LJ3800 with horizontal red lines...

[DavidM]

I've got a two year old LJ3800dtn that is printing horizontal red lines at various places across all printouts. Also there is image ghosting and image misplacement of the red portion of the image (see attachment). We've replaced all the toners and the transfer belt once, and then we ordered a new magenta toner from HP to verify that it wasn't an old toner. The problem is the same. The event log is full of halftone calibration errors (54.0C & 1E.xx)dating back to Oct. of 2008. The magenta lines just started showing up last week. Any sugestions (Formater Board?)

David

[cs_steve]

Try a cold reset and an NVRAM reset ... possibly a firmware update?

Do a full calibration ...

[DavidM]

Looks like nothing made any difference;
I've tried a cold reset, NVRAM reset, firm ware upgrade, and four full calibrations (once after each of the cold reset, NVRAM reset, and firm ware upgrades). I'm still having the same problems. Here is a little more info:
As I look at the pages, the ghosting is actually the red part of the image that has been misplaced down the page. In the attached file the red portion of the image that I thought was shadowing is actually the red part of the image misplaced down the page. Also, the red horizontal lines go all the way past the edges of the page and right to the very outside edges of the transfer belt.

David

[cs_steve]

What happens if you print an "engine test" page? The engine test bypasses the formatter, and I wonder if you see those magenta lines with an engine test... if you do, that would indicate possibly a faulty DC controller.

If several of the engine test pages print fine, then I would swap the formatter (make sure you buy one exactly for the LaserJet 3800DN, so be sure your vendor gives you a formatter board for the network, duplexing model -- we sell those at PrinterTechs if you need).

To do an engine test: use a small pointed object to press the test page switch located on the back of the printer.

[MichaelTech]

Print the PQ pages to see if a toner is the issue.
The vertical line may be the fuser, but could be a toner.
Put a piece of masking tape on the copper contact on the left side a one toner. Print an internal page, if it is uniform color, it is ok.
If it has blotchyness/stippled look, it is bad. Do one at a time.
A new ETB can go bad easily, but I'll bet on toners.

[DavidM]

The engine test failed miserably. Once a thick red line appears, the normal red lines are uniform for nine repetitions down the page (about two thirds of each page. After that, the normal red lines disappear until another thick red line prints. The locations of the first thick red line are pretty much random (four engine tests yielded four different start locations), but the number of normal red lines was always nine.

David

[cs_steve]

Based on the printout and from your descriptions, it looks to me like it's an electrical issue ...

I would change the DC controller ...

[MichaelTech]

With the calibration errors, this may just be the sensor is bad/dirty.
The distance of the heavy lines still seems like the ETB.
Check the left side for all the wire contacts, and the toner locks on the right.
The magenta lock may be broken. Replace the whole set.

[DavidM]

Well the DC controller didn't fix it either but it did change the event log. Instead of all the different halftone calibration errors that I was getting, it's down to one halftone error and a media sensor error. They are both listed bellow:
54.1E.0A Halftone Calibration error
54.05 Media Sensor Abnormality

[redcow]

Look at the event log for that 54.05.
What's the rest of that code after the 54.05?

Also, those two errors that you mentioned, did they occur after changing the DC Controller (Check the event log page count)?

[DavidM]

54.05 that's all, no third set of numbers. And yes, these two errors are the only ones that show up in the event log after I changed the controler board.

[DavidM]

I don't know why I didn't try this before: (After the DC Controller switch) I disabled the Cartridge check and switched the blue and red toners and now I'm getting blue lines and blue ghosting, and no red. Could it be a bad laser scanner? I believe that this unit only has two lasers in it. One for yellow and black and one for blue and red.

David