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HP Colour LaserJet Fading Fix
  The 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. I tried recalibrating the printer (see step 24, below) to no avail. NOTE: try this first yourself just in case it is the problem with your printer – will save you all the trouble in steps 1 to 23! 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). Don Thompson wrote a wonderful article on fixing this issue which he put on the HP support forum; I have obtained his permission to include it here in this article – its what I followed all those years ago to fix my printer for the first time.
>> Fading Red Tones on Color LaserJet 2600s by Don Thompson 2007
 An example of how an image is "written" onto the photoreceptive drum in a laser printer. The problem is this: dust on the ‘beam alignment lenses (mirrors)‘ which are buried deep within the printer – the dust prevents the laser light reflecting off of them properly and thus toner is not collected up and put onto your printout. If you attempt this repair feat, then:
- Make sure your warranty is up;
- Try cleaning the plastic reflectors behind each toner cartridge first (see Kevin’s comment below)
- Try recalibrating the printer (see step 24, below)
- 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 on 4 Mar 2008: confirmed with HP support in UK that they will pickup, fix and return your printer (or a refurbished one) free
- update on 10 Nov 2008: be sure to tell HP you are calling for the “fading” fix
- 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.
- I did this on my 2605dn (twice!) and I only hazard a wild guess that it will work on similar models (like 2600, 2605n, 2605dtn, …)
(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) |
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| A pair of pincers to grab screws that are a bit too tucked away to grab with your fingers |
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| A label maker; I have a Brother PT-65 P-touch “Home & Hobby” |
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| Scissors (to cut your labels to a tiny size, to fit on the cable connectors) |
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| Cotton swabs (“Q-tips”) |
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Before You Start:
Please ensure you have tried the other things listed above first! Perhaps a quick clean of the plastic reflectorsbehind each toner cartridge is all you need.
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).
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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.
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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.
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Step 4:
 Pull the back panel off gently by holding it at the bottom and tilting it out and up.
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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!
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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. 
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Step 10:
 Now, pull each cable connector out, one at at time, and put the correct label onto it. Note that the purple cables are attached to a plastic block (some black, some white) which is pushed into a plastic holder, like a small box – think of a baseball with purple strings sitting snugly in a glove. Pull firmly on the purple cables (perhaps wiggling slightly side to side) near to where they go into the plastic block, this should remove the block from its plastic holder. Do not use tools, for fear of pulling out individual cables, or worse, pulling off the outter plastic box, instead of the block in which the purple cables are (as Piper, in the comments below, did).
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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.
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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…
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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!
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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).
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Step 15:
 Pull out the back panel with the two circuit boards on it. Be sure that no cable is snagged, or left attached.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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Step 19:
 Pull out the optical box and undo the screw that is in the middle of it. Be careful – there’s a spring in the box. Take off the cover and…
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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!
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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 that spring which is between the flap mechanism that covers the laser diodes and the optical box.
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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…
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Step 23:
 Underside of the printer; note the black grill on top left - that's the air intake for the fan. (optional) On the first anniversary of this page, and my second go at cleaning the mirrors (yup, they got dirty enough in the one year to warrant going through this lot all again), I decided to slap on a homemade air filter to the fan intake. Make sure you don’t have the paper tray installed; and then tip the machine onto its front, so that you are looking at the underside of it. You’ll see a black grill or grate.
 Vaccuum cleaner bag cut to fit over the grill, so it acts as an air filter. Get yourself a vacuum cleaner bag and cut it to fit over that grate. Use some cellotape to stick it in place. You may very well have to do as I did and cut little slits in the bag so it fits over the silly extruding bits of plastic. If I haven’t already said it, I’ll say it now: this printer is over engineered! Now tip the printer back to its normal position and install the paper tray. |
Step 24:
 Re-load the ink cartridges; paper and plug everything back in. You must now 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 [v] 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:
 (optional) 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.
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Step 26:
Please leave a comment below to say if this page helped you; or, if any steps were unclear. Happy colour printing! |
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Print This Page
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. I tried recalibrating the printer (see step 24, below) to no avail. NOTE: try this first yourself just in case it is the problem with your printer – will save you all the trouble in steps 1 to 23! 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). Don Thompson wrote a wonderful article on fixing this issue which he put on the HP support forum; I have obtained his permission to include it here in this article – its what I followed all those years ago to fix my printer for the first time.
It didn’t take to long I found 2 connectors that needed to be tightened & my printer is back to printing all the colors again Thanks much
Thanks, very good instructions.
Took it apart, clean all optics.
Pick up very little dirt on the optics,
so I was doubtful that would fix the problem !
Put it back together and Voilà, it works perfectly now.
I guess it does not take much dirt, to fade the printing.
Thanks again,
Simon
Got it back together but now I get a clear paper jam error so now. I’m about to take it all apart it see if there is a connector not quite on or a pinched. Wish I knew where a wiring diagram was.
I managed to get my machine apart and put back together–well after the dreaded 51.22 error due to having the black box ribbon in backwards, but now I am getting FAN error. I have been all through this a third time without success.
Any help is appreciated….and thank you for this thread. I just bought $300 worth of new cartridges and I would hate to scrap this machine even if it is less than the advertised.
I have an interesting problem. I had the magenta problem described above. I disassembled, cleaned the mirrors, reassembled, and then calibrated. Now, the colors are misaligned. I’ve reset factory defaults, did a nvram and a super nvram reset, swapped the current cartridges out for old ones I still had (I had to force print to do this – surprised that there was still ink in all the cartridges), and all while doing multiple calibrations in between. Still, I have misaligned colors (It looks like a 3D image without glasses). Any help would be appreciated.
I had to recalibrate a number of times (8 or 9) before it was right. Second problem… My fix only lasted a few weeks. I think I have toner in the printer causing the problem. I wish I put a makeshift filter in before I reassembled. It might also help to do all I could to clean out the case.
Hi Mr Reeves
I had the same problem whit one of ouwer printers in the company.
Mirrors where looking very dirty, cleand them assembled the ols chap and it worken just perfeckt.
Many thanks from BELGIUM
CONFIRMED HP WILL NO LONGER FIX THIS PROBLEM
Apparently all “service notes have been cleared”, guess it was costing them too much to fix their design flaw.
CONFIRMED HP WILL NO LONGER FIX THIS PROBLEM
Apparantly all “service notes have been cleared”, guess it was costing them too much to fix their design flaw.
I recently did my HP2605 dn as well. Beautiful colors come back like a miracle. At first tugging off the connectors are scary, but after a few times you will not worry about it. The screw at the bottom of the optical box is so hard to find. At first I cannot see it, but I finally found it by feeling it with my finger and it is hidden so deep. HP makes it so hard. I am glad that we have a club just to do this.
Wow. I have spent so many hours trouble-shooting my printer drivers, turning ICM on, turning it off, replacing the printer drivers. This week I replaced all of my toner cartridges. I had high expectations that my print issue would be corrected. But alas, no improvement.
I happened upon your web site once I googled “windows 7 print hp 2605 colors bad”. (Who would have thought that this was a 2605 hardware problem and not a driver issue at all?)
Thank you ever so much for helping me restore my 2605 back to its former glory. I spent most of my time on step 13. I just could seem to figure how those plastic pieces came out. Thanks so much for the descriptive photos.
Randall
Edmonton, AB, Canada
A couple of small points:
Don’t just clean the mirrors, (both the rotating ones and the static ones), but clean all of the lenses as well on both sides, (they get dirty too) – clean the whole optical path from the laser diode to the toner cartridge.
Use a second cotton bud to stop the rotating mirrors from moving whilst you clean them.
There are some of the cables in the cable tray that don’t get disconnected – they come out from one side of the printer, pass along the tray and disappear in the other side. In my case, these cables were so tight that it was impossible to remove them from the cable tray with it secured in position. I had to release the tray, (slide to the left), and then turn it so the open part faces upwards to get the wires out. Putting them back in was a nightmare.
Overall a successful morning’s work – now printing in full crisp colour instead of washed-out greenish tint. Many thanks for this most helpful guide.
The design really annoys me. It would have been so simple to make the optics box easily accessible – a removable panel behind the toner cartridges. Also, the box should be properly sealed against dust. No thought to maintainability.
I tried to get a memory expansion card, but with no success. Any suggestions?
John
Thanks for all your help in fixing HP LaserJet. This is the 2nd time I’ve cleaned it and it works a treat!
This time I used a air duster in the optic block and lint free cotton buds.
Viewing on a 5″ magnifyer lens you could see the dirt on mirrors before cleaning.
The fan blows dust into the optic area so I used a vacuum filter wedged between the fan and chassie.
Mike
So my company was going to throw this printer away due to the magenta issue. After a long process of dis-assembly (hardest part is taking it all apart) I was able to get to the optical box and one of the mirrors was noticeably dirtier than the others. My printer is a cm1017 so it was a different process but this guide gave me the knowledge of what to look for/clean.
I put it all back to discover I had the “door open” error. After careful and painstaking inspection I figured out that I had one of the little sensors in the wrong place and it was causing the door sensor not to make contact. Got it put back together AGAIN and turned it on and this time it kicked up a 51.21 error…UUGGHH!
Well after much research and inspection turns out that the lower cable on the optical box wasn’t connected all the way. This cable was a pain to get to so it all had to come apart again just to connect the cable properly. After pretty much an entire day of dis-assembly/reassembly I FINALLY have a printer that works like new. I didn’t use this guide per Se but this comments section was a life saver. Hope my knowledge makes someone else’s process go a little smoother. Good luck.
Had next to no Magenta despite almost new laser cartridge. Worked great, thank you. Hardly any dust on mirrors so really suprised how much difference it made.
I also had the dreaded 51.22 error after reassembly so had to strip it down again. I had managed to replace one of the ribbon connectors on the black box the wrong way round. It’s easy to do as the cables don’t naturally fall into the right position. Worth checking the copper connectors on the ribbon cable face the copper connectors on the socket before refitting box.
I have a CM1015 thats 4 years old and started producing a fading red. I nearly brought a new cassette because – whilst it was still half full- I thought that must be the reason. I then read the above. HP wanted £190 to replace mine with onditioned unit…could get new one for that!So I followed the above and it now works perfect.
You do need to take off the left hand circuit board on mine and make sure you clean all lenses, even the small ones to the left.
It took a few hours but saved me £190 and I could do it in half the time now.
Thank you verymuch.
I too want to express my thanks for this “How-To” on fixing my printer. I also had the problem with the “Door Open” message that came up as soon as I turned it on. Guys… Here is the Fix. The door open sensor is in the upper left front side of the printer as you look at it from the front. Now, when you took that big circuit board off on the left side, did you notice the micro switch in the front of it (inside). Well, you probably forced that board back on and may have bent it, or in some what prevented it from functioning properly… Don’t freak out you probably did not break it and even if you did, it is a $6 part from Radio Shack, and about ten minutes soldering. OK here is how to avoid the pin getting bent (and your having to straighten it). OPEN THE FRONT DOOR BEFORE YOU TAKE THE THE BIG CIRCUIT BOARD OFF, AND LEAVE IT OPEN WHEN YOU REATTACH THE CIRCUIT BOARD (note for reattaching…the board rest on the pegs at the bottom and then swings up). After you attach the board and before you put on the left side cover, test it by opening and closing the door. You should hear the micro switch click is it is in right.
Did the whole process in about an hour. I found one mirror quite dirty. After reassembly, the magenta was fine, but the yellow is not showing up, there is a shadow like one image is being printed offset from the others, and the whole page looks dirty. Back to the drawing board.
just finished using the guide. worked perfectly. thanks for the info. don’t have money for a new printer so finding this detailed instruction was a life saver.
I don’t quite understand step 11. How do you detach the 4 sets of data cables on the right side of the circuit board. Do you just pull on the flat surface of the connected wire sheet?
you’ve probably done it by now but just in case: just tug the wire sheet and it will eventually pop out.
Instructions worked GREAT for us about 2 years ago, Now we need to do it again.
I have to ask you; does the vacuum filter seem to work in keeping the dust off the mirrors
for a longer period? I’m thinking of adding that this time?
Thanks,
Rick
RE: Compressed air – I strongly recommend NOT using it, as there are spinning/movable parts in that area, and causing them to spin by using compressed air is very dangerous. I had barely any magenta visible at all, and after using nothing but cotton buds I had quality that would match the printer in it’s brand new state.. so I don’t think compressed air is necessary to be honest
Thanks for that step by step guide. All done in two hours and works like a dream.
When I got to cleaning the optics there was only a little dust on it and I thought that the dust alone was not the problem BUT IT WAS.
Surprising how little dust messed it up.
Thanks again – I was going to chuck it out and get a new one
Well, the instructions were perfect and entertaining! I had no trouble pulling it apart, did not have much in the way of dust on the mirrors, but I cleaned them anyway. I put it all back together and…alas…still no magenta. I’m thinking it’s time to trade in for something a little smaller. Think anyone will take it with one screw missing?
Hi… Fellow tip-user, here. There’s a how-to elsewhere on the web that you have to purchase. But the author, Moe, provides many tips on his forum, fixyourownprinter.com (for many printers). He insists that you need to use compressed air to clean the mirrors. And not just canned air, but a compressor. I don’t know how DIYers would have access to that. So I just bought a can. My mirrors didn’t really look dusty either, but I cleaned everything and blasted it all with the air. I got immediate improvement. (I also now have two vertical 1mm dark lines.) Anyway, if other folks think compressed air is critical, maybe it should be added to the how-to info. ? Thanks again! JP
Andrew, I have just done 3 (Yes, THREE) of these printers this afternoon!
I noticed a few people are having problems dismantling themselves and/or just aren’t competent or confident enough. I operate a PC Repair shop down in the South-West of england, and was wondering if people would be interested in sending their printers to us for this repair? I won’t post my email address or URL on here, but if you’re happy to – I’d like to discuss maybe placing an advert on the page? Pop me an email!
– Thanks! – Adam
HI There,
this is really helpful and i wish I’d found it before I’d started i’ve done everything as described but when reassembled keep getting a door open error have taken it apart again and checked the relay for the switch at the top but thats working fine any other advice about what could be causing the door open read out.
PS wish I’d known about that HP knew about this fault earlier
Great instructions. Replaced the magenta cartridge on my 2600n to no avail. Then found your page ! First attempt only took about an hour. Magenta problem cured – only printed on left hand side of page though – oops ! Quick 20 minute strip down and realised the light box hadn’t seated correctly – it went in with a definite click second time round. Back together and printing perfectly. Nice one – thanks. I would be interested to know the break down of cartridge sales from HP – I bet magenta is higher than the rest !
Thank you very much for the colourful guide. I found it very helpful in solving the problem of fading red and yellow. By the way, I don’t understand why blue color does not fade like other colours. Another problem is that the printer does not serve long before starting to fade again. This really is killing me and makes me thinking to buy another one. I went to the HP Service Center here and they recommended HP CP1515. They said that its ink is oily and gives more vivid colours. They said also that this oily issue was to solve the problem of our model (2605) and similar.
Your comment or recommendations are ever appreciated.
Best regards,
Abdul
BTW – I also got the dreaded “error 51.22″
In my haste one of the cables at the optics box was not fully inserted. It looked fine untill I used a mirror and light to see it cocked in the connector. Straighted it out and all is great.
Thanks! Another 2605dtn gets it’s life back from the faded depths of despair!
I took everything apart again and put it back together just in case of a loose connection. Presto! Awesome prints and the printer is working just like new!!! Thanks for all of your help Bill, these were great step by step notes and pictures, you saved me $500. Thanks!!!!
I did all as stated and when I printed the first pages I have no black printing. Prior the problem was the red, now the 3 colors print perfect, but there is no black at all. Does anyone know what I can do to fix?
Worked like a charm, a foaming ale is winging its way down the wire. Cheers.
Funny how old this is yet so relevant. This is my second time cleaning mirrors. Once on an hp 2600 and this time on a 2605 hp color laser. I had forgotten the process so thank you. After cleaning the mirrors, I put it all back together only to get a door open error. I could not for the life of me figure why it happened. All wires were connected, the door was closed and everything was in place, so I disassembled it and then reassembled partially(good move) and tested it. Finally the error went away, possibly from checking all the wire connections, but then it only printed on half the page so fortunately, not being put back together all the way, I could reach the mirror box screws and adjust the it. I pushed it all the way up as far as the screws would let it go and then tightened it down. Tested again with excellent results. Thanks again to the author and all who commented on this site.
Thanks for this advice Bill… I’ll call HP and try and do battle with them on the phone. – the printer came directly with them….. and then try and sell the cartridges. Julia
Hi Julia.
Having cleaned my optics three times now, I rang HP and told them it was a design fault as the optics are underneath the toner and stray dust falls straight in. No matter which bits you replace, the problem comes back. They told me that there had been a ‘Service Note’ issued for this printer but this has now expired. While they could not offer any kind of solution other than charge me for a ‘repair’, this would only have provided a temporary respite as it is a recurring problem.
‘Which Legal Service’ told me to contact the vendor (PC World) as the printer was not ‘fit for purpose’ under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
I did and last night, PC World offered me £120 (it was £320 when new) in exchange for my printer and as it is four years old and I could not bear the idea of having to do this fix forever, I accepted. They agreed to my removing the toner and selling it separately as the cost of this came to more than the offer. I hope to recover another £60 in this way and the money will go towards a more reliable printer.
I used to deal in second hand printers and some of HP’s old machines are still giving good service 20 years on. This model has a major design flaw that HP are ignoring, leaving their customers high and dry with this recurring problem. Not very good HP!!
Any chance of you cleaning my 2600 printer??? Cheeky, I know – I thought that by changing the cartridges, the problem would be fixed, and bought four new ones from Currys yesterday, unwrapped and replaced the old ones (you can imagine how much that cost!) and then no difference. Then I called hp this morning; a) they don’t make that printer any more, and b) they said that it’d be cheaper to buy a new printer… I can’t bear to dispose of something which is mendable – plus the terrific amount of money that I spent on new toner…. I don’t think I dare follow your instructions… I’m a computer moron! Can you help?
I completely understand if not… I live in London and could drive it down to you!
Julia
Awesome. Restored to like new. Many thanks!
I have a CM1015 MFP that is close enough to this printer that these instructions, and the linked instructions helped me to get into and clean the magenta mirror that was obviously dusty. I found it unnecessary to mark the cables as they all have different ends making it impossible to mix up in the putting back together stage. Seems to me removing the right side panel wasn’t necessary.
Love the internet. After putting back together (all screws accounted for) and calibrating, works great.
Instructions were spot on. The mirrors didn’t look very dusty but the transformation in the print colour was stunning. Thanks for revealing this fix as achievable at home. I also found the connectors did not need to be labelled as they were all different no of ways. Made a filter from a dustmask as suggested in another post here – let’s hope that staves off the next clean! Just going to buy you a beer.
Instructions were just perfect. Looking at the mirrors I didn’t see much dirt. Put it all back together and had the same issue as Ross… where does that last screw go???
Recalibrated and printed to poor quality. Recalibrated 5 more times in a row and PERFECT!!!! Great job.
Annoyingly hard to take apart, but works great now — thanks!
By the way, where does the last screw go?!
Ross