HP 4015 Smudging on labels + envelopes

[kadoobiedo]

Hey guys. I've been having smudging issues with a HP 4015 laserjet printer. When you print on labels or envelopes, the toner doesn't fuse correctly to the media and is very easy to wipe away after it prints. This only happens when you print onto labels or envelopes from a computer (both network and physical USB connections). Printing on regular paper fuses correctly, and if you do a paper path test to tray 1 with an envelope it also fuses correctly. So the issue is most likely with the communication between computer and printer (as in something is telling the printer to not heat up all the way for envelopes and labels), but I can't figure out what it is. This is a network printer, so it isn't one specific computer that is having this issue - printing onto an envelope/label from any computer will cause it to not fuse correctly. The fuser is good and it has been swapped with two different OEM fuser's seeing if it made any improvement (which it did not). From the printer control panel, tray 1 is set to envelope (or label, I have tried both settings) and the fuser setting is set to high 1 for both envelope and label. High 1 is the hottest fuser setting available. On the computer side I have tried both having it set to "automatically select" and "envelope/label" for the paper type. It seems like no matter the configuration, the fuser just does not get hot enough for envelopes or labels. And just to reiterate here that if you do a paper path test to tray 1 with an envelope it fuses correctly with no smudging issues. I have also tried setting it to "automatically select" from the printer to no success. My best guess would be a firmware update or driver reinstallation, however the fact that this occurs regardless of the computer that sends the print job makes no sense to me.

It is also important to note that this printer just recently began having this issue within the past month. For the last 1-2 years it has been printing normally on envelopes and labels. Which also leads me to believe that it can't be driver or firmware related but I don't know what else could possibly be causing this issue.

EDIT: I also wanted to add that this printer is normally plugged into a power strip, but I have swapped it to a direct connection to a wall outlet and it has made no improvements. Someone had suggested that it could be environmental factors (too humid/dry) but I doubt this is the case since 1. this only just recently started happening, like I said earlier this printer has worked fine for the last 1-2 years and 2. it's a printer at an office in a middle school - I wouldn't say its too humid or too dry.

EDIT(2): Also also, multiple different brands of labels and envelopes have been tested and they all have this smudging issue. 

[davidzuts]

There is no setting to determine the temp that the computer sends to the printer except for the paper type which determines how fast or slow the media goes thru the printer which will determine how much heat is applied to the toner as the media is fed. When you print envelops or labels you need the computer to tell the printer this is the type of media you are printing on so the printer adjusts the speed of the media. If you still have issues if you go to the print quality menu on the printer and then choose fuser modes you can adjust the temp for each type of media listed. Since envelops and labels are listed media you can increase the temp to a higher level. Since you seem to have tried different setting all  I can recommend is to set tray 1 to heavy cardstock and choose the higher temp in the fuser mode since this setting will move the media the slowest through the printer. Of course you will ahve to tell the printer you are using heavy cardstock instead of labels or envelops.

[kadoobiedo]

Setting it to cardstock made no difference. Do you think it could be the DC controller or the formatter? The only other thing I can think of besides that is either I got 2 bad OEM fusers, or the envelopes and labels they are using aren't good for laser printers.

[davidzuts]

The problem we have here is the paper path test for both items fuses the toner to the media so it can not be the media or the printer. On the other hand choosing the different media choices to change the speed of the media with jobs sent from the computer causes the toner to smear. These two items conflict with each other making me think we do not have all the information or the information we have been given is not correct. Until these conflicts have been resolved hard to give you an answer as to what is causing the issue.

[kadoobiedo]

What would you suggest is the best way to configure the printer? What I think is going on is a conflict between computer settings vs printer settings. Is it best to have the printer trays setup as "any type" and "any size" and have the computer setup as envelope/cardstock/whatever else? Or is it better to have tray 1 on the printer setup as "envelope" for type and "envelope #10" for size and have the computer setup as "automatically select"? 

Furthermore, on the computer side of the configuration, there is more than one area to select what kind of media is being used. After you click print, there's a spot to select the media (pictured below, this is from my computer which is why its set to letter), this has always been on envelope but I have tried changing this to cardstock. I am assuming optimal configuration would have this one set to envelope. In the printer properties menu there's another place where you can select the type of media, and this has the largest list of possible media out of all the sources. I generally have the printer set to "any type/any size" for tray 1 (although in troubleshooting this I have tried changing to envelope on the printer) and then the first part of the printer screen (pictured below) is usually set to envelope and then the printer properties drop-down list of media type is usually set to "automatically select". Again I have experimented with changing all of these but I do have a feeling that I haven't changed them in the correct order, or that some of the options should be left on automatically select - I'm not sure. 

As a side note I was back there today working on this printer and found out that for some reason printing onto envelopes in portrait mode fuses correctly and does not smudge, whereas landscape mode has issues (this isn't a solution because portrait doesn't fit envelopes correctly).

EDIT: I also wanted to mention that I could not find a heavy cardstock option anywhere. I tried cardstock in every place that I could set it as cardstock (from the printer, from the first page of the print screen, and from printer property drop-down list) and I also tried "heavy envelope".

[davidzuts]

To much to digest right now. Just for your information commands from the computer override any settings at the printer but if in conflict the printer will give a message to resolve the conflict. In other words if you say labels at the computer and you have the tray with the labels set as any, the printer will print but use the setting for any paper since the computer driver can not change the media type at the printer. I always recommend setting the tray for lets say labels and then using labels in the driver which means the paper should move at the same speed as it does when you do a paper path test.