HP 3005dn print problem

[dnades]

Hello! I've got an HP 3005dn laserjet that is printing lighter and lighter with a new toner cartridge. It (the printer) worked fine for the first cartridge (the 13000 page one) and after that it has steadily gone down hill. I get lines through the pages if I print more than 8 pages in a row. The new cartridge I put in was the 6000 page one and I am wondering if it might be the cartridge. Genuine HP stuff though. Upon putting the new cartridge in the first couple of pages would print light but then they would darken up. Not fully but enough to get the job done. Now, however, they are not getting dark. I have probably only printed about 500 pages on the new cartridge. I have set the toner density to 5 which helped minutely at first but now does nothing. The printer is probably 2-3 years old and its page count is around 13000 or so at this point. Any ideas?

[Big Al]

Chances are good that it is the cartridge. The only way to be sure is to take it to another 3005 and try it. HP will give you a new cartridge if it is bad. Maybe the place you bought it could test it for you. Try shaking it up to get the toner loosened up and try it again. Please let us know what you find. If it is not the cartridge get back to us and we will explore that issue then.

Al

[dnades]

Al,

Thanks for the quick response. I don't have another 3005 printer and staples doesn't seem to carry that one anymore. I'll give it a shot though. Will let you know if replacement solves the issue. I have to admit the admission price to the larger cartridge was much larger (240.00) than I expected which is why I went with the smaller one (160.00). I think I paid maybe 170.00 for the larger cartridge when I first purchased the machine and the single used to be around 130-140. What happened to increase the cost so much?

[Big Al]

Most places that sell cartridges also accept the empties for credit. Many that are turned in still have toner in them. See if you can get a used cartridge from the store you bought it from and try that. HP does guarantee these cartridges so you could also call them. The local HP Certified shop could also test it for you. Look in the phone book. Everything costs more these days. A good laser printer is still a great tool to have.

Al

[dnades]

Al,

thanks for the help. I'll let you know how it resolves.

john

[MichaelTech]

Light print is mostly a H/V issue or a scanner issue. Going light then dark, then light again would idicate either of these two. Try a firmware update even if same.

[printerguy]

Hopefully it is not a H/V problem...

I have heard rumours of counterfeit HP toner cartridges from China...
So, I would have to think that could be a bad toner cartridge.

I have been repairing HP LaserJets for about 25 years and have yet to see a P3005 have a fade problem.

I have noticed recently that some newer cartridges seem to print lighter as time goes by.
I never before had a worry about shelf life of an OEM HP toner cartridge, but now I am not so sure.

[dnades]

So this cartridge has actually been working of late. It prints the first page rather light but readable then successive pages get darker until normal. No more thin gray lines when printing 30 pages or so. I have shaken the cartridge a couple of times and this seemed to have helped but it could merely be coincidence. This was the last cartridge in a Staples store so I hope that the quality of HP cartridges aren't going downhill like printerguy suggests. That would really stink. What is H/V?

thanks for all the feedback and info. :)

[cs_steve]

Here's a tutorial we wrote on light print for LaserJets, covers possible causes, solutions.

http://www.printertechs.com/tech/tutorials/cleanscanner.php