Printing problem with HP LaserJet Pro 200 Color M251nw

[dude08]

I have printing problems with my laser printer. The problem only seems to be on the yellow toner. Only on the left side it misses the ink vertically and there is a shift. After three different toner replacements, several calibrations, updates, the problem persists. I have always used generic toners without problems.

[AlS77]

I actually see two problems with  your colors. Besides the yellow, the black is the oddball out as well because the all of the colors are aligning with each other, but the black is not aligned, but only on that same side as the yellow. Normally I'd say that you have defective black cartridge, but since it's only on one side....

As for the yellow issue, it could be any number of issues. I would do different tests to determine more specifically, but:

1. The Yellow cartridge may not be seating fully into the slot in the toner pull-out tray. Possibly a problem with the tray. May also be affecting the black.

2. The ITB (Intermediate Transfer Belt) may not be fully engaging for the yellow to transfer it correctly. It may need replaced. May also be affecting the black.

3. Possible contamination of the yellow laser window blocking the laser beam to the drum on that side. Try cleaning the yellow laser window glass.

Make sure the printer is sitting on a solid, stable, flat surface as well to prevent any printer twisting issue.

[dude08]

Hi,

Thanks for answer so :

- I verify that all toners are correctly placed in the tray.

- I dismounted the tray to clean ITB (exactly like here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC7BsdB3b48)

- I cleaned every toner

And .. still have problem .. it's worse ! I tried to replace yellow toner another time (I have 3 of them now ..) and it's better but not perfect ... Is it possible that my 3 toners are not good ? Idon't think so ... What do you think ?

[AlS77]

Yes, it is possible that the toners you have may all be defective, but if they all exhibit the same problem, the odds of them all having the same issue would be unusual. 

Typically you don't have to clean the ITB, it pretty much takes care of itself. My concern with the ITB may be that the internal mechanism is not lifting correctly to engage the belt to the toner cartridge. The best way to test for that would be to replace the belt, since they are not well suited to be disassembled.

You also shouldn't need to clean the toners either, unless they are getting toner dust all over them for some reason.

I recommended to clean the glass laser windows. They sit directly above each of the toner cartridges inside the top area of the printer. The Yellow being the furthest toward the back of the printer. Use a soft, lint-free cloth. Hopefully you can get your hand in there with the tray removed.

My other concern is the tray may not be sitting properly in the printer when in position and/or the mechanism that lifts the tray up when you close the front door may not be working correctly, thus causing the yellow transfer issue as well as the alignment problem I see on your test page with the small sets of right angle lines in each corner where the one side you can see they are not equally spaced like they are on the other side, the black line being the one not equally spaced. This is a big clue as to something isn't sitting quite right in the printer.

[dude08]

Thansk for your answer so for the yellow probelm you advise me to replace the belt ? Is it complicated, can I do it myself ? Which piece buy and where ? Thanks a lot for your help 🙂

[AlS77]

Well, the belt isn't too terribly hard to replace. But, I also re-read your original post and saw the problem got worse after you took out the toner tray and put it back. It really seems like somehow the tray is not seating correctly. But, it could still be a belt issue.

[east2100]

Before you try to replace anything you can try to Cold reset & NVRAM to see if it helps.

Change the black toner cartridge too if you can.