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 | HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? P4015 by Stephen  (edited 2/25/10 12:16 PM) reply | + / - | A tech with another company brought an in warranty p4014 into the shop where I work today, (they sell HP, but are not authorized to do HP warranty work), the problem was very light print, according to the tech the test pages came out darker when using tray 1. This printer has had the problem since it was first installed, it now has about 2k pages printed.
The printer was very cold, so some of the original symptoms I saw may have been a result of the temperature of the machine rather than the actual machine failure.
The first set of configuration pages came out extremely light, I then tried using tray 1 and did get slightly darker print. I also noticed that if I opened and shut the top cover the next page printed would be darker then the next two pages, (this printer outputs 3 pages when you print a config page from the menu).
I left the printer sitting for a while and still had problems. I had no parts, so I decided to upgrade the firmware, which actually seemed to help. After the upgrade the pages printed out darker, but this may have been a result of the printer finally warming up.
I tried taping the contact for the charge roller on the toner cartridge, (at least I think that's the one I taped, it was on the side away from the drive hub), I was hoping for all black pages, which sort of happened, the pages were covered in toner, but looked like the toner cartridge was bad and not able to supply enough toner for a good solid print. (according to the tech who dropped the printer off the end user had been sent a new cartridge by HP, and he had also tried a third new cartridge in the printer)
The toner cartridge electrical contacts look good to me.
Another tech showed up and thought the cartridge was bad, unfortunately I do not have a spare.
I did a half self test and all the toner is being transfered from the drum to the paper, (none left on the drum at all).
Currently the print looks the same from tray 1 or tray 2.
I'm mulling over what parts to order, and trying to think of anything else I might try to narrow things down, suggestions appreciated.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by dmzcompute (1/16/09 7:24 PM) reply | + / - | Steven this printer is fairly new and I have only seen a couple. My recomendation would be to call hp asp support and let them tell you what to try since they may have something in their database for this issue but have not issued any notices yet.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Stephen (2/24/09 12:35 PM) reply | + / - | I ended up replacing the DC Controller.
The text looked good afterwards, but The black areas of the built in test pages were not as solid as I would have liked.
I decided the problem with the black areas was probably the toner cartridge, and gave the machine back to the customer.
I have not had any further complaints, so I'm assuming they were satisfied.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (11/20/09 11:51 AM) reply | + / - | I went out today to look at a HP P4014 that sounded like it was having the same problem. Print starts off dark (still light) and gets prgressively lighter. Toner cartridge has been replaced at least twice.
I taped the ends of the cartridge as Stephen did and got a page that was not solid black but more of a mottled appearance - mostly black but still mottled. This action also caused a quantity of toner to be dumped in the printer body behind the registration assy.
I'm headed to the HP printer forums and see what's listed there but I'd suspect the DC controller as well.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (12/9/09 1:31 PM) reply | + / - | I now have two printers with this type of problem. The first one, I replaced the DC Controller but after I left and a day or so later, the problem resurfaced.
Today I brought in another one of these printers and after a few pages, the printing is just awful - on config pages and paper path pages, where the black header is, the black coverage fades and has solid white lines in it plus a mottled appearance overall.
I am beginning to believe this is fuser related and not so much a power supply or DC Controller issue.
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 | Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by moe (12/9/09 2:06 PM) reply | + / - | All the fuser does is heat up and fuse the toner to the paper. How do you think that could cause white lines? That would mean the fuser is somehow removing the toner in a line and eating it. If it weren't getting hot enough, it could cause a mottled appearance, but the toner would rub off. HP's boards are very problematical of late due to the switch to non-lead solder. I wouldn't be surprised if the replacement board is bad as well. Someone was complaining on another thread about a P3005 board failing shortly after he replaced it. We've been fixing a lot of these new boards by baking them in an oven to reflow the solder. Couldn't hurt to try.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (12/16/09 8:39 AM) reply | + / - | I think I may have stumbled upon what's going on with this printer.
The power supply contact at the toner cartridge which supplies the ground for the drum is a thin strip of metal with a raised button embossed into the strip. It sits at a slight angle to the toner and may not be making continuous contact with the toner cartridge.
I'm not an engineer but it seems like a pretty flimsy way of doing things. I am going to see if I can reposition the contact to provide a better ground to the cartridge.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (12/16/09 9:59 AM) reply | + / - | As noted in my last post, this contact IS the problem. After attempting to reshape it somewhat, I got some nice config pages. But when I ran a 50 page paper path test, things went not so well. They started off with a fairy good coverage on the black header but about 3/4 inch in from the margin there is a ~1 inch lighter band which returns to normal across the top of the page. On page 2, the light area becomes ~1.5 inches until eventually with page 50 it consumes the header almost all the way to the block with the HP logo in it.
I am going to try and secure the free end of this contact to keep it from moving. There seems to be enough springiness in the strip to allow the free end to be secured and still be flexible to accommodate the cartridge.
More to follow.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (12/16/09 2:04 PM) reply | + / - | Still no joy! Securing the free end did not help at all. Holding a Q-tip against the strip from behind the button area against the cartridge did not work either.
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| Re: HP LaserJet P4014 Not Enough Toner On Paper? by Zeb_Carter (1/8/10 6:20 AM) reply | + / - | Update: after replacing the fuser, power supply and a transfer roller, the problem still exists. Closer examination of the toner cartridge reveals that the middle of the developing roller is shiny (no toner on it) with toner on each end of the roller. Shaking the cartridge allows toner to be deposited in the middle which lasts for about 3-4 pages before fading. Since the two printers in question are at different locations, I am sure there are different lots of cartridges being used.
Does anyone have a way to check recalls on these cartridges? I would love to get this problem resolved ASAP.
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