black spots on printouts

[Stockwell]

I've had my wonderful new printer a short time. Today, it began leaving black spots and flecks on my printouts. I'm working on an important project with a deadline, of course, and need a soultion as quickly as possible.

[Alex-TATS]

Hi @Stockwell,

It's probably either the toner cartridge or the fuser at fault. You can find out which one by doing a half-page test.

Put paper only in the 100-sheet multipurpose tray 1 and send a print (preferably internally from the printer's menus).

As soon as the paper goes in the printer, open the cartridge to door to interrupt the printing. The purpose of this is to have half of the page stopped before the fuser and half of it after the fuser. If these spots appear before the fuser then it is the toner cartridge that is faulty. If the spots appear only after the fuser then it is the fuser that is faulty.

I hope this helps,

Cheers!

[Stockwell]

I did as you said and now there's a sheet of paper stuck in my printer, somewhere. How is it supposed to come out so I can examine it? Was it supposed to come out? 

So, I cleared the paper jam your instructions caused. Thank you (?) for your advice.

[Alex-TATS]

Yes, it was supposed to get jammed, that was what we wanted. After taking out the paper, you can examine it as I described it to you before. If you don't know if or what part of the paper has passed the fuser, there is another way to tell. Take the jammed paper out and observe it. There might be some areas of paper that the toner is stable/sticked on the paper and other areas that the toner can be removed by just rubing it with your fingers. The first area of the paper has passed through the fuser and the second area of the paper has not. 

Can you still spot the marks? In which area of the paper are they (first or second) ?

[Stockwell]

The sheet of paper was smeared all over and the toner got over my hands as I handled the paper. It was useless as a guide to whatever the problem with the printer is.

I tried to phone HP customer support through a number emailed to me by HP. When I phoned, I was told there was no one qualified to answer me, but someone would return my call immediately. Three hours passed. I called again and was told I had been given the wrong number. I was given a different number/department to call. They told me they had no idea why their number had been given to me as they couldn't give me help. They gave me ANOITHER and the SAME thing happened.

I'm still getting spots on my printouts and haven't gotten a step closer to finding the cause or a solution.

Since this is a new printer and still under waranty, I'm thinking it would be better to simply return the printer, get a refund, and buy an Epson printer. They're supposed to be good and the company offers excellent product support.

[Ulti]

I tried refilling my black toner of HP LaserJet 5550dn and I black spot on the paper when I print

[tysona16]

Thank you for your help.  I was reading through this tread because I am having the issue of the black spots.  I did as you said and the first part of my test page printed properly.  Is it my toner or the fuser that I am having issues with?  Hope this makes sense.  Please let me know.  Thanks again!

Tyson

[Alex-TATS]

Hi Tysona16,

If you pulled the paper out from the front of the printer and it is that part of the page (towards you) that is ok then the faulty part is the fuser. If it is the other way around, then it is the toner cartridge faulty.

I hope this helps,

Cheers!

[actcampbell3108]

Troubleshooting results

I went through your troubleshooting advice (thank you BTW!) and it looks like the results I got mean that the fuser is faulty. That black smudge has gotten increasingly bigger and consistent over the past few months. It typically prints every 2 inches or so down the length of the left margin. So my issue is that now I'm stuck on how to fix this for my boss who runs a small business out of her house...me being the more tech savvy one I'm trying to resolve this for her. HP shows 2 parts for the fuser assembly and shows they both work for her model number. It's an HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fnw model CF377A. So which one do I order or do I have to order both? Any direction for us since we're kind of flying blind? Is there a way to just clean the fuser instead of replacing it? 

[Alex-TATS]

Hi Actcampbell3108,

Thank you for your kind words. There are indeed two different fuser kits for your printer model.

RM2-6436-000CN .... For 220-240 VAC operation (eg Europe)

RM2-6431-000CN .... For 110-127 VAC operation (eg USA)

Choose the correct one depending on yours country voltage (110 or 220 V)

I hope this may help,

Cheers!