Have an old HP LaserJet 5L that is streaking on the page. The streaks are horizontal [perpendicular] to the paper path.
At first, I thought this was happening as the printer cartridge was running out, but upon putting in another one and only getting 1 clean page, the printer is right back to streaking.
Anybody know what it takes to clean?
Don't say, buy a new one. Two reasons: this one "works" and anybody that knows me knows better than to say 'go buy something else'
Also, I have to only put one sheet of paper in the paper feed, else ALL the paper goes through at once.
When my 5L started feeding multiple pages, I took it to an HP authorised service place, and they had to install a replacement pick-feeder (sp?), at some non-negligible cost of parts. At the time it was marginally worthwhile compared with buying a new printer. I doubt it would be now. Also, a few years later, the 5L just quit.
I seem to remember that the printer had (unusually) defeated my attempts to figure out how it comes to pieces.
Which side of the paper? The printed size or the back?
The 5L and 6L are not the best printers. After a while, they do try to feed more than one page at a time. There are replacement kits for fixing this on eBay and elsewhere:
Do *NOT* buy the abomination HP devised to fix the problem (PN
5969-8695). They're easier to install, but don't work very well. If you sent your printer to HP for repair, that's what you received.
Gray smears, on the printed size of the page, perpendicular to the paper path, are usually caused by the toner cartridge being left in the sun, where the selenium drum has received a sunburn. It can't be fixed except to replace the cartridge. Measure the distance between the smears. If it happens to equal the circumference of the drum in the toner cartridge, there's the problem.
However, since you tested two cartridges, it's unlikely that both would have the same problem. Another possible source of streaking is a toner clogged transfer roller RF5-1534 (which is usually included in the rebuild kit). This usually makes smudges on the back side of the page, but if saturated with toner, can also dump some on the printed side:
If the vertical spacing between the smudges is roughly equal to the transfer roller circumference, there's the problem.
Another possible source of smudges is toner encrusted on the rubber feed roller inside the fuser assembly. This is difficult to see without tearing the printer apart. This usually makes smudges on the back of the page.
For better advice and some parts, see:
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
There are several ways the perpendicular-streak symptom can be generated. It can be a power or gain fluctuation in the laser drive (this is rare). It might be a faulty corona discharge wire/connection; if you can identify the HV contacts you can clean those with isopropyl alcohol. it can be a light leak (easy to check, just make test pages in the dark). And, if toner has made a dirty streak on the toner cartridge in the past, it MIGHT have transferred a dirty stripe to the fuser roller. Repetitive streaks tell you the circumference of the roller that causes this kind of problem. I've had some luck (not much) cleaning photoconductor drums with Scotch tape; stick the tape over the deposit, then lift the tape off and hope the deposit comes with the tape. Any roller OTHER THAN the photoconductor can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol.
For paper feed, clean the pickup rollers (rubbery things that drag the top sheet of paper) with isopropyl alcohol.
Slight correction. The HP LaserJet 5L does NOT use a corona wire. It has a "charge roller" inside the toner cart which does the same thing as a corona wire (apply a charge onto the drum, and later switch to AC to remove any residual charge).
A picture is worth 1000 Google searches:
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# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
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Cigarette smog is a big problem with laser optics. When I get a laser printer that is covered with brown tobacco crud, I have to also tear apart the laser scanner and clean the optics. It's even worse on a copier or scanner where I have to clean the mirrors. My worst case is an auto repair shop, where exhaust fumes and oil gets into everything.
Another day in laser printer hell. This has nothing to do with the OP problem or the HP 5L, but might be amusing. I was working on an HP LaserJet 4300dtn that had shredded the fuser driver gear (a common problem and easy fix). Everything was working fine, until I decided that the top cover needed cleaning (from my toner loaded fingerprints). I spray on some 409 household cleaner, and get interrupted by a phone call. About 2 minutes later, I finish the call, spray on some more and wipe. I then run a test print and the output looks like disaster. Very little black, lots of lengthwise streaks, and a very panicky customer. What happened is that the design of the 4300 top cover directs any fluids sitting on top directly into the overpriced toner cartridge. Pulling the cart confirmed that I had poured cleaner inside. Fortunately, 409 almost totally evaporates, so it was just a matter of printing some pages, shaking the cartridge, and printing some more. After about 30 minutes and 30 pages, it was back to normal.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
LOL!. I used to do a lot of industrial clients. Steel cutters and shapers, platics, rubber etc.. None of the stand alone lasers or networked suffered cig smoke because it wasn't permitted in the office area. But access to the offices was directly available to the plant. So the smoke and fumes little as they may be directly influenced printer optics. Probably any laser printer but 99% we sold were HP. One steel shaper plant that cut specific shapes used magnetics to lift steel plate and put them into the plasma CNC. The office complex attached to the building was steel studs behind drywall. You could see the stud patterns on the outside of the drywall outlined from metal particles being attracted to the now magnetized studs. That was the first fiber job I did. Ethernet wouldn't work with the high level of EMF to some workstations 150 at the back end of the shop. So out of the server room came fiber from the then 10 mbit HP hub with fiber transducer ports. I later upgraded to 10/100 once we weened them off of Novell. The environment in the office area was hell. Every time I got a call and the CEO saw me you could see $$$$$ signs steaming off his head. Nothing I could do about it except answer the service calls and respond. I had a Safari van with bins full of replacement parts and usually didn't have to order stuff. They were completely dependent on CAD going to their CNC stuff as their orders came in.
Thank you for your excellent replies. Google had not provided access to the usenet groups, for some unknown reason, until now.
Arfa Daily had kindly forwarded the frist responses that got me started.
Again, the symptom: The streaks were only on the print side, well sometimes backside too. Thought cartridge was going low and this was a symptom so just put up with the streaking. Cartridge went so low that white regions started to appear, so put in another cartridge and the FIRST page was as good as ever [terrible, with low contrast, but readable] Then it started streaking on the print side also. The treaks appeared to be from a fairly small diameter roller. Dark bars, not necessarily a repeated pattern, but at least every 3/8 to 1/2 inch.
So based upon excellent suggestion, I wiped everything I could get at from the opening of cartridge access with water. Tremendous amount of black toner came out. Took 4-5 paper towel sheets before started being less. Never touched the cartridge. Should I? After reassembly: put back in cartridge and shut door, nothing worked for a while, made horrible grinding noises even. Thought wet so waited when kept doing that, reseated cartridge, closed door, and now, the printer works and the print appears to be better, less streaking. But still there.
Will keep trying since I've learned I don't damage it much.
I help maintain a few Google Groups mailing list. Same problem there. Basically, they stopped forwarding messages about 3 days ago. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the time off from not having to clean up the mess left by users. Some day, they'll learn the difference between reply to list and reply to sender.
Back side could be crud on the rubber pressure roller in the fuser roller assembly. This is difficult to see and clean without tearing apart the fuser assembly. It can also be toner all over the transfer roller, which is directly under the toner cartridge drum. Don't touch this with your fingers as any grease will cause toner to stick to the foam roller. What you need is a rebuild kit, which includes the transfer roller.
A strip on the printed side can be anything in the paper path that's encrusted with toner. If it's dead center, it's the rubber feed roller. It can also be the toner cartridge or encrusted toner on the fuser heater surface.
Ok. I decode this as starting on the back, and then becoming a problem on the print side. It usually works the other way around, but if you have a mess of toner splattered all over the guts, it might get stuck on the rubber pressure roller in the fuser, before it migrates elsewhere.
If they don't match any of the rollers, then it's a blob of toner that has been spread out by the pressure rollers.
Not my suggestion. Wiping just moves the toner around. You also can't see it very well with all that black plastic. The right way is to blow it out with compressed air. The tiny cans of compressed air don't do well with printers. I use an air compressor (with a water filter) and blow gun.
Hint: Some toner is magnetic can be collected with a magnet. However, the 5L toner isn't so don't bother.
However, if you've been running the printer with toner all over the guts, you probably have some melted toner in odd places near where things get hot. Pull the fuser and clean it out with a plastic or wood scraper.
Yech. There's your problem. Well, not exactly. It's not the toner that came out that's the problem. It's the stuff still inside, that melted and is now all over the moving parts that's the problem. Tear it apart and do a proper cleanup job.
It's empty. Why bother? Get a refilled cartridge or do it thyself.
Encrusted toner broken loose and now grinding it's way through the gears. Remove the covers, remove the fuser, and do a proper cleaning. Download the service manual for instructions.
You managed to get the transfer roller wet. Therefore, the toner sticks to the transfer roller, not the toner drum. It will dry out eventually, and return to some semblance of normal.
Personally, I consider the 5L a loser even when it's working normally. It's too slow, low resolution, and tends to jam often. I would put it out of its misery and get something better. Favorite (used) printer of the week is the HP2200dn (after fixing a design defect):
About $80-$150 on eBay.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Thank you for the fixyourownprinter website! Registered and found the manual
I agree the 5L is a piece of garbage. The worst contrast I've ever seen. However, I inherited the free LaserJet 5L from a client. The printer contained a cartridge, plus had an additional sealed cartridge. Can't refuse such a bargain. Use it attached to the Win98 for the occasional hard copy (rare requirement) Thus, my budget for a great printer is zero. Also the same client had 6 of these printers in storage to be trashed. They upgraded to a whizbang HP printer on their network, which even printed B size sheets.
I'll keep working on this to see if anything comes up that was the obvious focus of failure causing the streaks. So far, it's like I just wiped out the interior (which had little toner dust) and the rollers (which were solid with toner) May have simply stumbled over the repair solution.
Using the manual from the URL, just printed a Test Page, which only has horizontal bars [streaks was a bad description] on print side, with a pattern repeating every 3 inches.
Each edge of paper has about 3/16 inch uniform ...nevermind, looks like a 'frame' around the print, part of the Test Page.
At least now I can use this printer, then fax to increase contrast.
Any idea fwhich roller is responsible for the bars?
Moe knows his printers. Of course, we've disagreed on one or two issues.
Sometimes, I wish I could do the same. I have the really bad habit of dragging bargains home from the recylers or thrift shops. All are in need of "just a little repair". All too often, the repair costs dearly in time and money. When done, I have a working piece of junk. Like drugs, just say no.
Sigh. Another dinosaur.
My kind of client. A long lost customer grew from a tiny one person retail establishment, to a major online and brick-n-mortar retailer. During the growth, the owner was always worried about the latest upgrade failing in some way that required reverting to the previous computah system. So, he would either continue to operate the old system, and store the earlier systems, in working condition. As late as 2000, I was tinkering with a S100 (Compupro) system. He never had to go back to the old system, but the security it offered made the effort worthwhile.
Junk the Windoze 95/98/ME boxes. W2K is worth saving. Or, just run a small footprint Linux:
If you can wipe toner from the printed page, then the fuser is not doing its job. It melts the plastic dust into the paper. If that's not happening, the fuser is a problem.
Judging from the list of symptoms, the printer has multiple problems. So far:
Toner mess inside.
Fuser not getting hot.
Dead toner cartridge.
Encrusted toner on rollers.
Melted toner on the fuser pressure roller.
Toner overloaded pressure roller.
Possible paper jam (all LJ 5L/6L paper jam).
I just hate to see a grown man suffer. Defenestrate it (and be sure to make a video as it hits the ground).
Measure the spacing exactly. 3 inches would be a roller with about a
1 inch diameter (divide the spacing by Pi). I don't have a 5L handy to measure the various rollers, but find a roller with the proper diameter. It's not the feed roller as that appears dead center along the length of the page. At 1" my guess(tm) would be the hot roller in the fuser.
Yep. There's a white area around the lines where the printer doesn't print.
Ummm... clean it out first.
Whichever one is about 1" in diameter. Hard to tell from here and I don't have a 5L handy.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
On Jul 4, 4:25=A0pm, Jeff Liebermann wrote: ....snip.....
...snip....
I like the way this guy thinks. Don't EVER move from point A to point B without the ability to move back to point A.
Back in the 70's [I think] RCA (or was it GE?) had a recipe for an RF transistor that was 'knock your socks off' fast, low noise, low power {for RF] and cheap to make. It was head and shoulders above any competitor. As you can imagine the demand was incredible. To gear up Production, the Management built a huge facility with the required increased through-put capability across the street from the smaller, original facility. Not sure why, or how, but the original line was shut down and dismantled before the new line was operational, probably to save a few coins on the furnaces and clean room equipment to be used in the new facility. Starting up the new facility, it NEVER produced product that recreated the specs of the original transistor, could never make transistors as fast, anywhere near the low noise, and there was essentially no yield out of any run. In other words, they had lost the recipe. It is my understanding that no one ever found out why. Since they had dismantled the original facility, there was no way to even go back to making smaller quantities to keep hold of the market. Thus, I always hear ringing in my head, "Don't move from point A to point B, destroying point A. You may need to return to point A."
In this case, it was well handled and worthwhile. However, there are times where it doesn't work. Also in the 1970's I was working for a marine radio manufactory that had a similar mentality. Whenever something went wrong, instead of fixing the problem, someone would always suggest going back to the old way of doing things. For example, when the fancy new Swiss made wave soldering machine decided to make a mess of the PCB's, instead of fixing the problem, someone suggested resurrecting the ancient solder pot out of storage. It took considerable effort to convince them that there may have been a reason why it was buried in storage. As soon as the new wave solder machine was back in action, I was more than happy to assist in emptying the old solder pot, and delivering it to the local scrap dealer. This was not done to recover the cost of the solder pot, but to prevent mis-management from ever making a similar suggestion. Several other upgrades were followed by intentionally disposing of the old junk to prevent similar incidents.
I have another customer, with a particularly ancient computer system, that prints out every invoice, transaction, inventory, etc on a daily basis. The toll on paper and printers is severe. So much for the paperless office. However, when the computer crashed, and they were down for several days while I tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together out of sparse backup tapes, they were able to continue operating from the paper copies. According to the owner and staff, it made the paper pile worthwhile.
Last year, one of my former customers went with a cloud computing service, dumping me in the process. No loss, but I made sure that the old system was still functional, even if it wasn't being used (or paying me). Sure enough, there have been several "regrettable incidents" that shut down the whole company, and required temporarily resurrecting the old system. A more spectacular example was another company, that did something similar, only to get audited by the Feds. They needed reports from the old system, which they stupidly gave me to recycle, but instead which I stored for a few months. Premonition I guess.
These days, I don't work on any machine that I don't first make an image backup of the hard disk. When I'm done, I make an other. Cheap insurance.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
On Jul 5, 11:26=A0am, Jeff Liebermann wrote: ...snip...
p
Jeff,
I have an OS on an ailing HD. Some key pieces of the initial installations are missing -- sloppy storage and record keeping. For archive functionality would like to be able to run the PC from time to time. The idea is that while HD is working copy it quick.
Is there any free software that will take an image of a relatively small HD (20GB, I think), place it in a region of a larger HD (say,
40GB), then later move the saved 'image' back onto the proper sections of a similarly sized HD?
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