vertical black lines on prints

[chumberger]

There are mulitple black lines running vertically across nearly every page that I print.

[davidzuts]

Since the lines are only in one color that would be an indication the issue is a bad toner cartridge. Remove the black toner and look at the drum. Odds are there will be a black band around the drum where you see the defect which would indicate the wiper blade of the toner cartridge has failed and the toner cartridge will need to be replaced.

[chumberger]

I had already replaced the toner, but I tried a brand new cartridge just to be sure. It did not solve the problem.

[tonerspills]

This looks like a fouled cleaning blade on the transfer belt to me. It's hard to tell from the picture, but cartridge was also a good place to start.

If you take the imaging belt out of the printer, you will probably see waste toner on the black mylar belt. Sadly, once the cleaning blade fails on the belt, you have to replace the whole unit. I've seen this problem many times on the CP4025 and like model. Some times the waste toner auger motor fails, and sometimes it's just the port itself that gets clogged up. I have not had to make these repair on a M553 yet, and they did change up the configuration of the waste toner collection unit some. Here is a link that shows you how to remove the belt, you may want to call HP and see if the printer is under warranty.

http://support.hp.com/hr-en/document/c04661942

Try printing just a few blank pages and see if the defect remains.

Have you printed any adhesive backed mailing labels recently? sometimes they will peel off and stick to the transfer belt, and get carried into the waste toner section and stick on the cleaning blade or ball up in the auger section preventing waster toner from getting carried out.