4600 dn laserjet is printing faint lines

[jtsoldme]

Hi there,

My 4600 dn laserjet is printing faint lines down the page from top to bottom.  I recently bought new (refurbished) cartridges from Cartridge Wold and it appears that three out of four are doing the same thing.  When you open up the cartridge to look at the roller, you can see uniform lines around the roller, which are causing the lines on the page.  I had returned a cartridge to Cartrige World for this problem before and they tech thought it was a problem with the cartridge.  Now that it's happening on several of the cartridges, I'm wondering if it is something with the printer, not the cartridges?  I hate to pay retail for brand new factory ink cartridges, but I suppose I will if I have to.

Thoughts?  I'd love to hear some insight before I shell out more money on cartridges.  Thanks for your help!!

-Jay T.

[Compman55]

What you need to do is determine if the problem is the scanner/laser or the toner cartridge.  This is very easy to do.

Place all toners in their correct slot.  Print a test page and observe the color bands at the very bottom for lines.

For each color you see a problem with you will need to swap that toner into a slot that IS NOT having any problem, but first you need to go into the diag menu and disable the cartridge check feature.  This will allow the printer to print the wrong color without knowing.

So to clarify with an example.  I have the same 4650dn printer, I have missing lines down the right side on only the black toner.  I printed a test page and saw the problem with only black.  I disabled cartridge check feature and swapped cyan with black.  I reprinted the page and saw the problem has followed the black cartridge.

If you swap and the problem does NOT follow the toner, then you will need to remove the laser scanner from that slot and service it.  This is very detailed and the entire printer needs to come apart.

There is nothing you or your printer is doing wrong, its the fact that we have idiots remanufacturing toners without replacing worn parts.  Our printers print the toner directly onto the paper using a surface charged electrostatic belt.  Other manufacutres print on an intermidiate belt first, then onto the print media.  This is easier on the drum. 

If you find your toners are faulty, but NOT out of toner, force the company you bought them from to swap them out for free.  If they won;t you will need to obtain a good one off ebay and refill it yourself each time until it also wears out.  Keep in mind a drum is good for only 2-3 refills at best, reman companies push them farther which is what you are finding out.

[Compman55]

http://www.printertechs.com/toner.php

Try these guys.  They will not sell crap.  I beleive they source these out but have reasearched the rebuild process as to not damage their own reputation.

[jtsoldme · Accepted solution]

Thanks!  I've tried it out and it does appear to be the cartridge.  I have not had a problem with the vendor in the past.  They're probably having a different sub do the refurbishing. 

[jtsoldme]

Thanks again.  Will do!

[Compman55]

Glad to hear it is the toner cart.  Laser scanner problems are very rare.  Other than the 13.09.00 top jam error, these printers are very durable.  Does yours also jam in the top cover when you try to print a full 8.5x11 photo on plain paper?

[jtsoldme]

No, I have not had that type of jamming problem, thankfully!  The only problems I have ever had with this printer during the 6+ years that I have owned it, have all been printer cartridge related.  I've been very lucky!

Thanks again for taking your time to help solve this problem.  I brought the cartridge back to Cartridge World yesterday and there was no problem getting a new one.  I told him to find a different supplier!

[Compman55]

Shoot me an email if you would.  I would like to send an attachment to you.

[Personal Information Removed]

[David21511]

Here is another possible issue/fix to look at, it worked for me.

My Issus:

I have a 4600 with print outs that has severe magenta and yellow streaking, everytime.  And it left toners on the transfer belt. No issue with Black & Cyan.

The Fix:

I found a doc online from HP saying there is an issue with some of their cartridges. Below is a quote from the doc.

"Each toner cartridge has alienation pegs or pins, which are two sets of twin protrusions on the bottom, leading edge of the cartridge as it is installed into the printer. There are two sets: one set that lines up with the right alienation bar and one set with the left alienation bar. Both sets are used in the alienation process. Older style protrusions were melted down to the proper height during manufacturing and look like a flattened mushroom. Newer style protrusions are cut off now as opposed to being melted. The issue tends to occur with newer cartridges with alienation pins that are not cut to the proper height resulting in some cartridges with alienation pins that are too short."

You can read the full doc here:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjiiYCU2uPRAhVE8mMKHS...

or Google the doc "CLJ4600-4650 Emerging Issue - Magenta Leaking.doc"

So....

I check all 4 of my cartridges and sure enough magenta and yellow have the cut-type pins and it was too short, as compare to the black and cyan cartridges which was the melted type pins.

My fix...

I put a dab of hot glue on the pins of my magenta and yellow cartridges, cut and measure to the same heigh as  my black cartridge.

Wa-La.... My printouts have vastly improved. Although it's not 100%  it's much better.  99% of the streaking are gone.  I will need to play with it some more to see if I can clear it up completely.  Too early to say if this also fixes the toner on the belt. Still some more work to do.

Be warned...

Keep buying new cartridges may not fix the issue.  All 4 of my cartridges are genuine HP, not refilled. It just so happen Magenta and yellow was the cut-type and black and cyan was the melted-type.  cut-type is the newer cartridges.

What a pain ...