Ancient Laserjet 4600 not printing correctly

[TitoPuente]

My ancient HP Laserjet 4600dn printer has worked well for many years. Several months ago, the main logic board in it died, which required sourcing a used component which was installed and brought it back to life.

The test page generated by HPLIP also prints perfectly. It prints cleanly in monochrome, and is connected to the network by the JetDirect card in the printer.

The problem is that when it prints in color from any other application it creates a shadow effect, and this happens with both images and in printed font. This is a new problem, and it did not do this previously.

It prints with the shadow effect from both Windows and Linux when printing images. It prints clean, perfect test print pages from both OS's.

What I’ve Tried:
I’ve tried the PCL6 driver in both Windows and Linux, the universal HP print driver, as well as the generic PCL6 print driver through the CUPS interface. I’ve attempted to install it through the Ubuntu>Settings>Printers, as well as using the HPLIP app, and the behavior is the same in both instances.

It’s clearly a driver issue, but I’m starting to be dis-heartened about the amount of time and money I’ve spent attempting to fix this problem.

My kitchen table and desk are covered in failed print jobs, and any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for checking out the post, and I hope everyone is having a nice Friday.

[Repairatrooper]

Please post a sample of what you are seeing.

[TitoPuente]

Thank you for the reminder.

[Repairatrooper]

Based on the image I would say you have a color registration issue. Print the supplies status pages from the control panel and post that. The upper image shows clear offset and is visible as the result of that page bring composite color. The test page is inconclusive as the colors appear to be pure as does the black text.  The colors do not line up properly, especially you can see the magenta does nor fill the space fully. 

[TitoPuente]

Uploaded. Thank you for weighing in on this, Repairatrooper.

[Repairatrooper]

The picture is not that clears but it appears that your cyan is mis-registered and slighly up. This small offset can cause surprisingly large shifts in print quality. Try running several full calibrations to see if that corrects the issue. If not try a different toner cartridge. Also make sure that nothing is in the cartridge laoding path that might be shifting the cartridge. Toner debris, etc.

[TitoPuente]

>Also make sure that nothing is in the cartridge laoding path that might be shifting the cartridge. Toner debris, etc.

It potentially could be something lodged behind the toner cartridge?  

[Repairatrooper]

It would account for the issue but is pretty unlikely. More likely the cartridge is deformed.

[TitoPuente · Accepted solution]

Running the calibration multiple times fixed the issue.  THANK YOU to everyone who helped me.