HP LaserJet 4M -- Yipes! Black stripes!

William-

There appears to be a downloadable manual a third of the way down the page at

It isn't clear whether you have to download three parts, or if all three entries are the same.

Fred

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in news:heydnRWaCc2EgRzanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

check alt.binaries.e-book.technical...

Another nice one. Thanks.

is

I agree. Really strange.

This is one of those cases where it's more important to get the thing working, than -- as much as I would like to -- fully diagnose the problem.

Hey, that's neat. Thanks. Hopefully, I won't have to ask for a handhold.

When you consider how many of these things are out there, probably every thing that 'can' go wrong with them 'has' gone wrong. Why wouldn't there be symptom/cause info available? Further, the engine in these printers are very similar to others.

That said, my HP 3200m's (two of them) have a model specific, known, fault which reared it's ugly head even before I got them. I spent $25 on phone support and they sent me two new BIOS cards Next Day Air for no additional charge. However, now several years later, one is showing the same symptoms as before. So far, I can cycle power and clear the '79 Service Error' condition, but I expect when it finally won't go away I'll look for a new printer/fax/copier/scanner unit.

They've been pretty good to me, considering the investment of around $125 for two.

jak

Likely it's downloadable from HP's site. All the ones I ever needed were. Actually 'having' the service manual is a joy on this sort of gear.

Otherwise, just start unscrewing things....

jak

Yes, if it's ever worth the 2 cents.

I see that you're stil as stupid as ever.

maybe wher you work works that way. HP doesn't.

More bad advice from Jamie.

Why don't you create news:sci.electronics.just.replace.the.damn.thing so you'll be right, once in a while? :(

I have been maintaining several LJ4s 5s and 6s for our office and the best place I found for information and parts is.

They mainain individual parts and kits for most of these older HP printers and have been able to diagnose many problems over the phone.

Parts and kit prices have also been excellent.

Dave22

I see I must create a filter for here also to cover you, asshole.

For your information. We had one of those units at work and had it repair a few times for that exact problem. I never knew it was in the owners manual how ever, since we have a service tech that comes in for us to handle those things. It's sitting happy in a land fill some where or maybe recycled into some chinese product by now.

That's right, you illiterate piece of crap. Anyone who disagrees with you is an 'asshole'.

You still can't read. The error codes were in the SERVICE manual, and the fact that YOU can't keep an item working doesn't mean that everyone else is incapable of repairing the same model, for the same problem. In other words: IF YOU CAN'T GIVE USEFUL ADVICE, SHUT YOUR BIG MOUTH.

If the lines are horizontal when looking at a portrait page, then it's probably not the toner cartridge. It could be the laser, or HV supply, or any number of other things. I would get another laserjet 4 and do some parts swapping. These printers are so cheap and easy to find that it's not worth spending a lot of time on, or buying a service manual. The toner cartridge is the most common problem. If you get another with a bad toner cartridge (vertical lines is the most common failure), then you can fix it with your good toner cartridge.

If you get a regular 4, you can swap the postscript SIMM into it to turn it into a 4M. Don't get a 4+ because they are different and won't work with the 4M's SIMM. Andy Cuffe

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com

Thanks for the info. (The problem is solved. Keep reading.)

The service manual (which I found for free) insists that the problem is with the printer -- the cartridge is not listed as a possible cause. An expert on the HP forums is equally adamant that it's the toner cartridge.

I was leaning toward the printer, because I'd misunderstood how this particular laser engine works. I assumed the points on the drum the laser discharges print as white. They don't -- they print as black. (The toner is charged and is repelled by the charged areas on the drum.) This pretty much eliminates the possibility that the printer engine is at fault -- at least in terms of intermittent laser drive. The loss of drive would cause white streaks, not black.

So...

I schlepped the printer to "The Printer Guys" in Everett. Nice folks -- they popped in a known-good cartridge, and two streak-free test pages popped out. I then put my cartridge back -- and got a bad page. Barring some weird coincidence where the printer suddenly "decided" to work for the "alien" cartridge, I'd found the problem.

I stopped by Staples yesterday afternoon and bought a 98A. It works.

I might add that the existing toner cartridge was several years old, and had been purchased "reconditioned". Before I return it to HP (there's a free-shipping label in the box), I might open it up and try to get a better understanding of what goes on inside.

By the way... The cartridges are now made in China, but HP still charges the same price as when they were made in Japan. HP is currently selling the P1006 LaserJet for $100 -- the same price as the 4M cartridge.

Yes that P1006 may only be $100 but like your toner cartridge it is made in China. Old HP gear seems to be quite reliable hence why your toner cartdige was made in Japan, but I haven't been too happy with HP over the last few years. They have changed their mindset from making a quailty product that will last to a cheap product you can throw away. We studied about HP in school and in the book they showed a guy standing on the HP 812c telling the engineers that the customer doesn't want a printer that can support the weight of a man. They want an inexpensive product. Well my printer happens to be an 812c so I don't think I will be upgrading anytime soon. I want a tough printer. The new ones definately are not.

That's no doubt a volume quirk, as much as any other conspiracy view. Back in the last century, they were selling those toner cartridges like hot cakes. Now they sell like buggy whips.

Where I have had reasonable success is trawling through stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, ARC, etc. to find toner cartridges for my HP LJ III and HP LJ 4L. They are usually still-sealed packages ("NOS") and the prices are usually $5-$10.

(And, while you're there you might find an HP LJ printer! That's how I came by my $15 HP LJ 4L. Wednesday was "Half-Price Electronics Day".)

My take on it is: the HJ LJ printer owner finally tosses the failing printer or felt deprived by not having a color printer, or , or , and sent the supplies along to the second-hand store.

Sure beats the $40 --> $150 I see Googling for these toner cartridges.

Jonesy

I used to have a couple of LJ IIIs, but now run a 4. I have heard a story, which agreed with my experience, that LJ III toner cartridges were deliberately designed with rubber wipers that distorted after a few years, to discourage their refilling by third parties. I know I opened two still-sealed cartridges for my III and found they produced vertical streaks.

In any case the LJ III was only 300 dpi while the 4 is 600, so I would never go back. Combining parts from two machines, for a total cost of $35, got me a nice reliable printer.

Alan

Our purchasing dept then thought to have made the savings of the year when they acquired a bunch of HPLJ5s instead of the recommended HP4s. After a week, it was found out in the offices, that this printer had trouble with large files.

Regards, H.

Though that could be an uncorrectable firmware problem, it might also be that they don't have enough memory. Can you add more?

I had opposed the purchase of HP5, because that one appeared to me as a home use device rather than for heavy office use, but reason could not compete with the possible savings. Then I just had PC Mag in front of me where the flaw was reported, when a mate entered "Hey, my printer doesn't print." Whereupon we proved, that the report in PC Mag was correct, indeed :-). About ten or so years ago. Sorry, don't rermember more. Ours were probably dumped.

Regards, H.