HP PSC 500xi - Unidentified port/connector

[CobraPilot]

I've been given an HP PSC 500xi All-In-One and have downloaded all drivers, manuals, etc., from the HP website.

This is an older unit, using a parallel port connection. However, in addition, it seems to have what looks like a PS2 connector on the back, next to the parallel connector. Nowhere in the documentation or the HP website is there an explanation of what that is and what it's for.

An extensive Google search was unsuccessful.

HP doesn't seem to give e-mail support for out-of-warranty products and will charge US$20 per phone call.

Anyone have one of these and knows the purpose of that connector?

[Nelson37]

Some scanner units had a connector something like that, IIRC it was maybe power for the sheet feeder? (ADF).

[CobraPilot]

Various specs do not show any sheet feeder options. It's basically a flat-bed scanner/printer/copier unit.

http://search.hp.com/query.html?lang=en&qp=&search=&qt=psc+500xi&la=en&hps=Home&hpr=ht...p/contact.html

There is also a big two-position rotary switch on the back, with icons for locked and unlocked. That switch isn't explained anywhere, either, AFAIK or can see/find.

Amazingly incomplete manuals . . . . .

[Nelson37]

The switch is to lock the scanner light assembly, for shipping.

So this is a flat-bed with no sheet feeder? I was just about to add to my earlier post that I'm reasonably certain this plug is for an optional ADF. I know for certain that similar add-on sheet feeders use a similar plug.

[CobraPilot]

Actually, I finally found out what that switch is for, once I got to the section about clearing paper jams: It opens the back panel for access. Odd that it wasn't identified much earlier than Page 16 of the Customer Care Guide and nowhere else in the other manuals and documentation.

Looking closer at the unidentified port/connector, and comparing it with a PS2 adapter, I see that it is NOT a PS2 port. Its configuration, from top-to-bottom, has holes in a 3-3-2 layout, and doesn't have the big guide pin of the PS2.

And, nowhere, in any other various manuals and documentation, is there any mention of accessories other than the power cables, ink cartridges, and installation CD ROM. Maybe that unidentified port was for other models that used similar layouts, but was not implemented in this model. If that were the case, though, you'd think there would not have been a port there, just a space for one with a plug over it.

HP, at least in this instance, thy manuals stinketh!

[CobraPilot]

I think I've identified this mystery port as an 8-pin S-video port.

http://www.google.com/search?q=8-pin+s-video&hl=en&biw=1019&bih=512&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch...2&ved=0CHAQsAQ ("Page 10" shows the closest example to what I have.)

Now the question perhaps is simply: What the heck is it FOR??

Why would you have an S-Video port on an all-in-one scanner/copier/printer?

There's just no mention, much less explanation, of this port in any of the various documentation resources available from HP.

[Nelson37]

Never, ever, heard of or seen an S-video port on a scanner/printer.

[jagabo]

It's not an s-video port. It's an 8 pin mini din port.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-DIN_connector#8-pin

[CobraPilot]

You're right, jagabo!! Haven't seen one of those since I figured out how to hook up an Apple Imagewriter II dot-matrix printer to a PC serial port!

Your link had a list of various products that use the 8-pin min-din port, and one of them was for an HP Scanjet ADF, which is certainly a strong hint that this model may also have had that as an option.

It may be that since this is a 10-year-old all-in-one, that any references to an ADF for this model (if there ever was one) have been deleted from the online documentation, accessories list, etc.

Thanks, jagabo!