Xerox Phaser 3635 and WC-3550 Technical Information

It’s high time we get back to these Phaser 3635 and WorkCentre 3550’s. These two monochrome multifunction printers continue to be a force in the field. A previous article in the April, 2015 ENX magazine introduced these machines, and we took a gander at the main consumables and the meanings of the fault codes. Now, let’s revisit these two models and see what diagnostic functions are available from the control panel. We’ll check out the component controls (for testing sensors, motors, solenoids, and such—and we’ll also look at the memory setting adjustments (NVM Read / Write).

The first thing you’ll want to know is how to access the System Administrator Tools.

System Administrator Tools

The Administrator Tools give you lots of choices and control over the machine’s setup in a relatively easy to follow menu. The two models have different approaches for how to get into this “Tools” mode:

Phaser 3635: Press the “Log In / Out” button and enter the Administrator Password (the default is ‘1111’). Then press the “Machine Status” button and select the “Tools” tab.

WC-3550: Press the “Machine Status” button, scroll down to “System Setup” and press the “OK” key. Enter the Administrator’s Password (the default is ‘1111’) & then press “OK” again.

To do any good troubleshooting, print reports or test patterns, or make adjustments, you’ll need to get into the Diagnostic Mode (or Tech Mode).

Entering Diagnostics

The two models have different approaches for how to get into diagnostic mode:

Phaser 3635: From the powered-on state, press and hold down the “#” button and while still holding #, press the “Log In / Out” button and a password screen will appear. Enter the password “1934” followed by “OK”.

WC-3550: Press the “Menu” button, and then press the “#” button and a Password screen will appear. Enter the password “1934” followed by “OK.”

Diagnostic Mode – Main Menus

Once you’re in “Diagnostic Mode”, you’ll find a menu of choices depending on the model you’re working on:

Phaser 3635: The first menu level will include: “Copier Routines,” Network Routines,” “Fax Routines,” and “Other Routines.” We’ll concentrate on the functions in the “Copier Routines” menu.

WC-3550: The first menu level is a longer list. Here, you’ll want to scroll down and choose “EDC Mode” to get to a submenu with the good stuff in it.

Now you can choose from the following:

• Copier Routines on a Phaser 3635 (or… EDC Mode on WC-3550):
  • dC 131 NVM Read / Write (memory setting adjustments)
  • dC 132 NVM Initialize (Remember that if you need to do this, you will lose all of the memory settings in the machine, so don’t do this without first recording all the address book entries, etc. for the customer so they can be re-entered later).
  • dC 305 UI Test (User Interface / Touch Screen)
  • dC 330 Component Control (for testing sensors, motors, etc.)

Exiting Diagnostics:

When it comes time to leave Diagnostic Mode later, here is how to get out:

Phaser 3635: Touch “Exit”, then “Call Closeout” and choose “No” so that the machine does not lose the Last 40 Faults in memory.

WC-3550: Press “Menu” button twice to get to the Tech Mode screen. Then use the arrow buttons to scroll to “Diagnostics Menu” choice and click “OK.” Then scroll to “Exit Diagnostics” and click “OK” again. You’ll have a choice here to reboot the machine or not. If you made changes to the memory in NVM Read / Write, you will want to choose “Yes” here. If no changes were made, then choosing “No” will skip the full reboot and you’ll get out of diagnostics quicker.

Component Control (testing sensors, motors, solenoids, etc):

Read above about how to get into Diagnostic Mode and then choose either “Copier Routines” (on a Phaser 3635), or “Machine Diagnostics” followed by “EDC Mode” (on a WC-3550). Next, choose “dC 330 Component Control.” Then enter the code from the lists below. For the “Input Components” (sensors and switches), the display will show the state of the input component, and you can go actuate or deactuate it to see if the display shows it being switched on and off or not. For an “Output Component,” the motor, solenoid, clutch, or other moving part will turn on for short time each time you energize it.

For Phaser 3635: Touch the “Add Component” button, and enter the code from the lists below, then touch that button again to add the component to the “Component Name List.” You can add up to 6 components (as long as they are permitted to be chosen together) to this short list. Then from the “Component Name List,” you can choose the component control code and touch “Start” to energize or test it.

For the WC-3550: you will choose the component from a scrolling list and then press “OK” to energize or test the chosen component.

Input Component Control List:

Output Component Control List:

Now finally onto the NVM Read / Write (memory adjustments). Go into Diagnostics as explained earlier and find dC131 NVM Read / Write. Then refer to the list below and choose the “Chain” (that’s the first two digits of the code), and then scroll to the exact Code (that would be the final 3 digits of the NVM code) and touch that code choice. A new screen for making adjustments will appear if the code is not a read-only code.

NVM Read / Write (Memory Adjusments):

Resetting the Fuser Life Count: (for Clearing Fault Codes 10-500 & 10-510)

This is only necessary on the Phaser 3635 because the 3550 doesn’t bother keeping count of the number of prints made on the fuser. Once you’re in diagnostics mode, select “Service Info” and then touch “HFSI” (High Frequency Service Items). A chart with the two HFSI’s which this model tracks will be shown (the fuser and the Document Feed Head are the only two choices). Choose “Fuser” and touch “Reset” followed by “OK.” You can also change the “Max Value” if you want to. Setting the “Max Value” to “0” will effectively make the HFSI not tracked, meaning the machine will never call for that HFSI again.

Well, that should do the trick. You now have all the main ins and outs for these two models. Good luck in your repairs!

Britt works for The Parts Drop, a company whose primary business is providing parts, supplies, and information for Xerox brand copiers, printers, and fax machines. You can find more information, including many of Britt’s past ENX articles on their website, (www.partsdrop.com). If you’d like to read more about Xerox brand office equipment, there’s also a complete listing of past articles under contributing writers on the ENX website (www.ENXMAG.com).