Pantalica
10-16-2011, 08:23 AM
Recently I bought an HP Color Laserjet 3550 on eBay from a reputable seller. All the toner cartridges were HP originals but the blue and magenta toners were low. The printer worked perfectly and when these toners had nearly run out I bought refill toner from an established company, also on eBay. I refilled the cartridges successfully but I didn’t read the instructions properly and failed to complete the operation which involved cutting holes to remove the waste toner.
I continued to use the printer until magenta smears appeared on the printed output so I contacted the toner refill company for advice, and the problem was immediately identified as excess waste toner. I cut the holes as required and removed the waste toner. The printer worked fine for a few more prints and then the print started to fade on the right hand side of the printed pages. I cleaned and recalibrated the printer and again it was fine for about half a dozen pages and then the problem returned. I removed each cartridge in turn and gave it a shake in case the toner had settled in one end. This didn’t help. I’ve read all the relevant sections of the manuals but my fault isn’t listed. I followed the print quality procedure in the menu and only the yellow page printed properly.
I don’t know much about laser printers, especially colour, and as I was busy and I have another colour printer I left it until I could devote more time to the problem. I decided to tackle the problem today so to remind myself I repeated the cleaning, recalibrating and print quality check procedures, including cleaning the inside of the printer where loose toner had accumulated. Again the yellow page is OK, the magenta page is faded in a sawtooth pattern (half of the “E” vertical band) at the extreme right, the blue is faded (“D & E” bands) for the right third of the page, and the black for about the right quarter(half way between “D & E” to the edge). By faded I mean no colour whatsoever. When I examine the configuration page that is printed after the colour test pages I notice that there is print and colour blocks and bands on that page where there is no matching colour or black on the test pages. I can’t work out what I have done so that the same fault appears on three of the four test pages when all was OK before I cut the waste toner holes.
I really don’t know what to do next. My other printer is quite expensive to run so I’m keen to fix the laser. I’d be grateful for any suggestions that might help. I can include scans of the pages if required. I’ve done a forum search but haven’t found anything referring to my problem. Thanks in advance.
I continued to use the printer until magenta smears appeared on the printed output so I contacted the toner refill company for advice, and the problem was immediately identified as excess waste toner. I cut the holes as required and removed the waste toner. The printer worked fine for a few more prints and then the print started to fade on the right hand side of the printed pages. I cleaned and recalibrated the printer and again it was fine for about half a dozen pages and then the problem returned. I removed each cartridge in turn and gave it a shake in case the toner had settled in one end. This didn’t help. I’ve read all the relevant sections of the manuals but my fault isn’t listed. I followed the print quality procedure in the menu and only the yellow page printed properly.
I don’t know much about laser printers, especially colour, and as I was busy and I have another colour printer I left it until I could devote more time to the problem. I decided to tackle the problem today so to remind myself I repeated the cleaning, recalibrating and print quality check procedures, including cleaning the inside of the printer where loose toner had accumulated. Again the yellow page is OK, the magenta page is faded in a sawtooth pattern (half of the “E” vertical band) at the extreme right, the blue is faded (“D & E” bands) for the right third of the page, and the black for about the right quarter(half way between “D & E” to the edge). By faded I mean no colour whatsoever. When I examine the configuration page that is printed after the colour test pages I notice that there is print and colour blocks and bands on that page where there is no matching colour or black on the test pages. I can’t work out what I have done so that the same fault appears on three of the four test pages when all was OK before I cut the waste toner holes.
I really don’t know what to do next. My other printer is quite expensive to run so I’m keen to fix the laser. I’d be grateful for any suggestions that might help. I can include scans of the pages if required. I’ve done a forum search but haven’t found anything referring to my problem. Thanks in advance.