print very light despite full toner cartridge

My HP LaserJet 1100 is 4 years old but has printed
only occasionally and low volume. The toner
cartridge is new.

Problem: print is very light, almost invisible.

I have opened the printer and cleaned the fuser.
It looked clean anyway and there was no
improvement afterwards.
..
Any suggestions? What can be done?


Thanks.


johm

Are you using the correct printer driver, for your operating system? And if
so, have you checked the various options available, in the printer
configuration? It sounds like you may be printing in draft mode, or economy
mode, to conserve toner.

Bill Crocker


wrote in message
ups.com...
My HP LaserJet 1100 is 4 years old but has printed
only occasionally and low volume. The toner
cartridge is new.

Problem: print is very light, almost invisible.

I have opened the printer and cleaned the fuser.
It looked clean anyway and there was no
improvement afterwards.
.
Any suggestions? What can be done?


Thanks.


johm

wrote:
My HP LaserJet 1100 is 4 years old but has printed
only occasionally and low volume. The toner
cartridge is new.

Problem: print is very light, almost invisible.

I have opened the printer and cleaned the fuser.
It looked clean anyway and there was no
improvement afterwards.
.
Any suggestions? What can be done?


Thanks.


johm


Take the cartridge out and rock or shake it side to side to loosen the
toner (gentle does it). The stuff settles and doesn't slide well if
not used and need a little help to loosen so it can fill the slot.

wrote:
My HP LaserJet 1100 is 4 years old but has printed
only occasionally and low volume. The toner
cartridge is new.

Problem: print is very light, almost invisible.

I have opened the printer and cleaned the fuser.
It looked clean anyway and there was no
improvement afterwards.
.
Any suggestions? What can be done?


Thanks.


johm


Are you using a real HP cartridge or some other
brand?
mike

--
Return address is VALID.
500MHz Tek DSOscilloscope TDS540 $2200
http://nm7u.tripod.com/homepage/te.html
Wanted, 12.1" LCD for Gateway Solo 5300. Samsung LT121SU-121
Bunch of stuff For Sale and Wanted at the link below.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/4710/

Thanks to all posters in this thread so far.

The cartridge is new and original HP. It has been
shaken sideways. The light printing occurs under
winxp, win98, HP driver installed, best print
quality set. It also occurs under DOS (WordPerfect
5.1) with high text quality. It also occurs when
printing the self-test page, PC off, only the
printer on.

I am therefore satisfied it is not a software
issue. A friend is suggesting the mirror has to be
dirty (I did not see it when opening the printer).
Any opinion on this point? Where is the mirror in
the first place?

Thanks.

john

HP toner cartridges are relatively self contained, having the corona
wires, toner, magnetic roller, waste toner area, wiper and drum within
the one unit. These are the common parts that may fail.

It is possible the laser itself is failing, or the lens is dirty, but
not as likely as some of the cartridge components are defective. Did
this problem appear as soon as the cartridge was replaced? Did you try
another cartridge and if so what was the result?

Art

wrote:

Thanks to all posters in this thread so far.

The cartridge is new and original HP. It has been
shaken sideways. The light printing occurs under
winxp, win98, HP driver installed, best print
quality set. It also occurs under DOS (WordPerfect
5.1) with high text quality. It also occurs when
printing the self-test page, PC off, only the
printer on.

I am therefore satisfied it is not a software
issue. A friend is suggesting the mirror has to be
dirty (I did not see it when opening the printer).
Any opinion on this point? Where is the mirror in
the first place?

Thanks.

john

Arthur Entlich wrote:

It is possible the laser itself is failing, or the lens is dirty, but

not as likely as some of the cartridge components are defective. Did
this problem appear as soon as the cartridge was replaced? Did you
try
another cartridge and if so what was the result?


The previous cartridge, also genuine HP, started
printing light despite being half full. As a
workaround I printed all text bold. Then for
several weeks I didn't use the printer at all.
When I needed to print again I got almost
invisible print, ny workaround didn't help. A new
cartridge didn't help either.

This is a semi-tropical location close to the sea.
High humidity, marine humidity. Twice a year, I rub
clean with an eraser the contacts of cards and
memory modules. So it may well be that the printer
has some dirt (soot) inside. But where? The fuser
it isn't.

Thanks.

john

[this might be a duplicate, google failed on first attempt]

Arthur Entlich wrote:

It is possible the laser itself is failing, or the lens is dirty, but

not as likely as some of the cartridge components are defective. Did
this problem appear as soon as the cartridge was replaced? Did you
try
another cartridge and if so what was the result?

The previous cartridge, also genuine HP, started
printing light despite being half full. As a
workaround I printed all text bold. Then for
several weeks I didn't use the printer at all.
When I needed to print again I got almost
invisible print, ny workaround didn't help. A new
cartridge didn't help either.

This is a semi-tropical location close to the sea.
High humidity, marine humidity. Twice a year, I rub
clean with an eraser the contacts of cards and
memory modules. So it may well be that the printer
has some dirt (soot) inside. But where? The fuser
it isn't.

Thanks.

john

Hmmm... it could be a bad contact in any location, but look at the
cartridge for the metal contacts and clean them both on the cartridge
and the printer itself. Someone suggested to me it was probably a dirty
Corona wire, but that is less likely based upon your scenario. However,
it could be the Corona wire is not being charged correctly because of
the contact source to the printer. Most printer toner cartridges have
one or more pads, or surfaces which have metal contact points. Make
sure they are all fully clean of corrosion or residues, for either side
of the connection.

Art

wrote:

Arthur Entlich wrote:


It is possible the laser itself is failing, or the lens is dirty, but


not as likely as some of the cartridge components are defective. Did
this problem appear as soon as the cartridge was replaced? Did you

try

another cartridge and if so what was the result?



The previous cartridge, also genuine HP, started
printing light despite being half full. As a
workaround I printed all text bold. Then for
several weeks I didn't use the printer at all.
When I needed to print again I got almost
invisible print, ny workaround didn't help. A new
cartridge didn't help either.

This is a semi-tropical location close to the sea.
High humidity, marine humidity. Twice a year, I rub
clean with an eraser the contacts of cards and
memory modules. So it may well be that the printer
has some dirt (soot) inside. But where? The fuser
it isn't.

Thanks.

john