HP p4014n error code 51.10 - printer dead

Hello,

Just seeing if y'all might have some insight to a strange problem I've started having with one of our printers. This printer is just over a year old, purchased in Jan 2011. It is a moderately heavy printing area on the factory production floor. (crud abounds)

I first got the call that the printer had a 51.10 error on the screen and had stopped. The error indicates that the printer has "lost beam detection". I pulled the toner, turned the printer off, pulled the power plug for a bit, zipped it back up and it started working for a while. We were able to limp along with this issue popping up, then being resolved as above for about a day and a half. I saw a post somewhere that seemed to indicate that it could be related to the toner cartridge. So I've put a new cartridge in it. These are remanufactured cartridges, not HP branded new; though the printer does report it as "HP genuine".

The posts I've seen indicate that the laser unit needs to be replaced. I'm supposing that is no trivial operation.(?) What I'd like to know is what might be other potential causes or contributors, since we were able to limp along for a while, as above? I know HP is pretty snotty about 3rd party toner, and understandably. Might that have been an issue?

Thanks

Lasers going bad on that model are pretty common.

Remanufactured toner will cause you a lot of issues and can even cause a couple different error codes, but 51.10 isn't one of them. Replacing the laser really isn't that difficult. Once you remove the top cover, the laser is right there staring you in the face.

Remanufactured toner, good or bad, I have seen both, are only an issue if the printer is still under warranty and the tech comes to your place to fix it.
Al

We stock the laser scanners at PrinterTechs -- phone# 866-352-7108. It's really not that difficult of an install. It sits directly underneath the top cover.