HP 3800N will not recognize Black Cartridge

[David Mc]

I have a 3800 N that does not recognize the black cartridge. I've installed 2 new ones and it still says it need to install. Transfer kit looks terrible could this cause the problem??

Thanks,
David

[Big Al]

Two common causes for this are: stray toner powder on the springs that give power and ground to the cartridge and a broken contact that mates with the toner cartridge. A good bath of compressed air/canned gas sometimes fixes this but look for a broken contact first. Pull all the cartridges and look for something missing on the Black socket. If nothing is broken then toner is the likely culprit.

Al

[prntrfxr]

broken cartridge lock/s are the weakness of these machines. You have to replace all 4 and the springs in them.

[MichaelTech]

The toner sensor PCB is on the right, looking in.
Remove from the rear after taking everything off.
Spring contacts on the inside left are for the H/V.
Locks on the inside right are for alienating the toners.

[redcow]

Run the Diags/Disable cartridge check.
Put the black in another slot and put that cartridge into the blacks slot.
If problem stays with black then it's the black.
If the cartridge in the black's slot fails then it's a slot problem.

[cs_steve]

The toner cartridge locks are prone to failure, as prtrfxr was suggesting...

If the locks are the problem ... Replacing these locks is considered a fairly advanced install process (requiring probably 1 1/2 to 2 hours) ...
We (PrinterTechs) do sell a kit for repairing the locks, but most of the time I would recommend folks send the printer in to us for repair instead of trying it themselves ...

[Bill A]

Does your kit include detailed instructions? Where does one find the kit part numbers, didn't see anything on your site...

[cs_steve]

The cartridge lock kit is not on our web site, it's a special order item. You can order via phone @ 866-352-7108.

The kit will include instructions, but even with those instructions it's considered a Very advanced repair (it's easy to mess something up). For this kit I generally recommend only advanced techs attempt it .

The main problem is it's too easy to mess up the gear timing when re-installing; a perfect repair normally takes an experienced tech 1-2 hours. However, if the gear timing gets off, which seems to be fairly common, this repair can become frustrating.