caught much earlier!
  • or is Lexmark implementing a no-refilled-toner circuit on the sly in the replacement printers? They're known for some sharp practices with their inkjet series of printers, aren't they?

    -

  • Lexmark missed its Mark (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:11AM (#10187520)
    I never was a real fan of Lexmark printers but they are actually pritty popular because they can take a lot of paper trays. I have seen some 4 or 5 high with paper trays. They are very popular at banks. I havent been to a bank yet that doesn't use Lexmark Printers. That may just be because banks are cheap. But reparing some lexmark printeres and seeing where there are a lot of oversights in the design process of the printers where there could be a problem like that. There not like HP or Xerox (I am talking about Laser Printers not the others) printers which are designed quite well.

    • Re:Lexmark missed its Mark (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ecalkin ( 468811 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @08:04AM (#10188110)
      in a weird, twisted way, lexmark isn't doing badly...

      i was teaching (certified ms and novell) classes in lexington, oh about 1997 or so, and we had some lexmark people in our classes. one day they mentioned that they were celebrating! and what were they celebrating? they had obtained a *whole* 1 percent of laser printer marketshare.

      if you counted the hardware that hp manufactured for other vendors (hp made a lot of apple lasers, etc), they at the time were 85 to 95 percent of the market. canon, lexmark, epson, brother, etc were fighting for the leftovers.

      as a side note, it was interesting in central ky to watch a marketing slogan vaporize overnight. as a selling point, "it's made in lexington" or "it's made in kentucky" as very popular. then they moved manufacturing to mexico (or china). it was amazing to hear the marketing people just about leave a blank spot in they speeches where it used to be.

      eric
      • then they moved manufacturing to mexico (or china). it was amazing to hear the marketing people just about leave a blank spot in they speeches where it used to be.
        Did they ever think about changing their name to Mexmark?
    • Ok, maybe the subject is misleading...

      Lexmark was spun off of IBM, which is why many were sold under the IBM nameplate.

      But still, I've got a bone to pick. Many people here are saying that Lexmark printers aren't "real" or "decent" printers, but why?

      I often gaffed at people who owned Lexmark printers because I never had used one and I never had one myself. With my last computer I got a Lexmark for free and I let it sit in the box for a good month. I refused to hook it up.

      But it works very, very well. It'
      • I often gaffed at people who owned Lexmark printers

        Isn't that dangerous?

        You sound like you are swayed by other people's prejudices without even discovering their cause. There are reasons to dislike Lexmark.
      • Most poeple I know who dislike lexmark had some issue iwth the craftsmanship of the printer---the feed mechanism started eating paper later in life, the print head guides crapped out, things like that. Usually after the warranty was out.

        • You forgot the inability to print colors correctly.
          Well, the ones I've owned were like that. You want yellow? How about orange instead! Black? naw.. Dark brown is good enough!
          And it did quite often print onto a stack of 3 pieces of paper , each slighly ahead of the previous one, just enough so it wasted the first two sheets with small lines of color.

          I've had a lot of great HP and just recently got a Cannon and the colors are always amazingly close to what I see on-screen.
          • I have an HP currently..I'm pleased with its operation and print quality but the cost of cartiges are killing me....I'm done with Canon, I had a bubblejet years back that would NOT print to save its miserable life (the scanner addon worked perfectly however)

            Epson's next in line methinks.
            • The Canon "photo printers" seem very nice. I got a i960 for just over $100 and it has 6 separate color tanks, each one replacable on its own for about $9. My old HP was really a killer with its $35 tricolor cartridge and $30 black cartridge. I always ran out of one color and had to replace the whole thing, and they never lasted long either.
              I never used to like Canon much, but I think they are definately worth it now. I'm not sure having 2 different shades of magenta and cyan really helps photos look that
      • Lexmark is not very well supported by Linux (Inkjet wise anyway). And their Windows drivers are shit too.

        I had a Lexmark that would not allow the drivers to be installed for a remote printer. And the driver talked out load when you were using it (very annoying). And had a status that would pop up and display as it said "printing started" and would hang the whole system.

        Jobs spooling to this printer would hang in and undeletable state more often then any other porinter I have used too.

        Also, another one

    • I havent been to a bank yet that doesn't use Lexmark Printers. That may just be because banks are cheap.

      No, its because banks are traditionally die-hard IBM customers, and Lexmark is a spin-off of IBM's printer division. Price is usually at the bottom of the list for Banks.

      I'm not a fan of Lexmark either, but HP seems to be doing all it can to match Lexmark in the crappy printer and software arena. Fortunately, at least the higher-end HP lasers are still decent, provided you can find a compatible dr

    • Banks have lexmark printers because banks have IBM hardware. I've lost count of the number of banks I've gone into and seen using IBM glass terminals. Often they end up upgrading (?) to PCs and running a 3270 emulator to talk to their mainframes until they get some other GUI client spun up - frequently a screen-scraper itself.
    • ..and banks bleed blue. Banks have Lexmark printers because of the historic relationship with IBM.

  • This is a feature. (Score:4, Funny)

    by John_Allen_Mohammed ( 811050 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:11AM (#10187522)
    No reason to recall these printers. Who here, wouldn't mind getting a nasty little shock every once in a while, besides me ? I wont be participating in this recall, no thank you Lexmark.

    My first good discharge, when I was 13, working on the circuit board of a commodore monitor. Not sure what I touched but I could feel the wave of electricity going up and through my arm, couldn't move, literally I was stuck for at least 2 seconds. Pretty scary but thrilling at the same time. I wouldn't call it a near death experience but it was damn near exciting.

    Peace.
    • That's nothing man. When I was 6, I decided to perform my first scientific experiment and jam a fork into an electrical socket! I turned it loose right when it went in and received no shock. But, the circuit breaker tripped, and the faceplate was blackened. Immediately thereafter I heard my father's voice booming "Boy! Whatcha doing in there!?!"
      • I had nearly exactly the same experience when I was 4. The only difference was that I plugged in the two probes of my 'Electro' game (because the battery was down). Same effect: a blackened socket, tripped breaker and a very worried father.
      • Reminds of when I was about 7 and I stuck the 1.5V globe from my Go-Go Gadget Yo-Yo into the 240V power point... As I lent forward and flipped the switch, there was a massive bang and flash. It scared the crap out of me, but nowhere near as much as observing the now blackend wall did. Scared crapless of what my dad would do when he found out, I stack everything I had in the room around the area to hide the damage... Somehow dad figured something was up... ;-)

        Then there was that time I wanted to see if the
      • I was 13 when I moved up from sticking knives in sockets and cut plugs in the outlets.

        I found dead hemlock stems were very stiff, light, and, by leaving a bit of root on the end while trimming the leaves and flowers off the stems, I could make a javelin I could launch a good 100yds. at least.

        So there I am tossing it over the highest wires of the telephone pole, when the javelin catches on the near high-voltage wire, then falls over onto the far high-voltage wire.

        When it looked like it was bursting into f
    • This reminds me of that line from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation:

      "Since I got that metal plate in my head, every time the wife uses the microwave, I forget where I'm at and piss my pants...."

    • As kids, we stole a Stop sign from the Police station (that's just ACT I of "Child Morons").

      We then stripped a lamp cord, plugged it into the wall and started touching the bare wires to the Stop sign on our bedroom floor.

      This was fun until a stray spark hit my brother and caused his thermal underwear to ignite into flames - Then it was really hilarious

      It's a wonder that we all made it to adulthood.

      • Here's one that's actually useful, sort of.

        Take an old appliance cord about 2 feet long with the plug on one end. Strip an inch or two of insulation off the other end of the two wires and wrap each one around the head end of a 10 penny nail. Use a plain steel nail not galvanized for reasons that will become obvious later.

        In your left hand place a hot dog bun then put a hot dog in the bun. Insert each nail about two inches into opposite ends of the hot dog. Don't let them touch! Holding the hot dog and bun
    • Who here, wouldn't mind getting a nasty little shock every once in a while, besides me ?

      "I should have warned you. That clock gets incredibly hot if you leave it plugged in."

  • That would turn the tables a bit on the normal Lexmark materials issue.

  • hmmm.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by next1 ( 742094 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:15AM (#10187531) Journal
    Contact information is provided in the article in order to get your free replacement.

    and.. for those already electrocuted?
    • Replacement staff are available from your nearest employment agency or social security office.

      Units still capable of operating may be secured by downloading a "rubber glove" patch.
    • and.. for those already electrocuted?

      Not only is there contact information in the friendly article, there is also this little gem:

      The printers can short-circuit, prompting the shock danger, the agency said, but noted it had no reports of incidents or injuries.

  • Great gift idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by wackysootroom ( 243310 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:18AM (#10187548) Homepage
    Thanks for the great gift idea, slashdot. With Christmas just around the corner I know that my PHB will just love a printer in his office that's his very own.
    • Wow, what a marvelous idea. One of the first things my PHB did upon coming to our team was to requisition our networked color LaserJet for use as her dedicated printer (it was more important for her not to have to walk 15 feet for her output than for the rest of us to have a color printer). With one of these, we can reclaim our shared printer and show our profound appreciation for all she's done for us, all in one fell swoop!

  • Who says... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ka9qpn ( 586687 ) <ka9qpn@juno.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:21AM (#10187561)
    ...you can't set a laser printer on 'stun'?

  • Hee Hee (Score:3, Funny)

    by Omicron ( 79581 ) <slashdot.20.omicron@spamgourmet.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:24AM (#10187573)
    If you REALLY want to tweak a Dell rep, when you have them on the phone, talk about the nice Lexmark printers they are selling. They are very adamant that they aren't Lexmarks, they are Dells. It's pretty hilarious. Our rep kinda jumped down our bosses throat when he called them Lexmarks. It's fun to mess with them. Especially when you see articles like these, and others, talking about the Lexmark printers.

    • Re:Hee Hee (Score:5, Interesting)

      by fuzzix ( 700457 ) <flippy@example.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:56AM (#10187703) Journal
      This is a fact - you'll also find that Dell don't provide the same level of driver support on these rebadged pieces of crap.

      I recently had an experience where a friend of my Dad bought a Dell printer for his ageing Win98 box. The supplied driver disc was for Win2K/XP only. A little research yielded the fact that the Dell model (A920) was the exact same as the Lexmark X1150. I remember the model numbers due to the trauma involved... Lexmark provide a Win9x driver for this model. Dell don't. Attempts to install the Lexmark driver were hampered by the fact that the printer identified itself as Dell.

      Even worse was the fact that upon calling Dell it was suggested he buy a new machine - from Dell of course. I started wondering if there was some specific reason for the lack of support - Surely Win9x support means you would sell more printers! Ah, you want to sell more of those boxes instead...

      A friend of my sister works for Dell front line support. I asked him about the situation and he said "yeah, we had a few calls about that..." and nothing else.

      Me: Why no 98 driver? The Lexmark version has one - surely a trivial matter for one of your guys to customise it for the Dell version.
      Him: But it's a Dell printer - a Lexmark driver won't work.
      Me (slapping forehead): Why is there no 98 driver?
      Him: Yeah, we had a few calls on that.
      Me: I can see how you got that Dell job.
      Him: Thanks!

      He bought a new box (not from Dell, thankfully) and the old machine was donated to a local school. I guess all's Dell that ends Dell...
      • First of all, while Dell doesn't advertise who makes their printers, it's also not a big secret. Furthermore, Lexmark is not the only printer manufacturer they partner with.

        Of course, it's also just entirely possible that you'll get someone on the phone who just doesn't know who makes the printers. The internal documentation available to sales and most tech support reps doesn't call this information out, it's not relevant to what they do.

        As for legacy drivers. Why should Dell be obligated to provide D

        • Re:Hee Hee (Score:3, Insightful)

          by fuzzix ( 700457 )

          As for legacy drivers. Why should Dell be obligated to provide Driver support for Operating Systems they don't sell and haven't sold for years? Dell never sold printers at the same time it sold Windows 98. Most people do not "just" buy a Dell Printer, they buy it with a system purchase.
          Lastly, the support information for the printer and basic information available on the website clearly states which Operating Systems the printer can use. Note further down the page on the right under Compatibility .. where

          • Hee hee, what a riot that was.

            Now if only someone would be so kind and dredge up a cross-reference chart for their inkjet cartridges so that the poor folks that bought dell inkjets can buy their ink at the local wal-mart, instead of relying on mail order.

            I KNOW that they are Lexmark carts, it's just which model cross-refs with the Dell model #'s.
        • They don't even support 2000 and XP. Having the audacity to share a 920 on the network scambles the screen and requires a reboot. Dell's forums are ripshit about it.
      • ZAP!
        Victim: Stupid piece of shit printer, time to call Dell support. Why can't I grab the phone.
        Annoying Dell spokesboy walks in
        Spokesboy: Dude! You're going to Hell!
        Victim: WTF? What are you talking about boy it's hot in here...
        Sees Satan
        Victim: Oh crap....
  • ...we used to called Lexmark "Lex merde" cause of the crap they used to churn out.

  • Ugh... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Heem ( 448667 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:24AM (#10187577) Homepage Journal
    So now you have a "get out of lexmark-hell free" card. Return your old printer for the recall and get the new one fresh in the box. Sell the new printer as "brand new in box" on ebay or in local papers. Then go out to the store and get a decent printer.
    • Yes! I'm also for that suggestion. Lexmark will cost you in the end for ink cartridges. Go with laser and you won't be sorry. Sure the upfront price is usually a lot higher, but you will make that up in short time with the savings in ink cartridges vs. seldom replaced toner cartridges.
      I personally have a Brother 5-in-1 and it works awesome.

  • This is only the testing phase... (Score:5, Funny)

    by miskatonic alumnus ( 668722 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:30AM (#10187603)
    Do to massive copyright infringement, whenever someone prints out copyrighted materials they will receive an electric shock!!

  • What matters is how mistakes are handled (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alwin Henseler ( 640539 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:35AM (#10187622)
    From the article: "Lexmark shares were down $3.24, or 3.8 percent, to $82.86, in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange"

    I find it weird that people (or stockholders) would react so negatively to news like this. Making millions of consumer electronic items, there will always be some mistakes made. What matters is not that shit happens, but how it is handled.

    Ofcourse it would be nice if products were perfect, but I don't regard a manufacturer any worse because of a mishap like this. If they handle such a recall in a painless and professional way, that would more likely boost my confidence in them. Problems like this are often very minor things, and say nothing about the overall quality of their product.

    I would think worse (and less likely buy something) of a company that tries to look good, sweep problems under the rug, and pretend nothing happened.

  • Sorry, can't help it.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:41AM (#10187649)
    I have one of those printers, and they are awesome. This article is bullshit. I've got auto-double-sided-printing going on right now with 20 copies, and even my APC tower for my desktop says everythIN4$%JK#%DAT+0+0[NO CARRIER]

  • It's official.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:45AM (#10187664)
    Netcraft confirms: Lexmark users are dying.

  • With apologies to Electric Six... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Elphin ( 7066 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:53AM (#10187694) Homepage
    Fire in the Lexmark
    Fire in the rebadged dell
    Fire in the Lexmark
    Fire in the gates of hell

    Don't you want to know how we keep starting fires?
    It's my Lexmark, It's my Lexmark, It's my Lexmark

    Don't you want to know how we keep starting fires?
    It's my Lexmark, It's my Lexmark, It's my Lexmark

    Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
    When we touch, When we print
    Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
    When we touch, when we print
    when we touch

  • I just ordered mine (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yesterday my dad asked me to order a new toner cartridge for our Dell 1700... I was going to order it tonight (for $130) but then I saw this article. It turns out the 1700 is one of the printers being recalled, so I decided to get ours replaced hoping that it would come with a new toner cartridge. The process was extremely simple. I typed in the service tag, and on the next page the name and address were correctly filled in already so I hit submit. It's coming in 2-3 business days and they're also givin

  • Safety certification (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Together with the IBM adapter recall last week [slashdot.org], it would seem the CPSC is getting better at picking out product safety faults than UL [ul.com] whom the manufacturers actually pay to do this kind of thing.

  • why stop there? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    they should recall ALL lexmark printers. I've yet to see one that was worth using.
  • That particularly lovely model of printer also had "electrical problems"; that is, the power supply melted away! Then after a quick search I found I was not the only one with the same melty problem [pcphotoreview.com]. So this news surprises me, but only because Lexmark is actually recalling a faulty product!

  • Reminds me of my coop experience in college (Score:5, Interesting)

    by crosseyedatnite ( 19044 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @07:18AM (#10187828) Homepage
    Back before there were laser printers for PCs, the first laser printer I encountered was an IBM unit the size of about 6 racks and had a drum with a diameter of about 3 feet. It used the old pin-fed paper and like the line printers it stood next to, took paper by the box. It could go through an entire box of paper in 7 minutes.

    Thus, you had this huge fast spinning drum in a very dry environment. When it was first installed it was improperly grounded, and soon afterward one print room employee got severly shocked, with the static charge arcing about a foot, knocking him across the room. The details weren't made public, but I believe he got a decent settlement from IBM.

    I guess you could say this isn't the first incident of electic shock from a laster printer...
  • Call the 800 number. I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think Lexmark has to replace them with a new model. They can give you a refurbished model. Of course it will still be under warranty but warranties are worth sh*t. What kind of condition it is in counts more, especially for mechanical devices. If you think otherwise, you should buy the merchandise in Best Buy in obviously crushed boxes to save $10. So the box was dropped hard enough to partly separate the components from the boards and misa
  • An electrical shock hazard has caused Lexmard to recall about 39,400 laser printers.

    Is it really Lexmard?

  • Headline reads "Lexmark Recalls 40,000 Laser Printers" then the story goes onto to say "An electrical shock hazard has caused Lexmard to recall about 39,400 laser printers." so infact they did'ent recall 40,000 printers! :)

  • HP must be rejoicing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Donny Smith ( 567043 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @09:20AM (#10188627)
    Great news for HP - they must be laughing their asses off!

    This is interesting news in relation to HP vs. Dell (Lexmark, that is) printer war.

    Dell wants to screw up HP by selling directly cheap(er) printers that are supposedly as good as HP's. Well, that's obviously not entirely true.

    HP laser printers aren't cheap, but they're good.
    The question is can Dell find a supplier that can equal HP in quality and newest technology?
  • Gee, and all this time [bzzzttt] I thought that was a Security Feature [pfftt] to address clueless users. [zzzZAAAP!] Sort-of like a bug light for IT idiots.
  • Thought I'd purchased too soon when I got our E320, but now I have no regrets :)

  • Product Safety Problem (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lcsjk ( 143581 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @10:44AM (#10189795)
    As a product safety engineer, one of my jobs was working with UL/CSA/VDE/CE and the ISO-1950 worldwide requirement. Most likely, this recall is a result of not meeting that ISO-1950 or other product safety requirement. If you don't meet the requirement and someone gets hurt, the company is liable, and in some countries, (Germany I believe- at one time) a visiting manager is considered responsible and can be jailed until the issue is resolved. (Gets your attention if you are a manager.) Lexmark can put a new printer on the market without passing these tests, but if there is an accident they can be sued for everything they have. A small change in manufacturing process or a part change for cost reduction can result in an unanticipated failure and be the reason for a large recall. Most likely there will never be a problem, but companies cannot afford to take chances. Also, if they have applied the safety logo (UL/CE etc.), they are responsible for keeping the product safe, i.e., meeting the safety requirements.

    At my old company we said, "If the product was not tested, lawsuits could run us out of business. If we pass tests and someone does something stupid and gets hurt, then the courts will not award the person more than $100,000.

  • They're the ones who tried to use the DMCA [eff.com] to stifle competition in the aftermarket toner cartridge market. Take advantage of the recall to make them lose more money, but please don't ever buy another Lexmark printer!
  • Lexmark reports record second hand sales of its E232, E232t, E330, E332n, E332tn printers. Apparently most of the leather and printers were bought by members of an organization named GWSF (Geeks With Shock Fetish).[shudders]
  • Lexmark printers are being recalled because inkjet replacement sticker shock poses a danger to the user. Same models apply.

  • I'm sure it was caused by... (Score:3, Funny)

    by nusratt ( 751548 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @03:17PM (#10193917) Journal
    ... the "illicit" third-party toner cartridges.
  • It all adds up now!

    2-3 months ago, my company ordered a dozen or so new PCs. Three weeks later we call to see where they are, and they have no record of the order. We place it again, and they offer us two free Laser printers with it to apologize!

    They were 1700s... Now I have to wonder if they knew about this flaw before & were trying to unload them on unsuspecting businesses... Guess I can't complain TOO much, since they were free & good-enough quality for my office.
  • With the way Lexmark makes their printers, that they're not instructing users to throw their printers away after removing the nameplate from the back, and mailing the nameplate back to lexmark.

    I mean, after all, they are the maker of the famous $40 printer that takes $35 ink cartridge.
  • took long enough for y'all to post this I work at a branch of the countries largest office supply change. We pulled the machine in early august as ordered by lexmark. When the retail lexmark rep came in he told me their was a powersupply problem but if any yone asks just tell them we are bringing out a new model. I couldn't believe it they took long enough for the consumer recall and didn't want to recall them. This lexmark sales rep said the problem was do to grounding and anyone with a modern house would
    • A freedom of choice hazard has caused Lexmark to recall almost all of their ink jet printers. The printers were sold as individual items but were actually tied to Lemark-brand ink refills and proprietary print drivers which worked with a subset of available operating systems. From the article: "The recalled printers include Lexmark z55 and nearly all the cheap-ass printers found at Frys, CompUSA, BestBuy and other low-end electronic retailers."

    File this under "Would that it be true."

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