Print This PageThe Problem Illustrated (and incentive to fix it):
Here is a “before” and an “after” set of photos.
Notice how the “before” image appears washed out and with a distinctive green tint. What magenta (red) there is in the photo is concentrated in the middle; the edges are even more green.
The “after” image looks, well, wonderful.
Some Background and The Usual Warnings
My HP Color LaserJet 2605dn printer is about 16 months old. A few months ago, I noticed that the pictures it printed started looking washed out. I tried changing the magenta cartridge, for all photos seemed to have a green cast. That did absolutely nothing. I figured as much, as the “HP Easy Printer Care” program, and the printer’s internal web pages, said there were several hundred pages left to go on all my cartridges.
Updating the firmware also failed to fix the problem. Resetting the printer to its default settings also accomplished little.
Thankfully, an Internet search turned up an article on FixYa that described the problem exactly. A Google search on “2605 faded colors” also shows articles about it at HP’s website (you’ll have to look at the cached versions of the pages as it seems you need to log in to HP in order to see the actual articles). Update: try this article link which includes a pdf attachment showing the steps, too.
So, since my warranty was up (its only 1 year warranty!), I decided to dismantle the printer to get at the mirrors which are buried deep within the printer - the assumption is that dust has collected on them which prevents the laser reflecting off of them properly.
If you attempt this feat, then:
- Make sure your warranty is up;
- Consider calling HP and asking them about any service notes on this problem
- rumour has it there is one which may get you a free replacement printer
- update 4 Mar 2008: confirmed with HP support in UK that they will pickup, fix and return your printer (or a refurbished one) free
- call 0870-8422339, choose option 2 and then 3, and state your printer serial number
- or, call cheaper on 01344-36000 then ask for technical support for printers
- (thanks to Say No To 0870 for the cheaper phone number!)
- Set aside several hours without screaming kids around;
- Be confident in your technical abilities;
- Don’t rush; and,
- Be very observant of where things are before taking them out.
I took photos at each step of this process for two reasons:
- to put them on this page to aid you; and,
- to refer to them when putting the printer back together to make sure everything was as it should be.
Be Warned:
- You may screw something up and be left with a non-functioning printer. e.g. you might pull a bit too much on a wire and it breaks;
- There are high-voltages inside the printer - You must unplug the printer from the mains before starting any work on the printer; and,
- You undertake all this at your own risk.
(Gosh, you think I grew up in North America or something - over here in Europe we just get stuck into things and damn the consequences!)
Elapsed Time:
I started at 15h30 and got to the optical box at 17h16 — just under two hours; but I was taking photos along the way.
Reassembly started right after cleaning at 17h30 and finished about an hour later (I took a break for dinner and putting my kids in the bath and to bed), so this is approximate.
Preparation:
- Clear space on a desk and give yourself some room to work;
- Send your young kids to grandma’s (older ones can stay but only if they promise to help);
- Ask your wife/husband/partner to make you a lovely cup of tea.
Tools needed:
A Phillips screwdriver (the one with the cross-shaped end);
A pair of pincers to grab screws that are a bit too tucked away to grab with your fingers;
A label maker; I have a Brother PT-65 P-touch “Home & Hobby”
Scissors (to cut your labels to a tiny size, to fit on the cable connectors)
Cotton swabs (”Q-tips”)
Disassembly and Cleaning:
Step 1:
Unplug printer from the mains and detach your USB or Ethernet cable; take out the paper tray and all the cartridges (this makes the printer lighter and easier to handle).
Step 2:
Turn the printer around to look at its back. Remove the paper tray cover at the bottom and the paper holder tray at the top. Both just pull off.
Step 3:
Undo the screws on the back panel, including the one just below the USB and Ethernet ports. Put these screws into their own pile (later you will have another pile for all the screws you take out of the inner panel. Its a handy trick to help you ensure you put back all the screws you take out.
Step 4:
Pull the back panel off gently by holding it at the bottom and tilting it out and up.
Step 5:
Take a photo of the circuit board and wiring — you’ll want to refer to it when putting things back together, just to be sure you have done it all correctly!
Step 6:
Pull the right-hand side (as looking at printer from front) panel off, again it tilts upwards - note the way it slots and clips in (the middle plastic guide at the top of the panel). Remember that for when it comes time to slide it back on later. Gawk at the wonders of the printer. The reason for taking this panel off was to make it easier to pull out the wires from the back later; and because if you’re dismantling the printer, you might as well see how the whole thing looks naked. 
Step 7:
Start taking off the cover of the left-hand side by first undoing the screw that is recessed in the handle/indentation at the bottom of the left-hand side’s panel. Then, pull the beige panel piece off, leaving the larger, grey panel piece for now.
Step 8:
Okay, now take off that grey panel piece by tilting it up and sliding it off (it has the same mechanism as the other side). Gawk again at the wonders of your printer. This is the high-voltage side. If you didn’t unplug your printer as I told you to, then you will be now convulsing on the floor and sporting a new hairdo.
Step 9:
Squint when really close to the circuit board on the back of your printer and you will see that each cable goes into a connector that is labelled something like “J106″. You will soon be taking these cables out and later you will want to put them back in - at the same place!
So, print out labels which you can attach to the cables. My label maker let me print out super-small letters and on two lines. You want small labels because the connectors are not that big. Here’s what I printed out (the ← or Enter or Return key is used to tell the label maker to go to the next line):
J106 J104 J103 J102 J101←
J108 J107 J105 J110
(My label maker wouldn’t let me print out any more than that in one go; so, being lazy, I didn’t bother labeling the very last cable connector).
Then, use scissors to cut each connector name out.
Step 10:
Now, pull each cable connector out, one at at time, and put the correct label onto it.
Step 11:
Carefully detach the data cables, too, and unthread them from the plastic holder (you will soon be taking off the plastic holders). The data cables to the circuit board on the right side of the back panel also pull out quite easily and reveal a hidden screw! I didn’t bother labelling these as the data cables all stayed in the right order when disconnected.
Step 12:
Gently pull out all the cables from the two black cable trays. You’ll see that there are three layers of cables: thicker power cables in their own clips, and two bunches of thinner purple cables with some zip fasteners around them every so often. Its a bit of a (un-)weaving exercise…
Step 13:
Pull the empty trays to the side to unfasten them and then take them out completely - be sure no stray wire gets snagged by them!
Step 14:
Unscrew the back panel - no need to undo the two circuit boards themselves - they are both attached to a larger metal panel. Note that there is one screw that is in horizontally on the top-left (this is why you took off the side panel!). Note that your printer may not have the extra memory card inserted as I have in mine (see picture).
Step 15:
Pull out the back panel with the two circuit boards on it. Be sure that no cable is snagged, or left attached.
Step 16:
Ah-ha! There it is! That is the optical box we’ve been working so hard to find! Three more screws and we’ll have it…
Step 17:
Okay, you found the two screws holding the optical box at the top; but where is the third screw that I mentioned?
Tip: tip the printer so you look at the bottom of it, where the paper tray usually goes.
See them? Two shinny plates. They bend when you pinch them with your fingers. Now, on my printer there was a screw beneath just one of them. Feel lucky? Which one will you take off? Were you lucky? Or maybe your printer has a screw underneath both…
The screw holds the bottom part of the optical box. Take out the third (and maybe forth) screw.
Step 18:
Gently lift up the optical box and remove the pair of data cables that go to it. Again, I didn’t bother labeling these as they stayed in the same position/order and wouldn’t get muddled up when I reassembled everything.
Step 19:
Pull out the optical box and undo the screw that is in the middle of it. Take off the cover and…
Step 20:
At last! There are the filthy mirrors that are the cause of this nightmare. If only HP has seen fit to seal this optical box then none of this would have been necessary…
Okay, that wasn’t really a step, it was just some soap-boxing. Here is the real step 20:
Clean the mirrors using dry cotton swabs!
Step 21:
Gawk at the wizardry of the optical box, its lasers and your nice shiny mirrors. Play with the flaps that cover the laser openings — don’t loose the spring between the flap mechanism that covers the laser diodes and the optical box.
Step 22:
Reverse everything and put it all back together again. Simple. Ha!
Be sure that you seat the optical box back exactly right - ie. don’t leave it loose!
Putting those cables back in the plastic trays is the most challenging. Just remember to put the two bundles of purple wires in first (the largest bunch, which splits at the right side to go up and down, should be at the very back of the tray; the other bunch on top of it; and finally the power cables should fit into their special holders at the very edge of the trays).
Note carefully how to feed the data cable around the tray at the left side.
Double check that you haven’t pinched any cables around corners, etc.
Did you use up all the screws? I sure hope so, otherwise you’ll have to undo everything to find out where you missed them…
Step 23:
Re-load the ink cartridges; paper and plug everything back in.
Step 24:
Recalibrate the printer (this aligns all the lasers so the colours match up and don’t give you a blurry photo print).
You can navigate your way through the printer’s front panel menu to force a calibration:
- Press the check mark key (screen shows “Main Menu - Reports”)
- Press right arrow key (”Main Menu - System Setup” shown)
- Press the check mark key (”System Setup - Language” is now shown)
- Press the right arrow key twice (”System Setup - Print Quality” is shown)
- Press the check mark key twice (”Calibrate Color - Calibrate Now”)
- Press the check mark key (”Press [√] to calibrate now”)
- Press the check mark key (calibration begins)
Alternatively, you can use the printer’s built-in web server over the Ethernet port to force an immediate recalibration (sorry, don’t know what you do via USB).
Step 25:
If this has helped you, then please consider a donation to help me offset my costs in hosting this page on my website:
Please leave a comment below to say if this page helped you; or, if any steps were unclear. Happy colour printing!
Unconnected Connectors and An Interesting Button:
While you had the covers off and the circuit boards exposed, did you notice that there are a few unconnected connectors and a “test” button?
One connector is “IOT” and the other is “MCPU Writer”.
After I reassembled and plugged everything in, I pressed the “test” button. I got a boring printout of colour lines.
25 responses so far ↓
1 camille // Feb 28, 2008 at 14:18
Great instructions!
My problem was that no printing came out on the pages, or only half the sheet, with half tones.
What spring?
Unfortunately, after all that, the optical sensors were already clean (not the problem) and when I got it back together–with all the parts–it didn’t work at all. Yuk!
2 camille // Feb 28, 2008 at 14:35
Thought I sent this already…
Thank you, your directions are great!
What spring?
The problem I had was that the paper would run through but with only partial print, or none.
Unfortunately, when I got to the optical box, the sensors were clean.
Also unfortunately, when I put it back together (with all parts) it didn’t work. Yuk.
Thanks anyway.
3 AndrewRH // Feb 28, 2008 at 15:15
I am sorry to hear that your printer isn’t working.
The spring is attached to the inside of the optical box and at the other end to a plastic flap that keeps the laser diodes covered when they are not in use.
Look at this picture from step 20 and you’ll see the removed flap (with spring attached to it) at the top of the picture. The flap was taken off of the optical box; it fits in along the part of the optical box at the bottom of the picture.
I’ve updated the main article to help make this point - thanks!
4 Steve // Mar 13, 2008 at 20:38
Thank You! I followed your directions and wham bam the printer now prints red again.
You saved me a great deal of time and money. It took me about 2.5 hours but I was going really slow so I didn’t mess anything up.
Thanks again,
Steve
5 D. Djafri // Mar 18, 2008 at 00:04
Hi, thanks for your info,
But did you TEST PRINT(internal printer test print) the printer BEFORE and after it’s washed out?
My printer seems OK if you use the PRINTER internal test print, BUT it seems washed out when I print from photoshop. Is yourproblem like this ??? Thanks..
6 AndrewRH // Mar 18, 2008 at 01:13
Hi D.Djafri — I tried all test prints. I tried some printouts from various sources and at one point seemed convinced that it was just photos from my camera (it appeared that test prints from dpreview.com, for example, were okay). However, I decided that enough was enough. I had nothing left to loose. There’s just nothing that will clean those internal mirrors, if fading is your problem - especially if it is the magenta colour (since its mirror seems to get the dirtiest). I would recommend you call HP and get them to go through your problem with you and see if they offer to swap out your printer for you.
7 Roger // Mar 31, 2008 at 05:57
Thanks very much for the help,now my printer is printing great .
8 Paul // Apr 3, 2008 at 07:25
We have 2 at work that is doing exactly this. One of them does not print Magenta at all!!
I followed your steps exactly and now the Magenta is printing great so thank you for that, but I now have another problem. All the colours - Yellow, Cyan & Magenta are printing slightly out of line compared to the black toner. By this I mean when I print a Supplies Status the Black horizontal line which indicates how much toner is left prints exactly in the box but the other 3 colours are about 5mm to the right and 3mm down. What have I done or what can be done to realign these colours. I have calibrated several times but to no avail. Any help would be much appreciated.
9 AndrewRH // Apr 3, 2008 at 12:13
Sorry to hear of your problems with alignment, Paul. I would recommend running the realignment…but it sounds like you did that. I suggest you give HP a ring to tell them about your problem with the fading as they do have the free exchange program in place for it.
10 Martyn // Apr 7, 2008 at 11:01
Fantastic! I have had the faded magenta problem. Printer is out of warrenty. Just spoke to HP and they are sending a courier tomorrow with a replacement printer!. Just make sure you get them to check their support updates. Excellent service HP, thanks to you:)
11 Cary // Apr 10, 2008 at 09:08
I envy you guys out there. We have a 2605dn in our Shanghai, China office that’s doing the exact same thing.
A trip to HP “Gold” service center says the scanner assy is toast and wants 3710 RMB (about 450 USD) to repair it.
Does anyone have a bulletin from HP about this defect?
12 John K // May 19, 2008 at 02:10
My printer is calibrating as I write this. I was also amazed that there was very little dirt on the mirrors. If I were to do this again, I may try cleaning the windows via the slots at the back of the toner cartridge bay first, as they seemed the dirtiest and they are part of that assembly and I assume the mirrors shoot the image through them.
As the connectors on the board are unique, you don’t really need to label them, you can’t plug the wrong ones back in except for the two ribbon cables on the mirror box.
Now I have an alignment problem that numerous recalibrations does not fix, so it looks like another problem to seek a fix for.
Thanks for the helpful information though.
13 Tom // May 30, 2008 at 16:58
Today is 30th May 2008 and I’ve just called HP. I used the cheaper phone number and asked for printer support. The lady who answered took my serial number and said the machine was out of warranty and it would cost £22 to continue, so I mentioned that I’d read on the Internet that it was a known issue and that HP were dealing with it even outside warranty.
She took my details and created a case for me, then checked for the service note. Sure enough, the printer is being replaced next working day with a refurbished unit (I don’t care, so long as it prints magenta!).
Thank you very much for the extremely helpful information!
14 AndrewRH // May 31, 2008 at 09:46
That is great news , Tom. I am glad to hear that HP finally gave in - too bad you had to hassle them a bit to do it, though. It would be good to hear from you or others on the quality from the refurbished printer that you receive.
15 Bronger en Netty // May 31, 2008 at 18:02
From the Netherlands, Delfzijl, thank you very much for the description en the screens of your site! It’s amazing, it really worked out!
16 Tom // Jun 2, 2008 at 11:25
Hi Andrew,
The refurbished replacement printer arrived this morning and I immediately loaded it up with my toner cartridges (HP have you remove these and your paper before replacement). Print quality was immediately back to normal! Hopefully the problem is permanently fixed, or HP will be replacing it again a year from now!
Physically, the unit looks in “as new” condition - certainly better than the one it is replacing, which was a little dusty and worn.
17 bryus // Jun 16, 2008 at 18:28
My wife noticed this issue while printing out fliers for her design company. Their logo is light pink and the magenta issue is more noticeable the lighter the magenta is.
I called HP this morning and they were less than accommodating in helping me out of warranty with this issue. They offered to provide me a list of authorized local repair shops I could have it cleaned at or give me a trade-up credit. Neither is particularly acceptable.
I agree with Andrew’s comment in step 20 that HP should seal the “optical box” to prevent this. It seems like a design defect. I don’t think it’s a simple issue of something that broke before it should have.
I’m going to call back again and see if I have any better luck.
18 Frits Jense // Jun 21, 2008 at 09:40
We’ve cleaned the printer following the procedure.
We now have the following message in the display: Door Open. We also don’t hear the printer starting up, only a few “ticks” when we power on the printer. where have we got wrong???
19 Paula Renouf // Jul 9, 2008 at 09:32
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This exact problem started with my printer just past its 1 year warranty. They wanted to charge me for replacement of a refurbished printer so i took no action. Reading this i have just called them again and one is now coming free. I run a charity - i can’t thank you enough!
20 Kathie // Jul 14, 2008 at 04:16
I thought I was reaching when I did a search for the magenta loss problem. This is so great. I took apart my machine and cleaned all mirrors put it back together and the magenta works but I have the same problems as some of the others that it’s out of calibration. Those that got replacement printers, are any of you from the US?
21 RAJEESH // Jul 15, 2008 at 12:27
Dear sir,
thanks for great technical support.
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one more time thanks
RAJEESH .E
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22 John K // Jul 18, 2008 at 19:15
Well, the problem came back again, all the while the calibration was not quite right anyway. I finally got ahold of HP after 3 tries of as many months, and eventually they told me “no service note”, and “no exchange”. So, knowing that when you purchase HP products from Costco it is HP that gets them back when they are returned and Costco does not eat the liability, I’ve ordered another HP from Costco, and will return it before the three month return period expires, which will get me through the bulk of our busy printing season. I will never buy another HP product, our HP Pavillion Notebook suffered the infamous melting hinge problem for which HP would also not accept liability. I know customer service is generally a thing of the past from most large manufacturers these days, and HP certainly does a great job of proving that true. But more importantly both the 2605 and the Pavillion suffered obvious design flaws that became the liability of the consumer rather than HP accepting or admiting to it.
23 Elaine Brown // Jul 21, 2008 at 14:15
Thanks for proving my suspicion that it is a design flaw causing my faded magenta, and not ‘User Deficiency’ as HP tried to tell me today. Before I found your site, my enquiry call to HP in Australia got routed to a Call Centre in India and it will be 24-28 hours before they can email me the name & address of a service tech who could examine my printer. What special tools do I need to attempt this cleanup myself? Printer is under 2 years old and has done only 691 pages. I’m frigging ROPABLE about the waste of money this lemon represents but if I can have a go at fixing it myself, I’ll give it a try. Also where do I find the mythical ‘Service Note’ that others say they have used as the basis of getting their printer replaced even if out of warranty, and who would I call to start that process? All guidance sincerely appreciated. Elaine in Newhaven, VIC (Phillip Island where the penguins don’t need colour print but the rest of us do!)
24 Connie // Jul 22, 2008 at 21:17
Thanks for the great instructions! After following the steps you outlined, its printing normally again but now it’s also printing a light greyish background on every print! It covers the entire page and is pretty noticeable. Would you happen to know how to fix this as well? It wasn’t happening before the fix so we’re wondering if it’s because we a) forgot to pull out the toner before the fix or b) messed something else up during the cleaning. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
TIA!
25 Eric GROSS // Aug 2, 2008 at 13:19
Great !!!!
Thanks to your detailed instructions, I have now a brand new printer !!!
Just went perfectly from A to Z and colors are now back to normal.
Thanks again for taking the time to prepare and post these instructions on the web
Cheers
Eric
Smallfield, UK
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