Apparently RAM is NOT hot swappable

Just in case you were wondering, RAM is not hot swappable.

I killed our color LaserJet network printer yesterday. I pulled out the old RAM and then went to insert the new. Before the card had even been seated in, I heard a *click* and the printer turned off - a minor detail I had overlooked prior to starting.

Now it won't turn on at all, even after putting the old RAM back in.

Did I kill it for good, or is there simply a fuse somewhere I could replace? It's an HP Color LaserJet 2500L.

 

Moving to tech support...

For the record, you are correct...RAM is not hot swappable, and kids, don't try this at home with a printer that still costs $800 well after it's been discontinued. If you're lucky, the ram may be what's blown, but others would be better off addressing this than I.

 

Computers will crash if you as much as touch the RAM modules. Don't mess.

 

How would you feel if they pull out your short term memory?

 

The curse of the printer sleep mode, usually all lights off bar one tiny led. I've seen all sorts done to out copiers when there in standby so it really doesn't supprise me.

Unlucky though, sounds like you've shorted something and killed it.

 

That's what I'm wondering about. Do you think I killed the printer entirely or just a fuse or something small that can be replaced?

And for the record, I do know that RAM is not hot swappable. It was supposed to be an amusing thread title. I simply wasn't paying all that much attention when I should have. I have someone coming out on Monday to take a peek and hopefully save my butt!

 

Pfft. I've seen our IT dude hotswap ram before, with only so much as an 'oops'.

 

RAM is NOT hot swappable, as a rule.

 

My friend did this with a nice Sony PC (I'm not kidding) and killed EVERYTHING - motherboard, CPU, and of course RAM.
Then he had to get all new upgraded stuff - aw shucks!

 

I don't know anything about the HP archetecture so couldn't say. I know the machines i work on have modular electronics so you would only have killed one or two boards, not the whole machine. I guess it depends how large a printer it is and whether HP use a single controller board or not. That said though the worst you could have done is blow one or two boards, probably the image processing board (where the ram would be present on) or the networking board (could also have ram) and the power supply. Should be fixable though.

 

Some servers I've worked on allow you to 'hot-swap' RAM but its not true hot-swapping.
It shuts down the banks you want to work on and works from other banks.
So although the machine is still running, it has 'shut-down' the banks of RAM you want to remove/swap etc.

Unless its a similar system, hot-swapping RAM aint gonna work.

 

Airchie, that's the way hot swapping allways works... Same with your USB drive, first you have to unmount it before you can (should) remove it. Actually the same goes for CD roms, but windows automatically mounts/unmounts them.

 

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll post back tomorrow after they've had a chance to troubleshoot and let you all know what the damage is.

 

Thanks, I laughed when I saw it. (I think this deserves a mention in the Disaster Mods thread). I hope it works out for you.

 

So I apparently fried what HP calls the 'master logic board' (motherboard, I'm assuming), which has the RAM slots onboard. It only costs $609.

I'm trying to decide whether I'm more embarrassed by the fact that I was an idiot or the fact that the technician who came out was about 65 years old, 4 feet tall and called me 'honey' - as in "Oh, no, honey, you should never try to change the RAM when the power is on. Hehehe!"

Sheesh. At least she didn't pat me on the head. But that's probably just because she couldn't reach.

 

I love it you blow your printer so HP send a female yoda to teach you the errors you have made in the ways of the jedi (did'nt you know hot swopping is a jedi mind trick played to confuse us mere mortals)

 

DOH!


I always make sure power is off before I touch the internals, fried a HDD once because I pulled something out and a lose wire touched the card on the board.

609$ for a 800$ printer that is no longer continued, and show up by a 4ft 65 yr old tech, yeah I would say the powers that be were trying to teach you a lesson.

I had a job last week installing gx520s, I had to record the serials and other information as I went along, got the serial#'s but forgot to fill out the rest of the info, so had to go back and write each one down instead of doing it while I was setting up the pc. Not the same as killing hardware, but would have saved an hour or more of back tracking to each cubicle.

 

I've had motherboards randomly start as im changing hardware... nothing broken yet but im still too lazy to turn the PSU off half the time heh

 

Your lucky the HP Service guy who we get at work is a grumpy middle-aged dude who seems to hate life in general.

 

I know the type.


Does he call you 'honey'?

Because that'd be weird.