Major print quality issues - M477dfw

[SJwest]

Hello all,
I am close to pulling my hair out trying to fix this printer. I love it and have used it a good bit but this problem is just crazy.

Last night I attempted to print some colorful flyers for a work request I received, as I provide printing services for larger batch jobs for some community organizations where I live for a little side income. The resulting prints had a serious problem with the quality where there was intermittently faded sections in horizontal bars and sometimes vertical spots with no color at all. (Img 1 - https://i.imgur.com/kj7TDm0.jpg) - if you are like me you'll see this and think it's really bad and is just totally unacceptable for a paid printing job....but just wait!

I took some time this morning and checked out my toner carts - all looked fine though on of them had some scratch on the charge roller, it was in the center of the roller and it was only the red cart. I wiped down the drums and saw no real change, so I swapped some out with older ones I had, similar problem. So this suggests it is a component inside. So after doing some digging it seemed like the Intermittent Transfer Belt was a likely candidate, so I spent a few hours tearing the printer down, cleaning the belt with some clean napkins and a mixture of 60/40 IPA:Water. As I was doing all this I was pretty confident this was the right thing to do because the ITB was disgusting and so was the blade and sponge. So, I cleaned all very well taking care to have nitrile gloves on the whole time and to block the belt from excessive light when possible (it was exposed to light for maybe 20 minutes and that is a high estimate, shouldn't be enough to ruin it). Confirmed the belt was completely free of any/all defects.

Reinstalled it and put everything back together and my prints are significantly worse. There are now whole sections of the page with no ink, colors that weren't problematic before are now a major problem, there are huge streaks down the sides of some pages, "ghosting" is also happening in the lower left corner on SOME prints.

Color prints post-cleaning - https://i.imgur.com/SCQhLua.jpg

Here is the really crazy thing about all this - I can print 20 pages of just text, and it all comes out PERFECTLY, but if I print an all black and white image, it looks like crap.

Black text and picture post-cleaning - https://i.imgur.com/UbeCuiW.jpg?1

After a little more troubleshooting I did a "mid-way" stop test and can see that the issue does appear to be that not enough toner is getting on the ITB as the defects are on the ITB before it meets the paper. That said, if I change the paper type settings in Windows to be for high glossy paper it looks much better, but still poor. 

It really seems to be something about the density of toner because if I print a page with like size 48 font on it it does show some fading. 

I logged into the back end on my computer and see some intermittent errors for "Color plane registration sensor error - 54.14, and "Page too complex" - 21.00

Is it possible I just reassembled the printer improperly somewhere?

Here are some other details that may be pertinent -
- I am using knock-off toner carts, but this has never been an issue in the past
- I have run the self-cleaning system multiple time (pre and post-cleaning)

- I have run the self-calibration procedure multiple times since cleaning

- I have updated the firmware
- I have reset the whole printer to stock (then re-updated after it didn't work)

- I have printed from different programs and from a USB drive directly (no difference)

Please help!

[ShlomiL]

Hi,

Please click the Setup icon on the printer and select Reports, then print a Supplies Status Report.

Please include a picture of the printed report to get a better understanding of any possible cause.

Shlomi.

[SJwest]

Thank you for you response. Here is the supply status report:
The repeating blue dot down the center is due to a known scratch on the drum in that cart.

Interestingly, the colors on this form print totally fine.

[Repairatrooper]

Page too complex errors are caused when you try to print a job that requires more memory than your printer has installed. 

Sadly all too often we see issues with off brand cartridges and it is mostly due to the fact that many are drill and fill cartridges that reuse the drum and mag roller from the orignal cartridge and this can  lead to defects due to aging and wear on these components. As well marginal quality cartridges will often show no defects in normal printing but in heavy color jobs where exact voltages are required to ensure proper toner distribution are where the defects show up. The resistance of the components is no longer in spec and that leads to voltage drops that cause light printing. 

A basic step you can take is ensure that the printer is plugged directly into a wall outlet and that there are no other heavy current draw items like heaters or air conditioners on the same circuit.

You can also try cleaning the color registration sensors, they are located at the front end of the transfer belt, just inside the front door you open to remove the toner cartridges.