Laserjet 4M printing problem

[shilkman]

I have a problem on my LaserJet 4M. The BACK of my prints have a faint black speckled scruffy appearance with some vertical streaks and some horizontal banding when I first start a new print run, and which all but disappear after >10 prints have been made.

Inside the printer there is quite a bit of loose toner around near to the spongy (transfer roller?) and the blue/ green roller within the toner cartridge is covered in a light dusting of toner too. I have replaced the cartridge recently with a new HP one, as the old one seemed to have this fault and I thought a new cartridge would fix it, but it hasn't I have had the printer apart and cleaned the loose toner out and washed (and dried!) the spongy roller too but the problem is slowly starting to reappear. Any thoughts?

Regards

[Big Al]

Do a half-page print. Send over a test page or call one up from the maintenance panel. Lift the cover when the paper is half way through the toner cartridge station. It may take a few tries to get this just right. If the problem is there then you have more toner contamination than you thought or the transfer roller is bad. If the image is OK after several tries then the problem is the fuser. Please let us know what you find.

Al

[shilkman]

Do a half-page print. Send over a test page or call one up from the maintenance panel. Lift the cover when the paper is half way through the toner cartridge station. It may take a few tries to get this just right. If the problem is there then you have more toner contamination than you thought or the transfer roller is bad. If the image is OK after several tries then the problem is the fuser. Please let us know what you find.

Al

I have done this. The resulting page has a half inch a dark band half way down the page on BOTH sides of the paper...and then after that general just a general speckling of grey and black. (see pix) So what does this tell me?

[Big Al]

I have worked on a lot of these printers but never saw that problem. It might be the transfer roller, the laser scanner or a power supply issue. Maybe it is time for a new printer? If you could find a 5n you could still use the same toner cartridge. Likely it is going to cost you more to fix that 4M than it is worth unless you can find a working printer and swap parts. A transfer roller does not cost much, the shipping would be more than the part and might be worth a try. If there is an HP authorized shop near you they might give you one to try out of a parts machine. I used the HP4 printers for a long time, do a lot of printing at home. Finally switched to the HP 4000 because it had the option of envelope feeders and duplex. Good luck!

Al

[shilkman]

I have worked on a lot of these printers but never saw that problem. It might be the transfer roller, the laser scanner or a power supply issue. Maybe it is time for a new printer? If you could find a 5n you could still use the same toner cartridge. Likely it is going to cost you more to fix that 4M than it is worth unless you can find a working printer and swap parts. A transfer roller does not cost much, the shipping would be more than the part and might be worth a try. If there is an HP authorized shop near you they might give you one to try out of a parts machine. I used the HP4 printers for a long time, do a lot of printing at home. Finally switched to the HP 4000 because it had the option of envelope feeders and duplex. Good luck!

Al

Well a did a couple of standard test prints after I did the half test print
and they looked okay except for this slight greyness on the BACK of the
print. Anyway I have ordered another transfer roller to see if that will
cure it. I also wondered if it was the new cartridge as the toner shouldn't
pile up in the machine likes its doing? (see pix) It was bought on eBay and I was
once told these things have a finite shelf life?

[Big Al]

Most of those # 98 cartridges are fairly old. Some have been refilled several times and tend to leak. This could indeed be part of your problem.
Our experience is that toner cartridges tend to have a very long shelf life, several years, as long as they are stored in reasonable places that are dry and have moderate temperatures.
Al

[shilkman]

Most of those # 98 cartridges are fairly old. Some have been refilled several times and tend to leak. This could indeed be part of your problem.
Our experience is that toner cartridges tend to have a very long shelf life, several years, as long as they are stored in reasonable places that are dry and have moderate temperatures.
Al

Okay thanks for that. This one looks like a "new HP original" and came in "new" HP packing and was made in China! It shows no signs of having being used before or refilled and has a code "9J5AQ" on it if that means anything??? I did see one post say that it sometimes helps if you leave the printer on for 24 hours after fitting a new cartridge and that seems to have helped a bit. Quite what that does I don't know. Anyway I will see how I get on with the roller when it arrives.

[Big Al]

The cartridge is guaranteed, if it keeps leaking make HP replace it.

Al

[shilkman]

Note sure what you mean by "heads". This is a laser printer and doesn't have a head to my knowledge??

[shilkman]

Most of those # 98 cartridges are fairly old. Some have been refilled several times and tend to leak. This could indeed be part of your problem.
Our experience is that toner cartridges tend to have a very long shelf life, several years, as long as they are stored in reasonable places that are dry and have moderate temperatures.
Al

I have replaced the transfer roller but the printer still produces "dirty" speckled looking pages on their back and is still spilling toner in the paper path, so it looks like its not a transfer roller problem. Maybe I should try another new cartridge?

[shilkman]

try to replace the cartridge, I hope it will solve the problem

Well the current cartridge is only a few weeks old, but yes I have ordered another from a different source this time. I suspect as the paper passes through the printer it is picking up some of the spilled toner on the back of the paper thus giving the "speckled" appearance.

Thanks for your comments anyway.

[shilkman]

try to replace the cartridge, I hope it will solve the problem

I bought a non-HP replacement cartridge and it has fixed the problem. So the moral of the story is "beware of cheap HP cartridges". Now I just have to find out why sometimes the paper is skewing and creasing as it emerges form the printer!