Problem with very faint print with HP Laserjet printer 4050N. New toner cartridge doesn't resolve problem!

Mel_P

Mel_P

Mel_P

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Yes I know it's a very old B&W printer. I obtained it about 20 years ago for the price of a new HP toner cartridge (about £70).

It has operated very well and has only had one hardware fault previously - the fuser heater failed several years ago. I bought a unit from "the bay" and swapped it and everything was hunkydory again. The toner seemed to be running out recently and the print became faint. So I bought a cheap clone toner cartridge but this didn't improve things. Exactly the some faint print :confused:

I have had a play with it and it does seem to be a hardware fault.

From reading up on how a laser printer works is it possible there is something wrong with the corona charging wires / system? Can these be cleaned? Can't actually see them?

"Corona wires - There is a primary corona wire and a secondary wire or transfer wire. The primary corona wire is important for charging the drum positively, which is necessary for attracting the toner particles to the surface."​


Any early HP laser printer experts out there please? Otherwise it's for the "Printerland in the sky".
 
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Most likely an issue with the high voltage power supply given the age of that model but could also be related to the transfer roller or laser scanner.

Not worth fixing as getting parts for that machine will be a headache and likely expensive!

I would replace it with something more compact :)
 
Thanks - I have a multipurpose HP scanner / colour printer but I just liked having the old (was) trusty, cheap to run, B&W printer. I think you are right - repair is probably not the best path to pursue!

Mel
 
I had a Laserjet too, but a colour one. Moved to a Dell and things got a lot simpler, nowadays everything is super heavy on the software side which causes a bunch of unnecessary issues imo. I couldn't liev without colour but a nice, new altenative sounds ideal for your requirements. Don't buy second hand either as they're so difficult to test before purchase (found this out the hard way to in the past)
 
Mel_P said:
I know it's a very old B&W printer
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bite the bullet and and buy a new priner. ours is ancient too, and we have decided to replace it, just giving it time for a deal to pop! idealy we want one that is happy with 3rd party ink, and not so locked in with being fussy about getting geniune hp ink, it will work eventually with 3rd party ink, but not right away, and it wants to align to a printer page, it's just annoying, and time consuming, cba, I thnk that both our , and your printers have had a good run! just time to move on
 
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