
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
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) | |
| 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”) |
Before You Start:
Please ensure you have tried the other things listed above first! Perhaps a quick clean of the plastic reflectors behind each toner cartridge is all you need.
Disassembly and Cleaning:
Step 1:
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Step 2:
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Step 3:
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Step 4:
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Step 5:
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Step 6:
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Step 7:
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Step 8:
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Step 9:
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:
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). |
Step 11:
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Step 12:
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Step 13:
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Step 14:
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Step 15:
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Step 16:
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Step 17:
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:
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Step 19:
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Step 20:
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:
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Step 22:
Be sure that you seat the optical box back exactly right – ie. don’t leave it loose!
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:(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. 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:
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:
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. |
Step 26:Please leave a comment below to say if this page helped you; or, if any steps were unclear. Happy colour printing! |
| Buy us a pint of beer (or juice) in the UK… |
| Buy us a bottle of beer (or juice) using US Dollars… |

Print This Page


And another yes from me. I also had the total magenta fade problem and this on my third machine from HP, the other two being repaired/replaced under warranty. It took me about three hours, the first time, from start to finish. However something wasn’t right as the fonts were fuzzy and the print failed on the RHS about 3/4 across the page. Re-calibration didn’t solve the problem. So I dismantled it all again – I think the issue was that I hadn’t tightened up the third screw properly at the bottom of the light box and the alignment was slightly out. But now it is perfect and it only took 45 minutes the second time. Thank you very much for putting these excellent instructions together. I’ll also try your suggestion about the filter over the fan.
Regards
Dave
This worked great in correcting color fade!!! Took about 2 1/2 hours on my first attempt and thats with a 1/2 hr lunch break. Only difficulty was that I left one data cable “buried” behind the panel… so had to take panel back off to retrieve. Took about 10-15 minutes to repeat step.
Colors are great again— BUT I am getting some very muted vertical lines through printed photo’s. Lines appear to be grayish. Wanted to see if anyone had any ideas what is causing this. I have tried multiple cleaning and calibration cycles. (It is multiple lines through the entire picture- at first I thought it was the pattern in the wallpaper in the picture but it is not).
a couple of things:
I replaced the black cable holders and rewove the wires as per instructions- but why bother? why not just leave black holders off and leave the cables tied together but hanging loose? Once the printer back panel is on nothing can bother them- curious as to if anyone is letting them just “hang around”. I didn’t- but it would speed up a second “repair” if I did.
another thingie- I didn’t have a vacuum cleaner bag around to filter the fan input… so I used a coffee machine round basket coffee filter (usually get 500 of them in a plastic bag). Cut it to size and voila- a fan filter. You can even double it up if you feel you want a sturdier paper filter but so far a one-ply filter is working perfectly.
Lastly- I used address labels to label the cables. One label cut into tiny rectangles and write the numbers on it. Stick the label onto the plastic cable plug and leave on when you plug cable back in. Doesn’t get in the way of the connectors and cables are now pre-wired when and if you need to re-clean.
I need to print FAA documents covering signage for air field surfaces as well as upright signs. Red is a must! 2605dn worked fine a month or so ago, but red turned to orange pretty quickly. I will begin disassembly tomorrow (US East Coast).
Unfortunately, I just replaced all four toner carts. Would have been cheaper to simply donate the current printer to charity and buy another printer. Matter of fact, considering the toner costs as well as some of the ink cart. costs for my HP inkjet printers, seems like a plan for the future.
I’ll be back with a fail-no fail report. Thanks for the great post. So sad that HP takes no responsibility for poor engineering.
Lloyd
Day Two
I did a lot of research for replacement printers (I, for one, don’t consider spending hours of my time tearing down a printer to clean mirrors a worthwhile endeavor) and came across the “linked” replacement: model CP2025dn
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/printer/office/1/storefronts/CB495A%2523ABA#top
Went to Office Max to check one out and was terribly disappointed at the quality. Very flimsy.
Started with a small vacuum on the inside of the cart. slots. Then compressed “air.” Reset all the carts. Cyan and Magenta way off. Ran all the service functions. Both still out of alignment. Went back to Office Max and purchased one of their Magenta carts. Inserted and let the self-align run. Now prints BRIGHT RED like it used to. Properly aligned. But Cyan is still out of alignment. Will purchase and install a new Cyan cart. tomorrow. Hope it works as well as the Magenta. Considering the quality of this printer and the flimsy build of the newer printer, … well.
And who is Emeline Lukaskiewicz who is placing a commercial on this valuable site? Another con on the loose.
Day Three:
No need to purchase a new Cyan cart. Cleaning and alignment and all is well. Thinking back to day one, I recall there being a large amount of Magenta “dust” around the cart. slot and on the cart itself. Seems as though the toner just got old and the cart housing wasn’t right. If the user plans on keeping the printer (which I am, now that things are back to normal), I suggest a careful cleaning and possibly a new cart before spending hours taking the device apart because surely, it doth has to be assembled and if some folks are seeing a return to the issue after a year, I’d try a less intensive process.
Thanks to all who contributed to this forum… and to the host (particularly for letting out Emeline Lukaskiewicz.)
Thanks for this. Tanking this thing apart is fairly easy, just make sure you use right size screw drivers! Main issue I had was washed out black text around the edges of the page. Cleaning mirrors fixed her right up, thank you again for the idea to clean the mirrors.
You are much more help than HP, thank you for the detailed insite for this fix. Hamburgers and drinks for you my friend. It worked, no problems. Even cleaned a few extra things along the way. Thank you from outside Philadelphia PA
Many thanks for this clear explanation. Enjoyed the experience of accomplishment. When I finally oepned the black box of mirrors, I found that they were clear. Yet, when I printed off a document, my faded colours no longer exist. The print is excellent.
hehe, with some drilling I managed to fix my screw and printer problem! Thanks for this amazing guide. It actually worked, even though I didn’t see much dust on the mirrors.
Wow, after spending 2 hours removing 30 insanely tight screws, the very last one was the one I couldn’t remove at all. In fact, I ran the drill over it so hard that the ridges to grab onto had turned into a circle. Ugh. And now there is no way to remove that 1 fucking last screw.
OMG, getting the screws out is insane! They are so tightly screwed in place, especially in the obscure places where a power tool can’t reach.
I’ve had this problem with the printer for over a year now, and this fixed it. Thanks! After putting the printer back together, I got a “door open” error. I opened everything back up, unseated and reseated all of the cables, and it went away. Not sure which one was responsible for the error. Thanks again for posting this, it was a huge help!
Just wanted to take the time to say – WOW! Thanks for such a comprehensive guide. I have a three year old HP 2605dtn and have just performed the mirror cleaning and, no surprises, my prints are back to their old vibrant colours!
Also – I noticed that it only seems to be the Cyan / Yellow mirrors that get dusty as they are the two that face up – the others (Magenta and Black) don’t seem so affected as they point down…
Good luck to anyone else about to attempt the fix – it is well worth doing!
Many thanks,
John from England
Wow! Awesome sauce! I had to take it apart twice, but I just printed a perfect demo page! Thank you!
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!! Same problem as everyone else…..Magenta fade. Used your instructions, followed them step by step and voila, its fixed. Works like brand new, I can’t believe it. Thank you…….you saved us the cost of a new printer!
Chris from Almost Heaven, West Virginia USA
I did your step by step procedure, i reassembly the printer (hp 2605), but now i have the 54.15 error (yellow sensor level error); there is a solution?
Thanks
Some more advice.
You can throw away the black cable housings and used cable ties instead. So much easier. When I did the cleaning for the second time, I just cut the plastic ties and renewed them when I put everything together.
In addition to the seal on the intake fan, I put some foam strips on the sides of the front plastic reflectors behind each toner cartridge so it closes the gap.
Thanks for the great article.
Klaas
New Zealand
GREAT! THANK YOU! GREAT! THANK YOU! GREAT!!!! THAAAAANK YOU!!!!!
Oh! sorry but I forgot to say:
GREAT! THANK YOU!
I’ ll buy you a beer for sure!!!!
I had this Fading majenta problem on a company Printer, I was about to forward a purchase order for a completely different new printer which going to cost £500,
I thought i’d have a last bash at trying to fix it. came across this website, Found the Precise Instructions, Dis-assembled it right to the core, found no visible dirt on the mirrors and laser lens but the swab said it all when it went very dark upon cleaning the mirrors, i cleaned all 4 mirrors and the laser lens which was also dirty.
and carefully re-assemnled it all and did this all in 1hour.
The printer is now working like its new again. You must calibrate on switch on.
Many Thanks for the step by step instructions.
Regards
Chris from U.K
I.T Engineer
We did your fix and it helped the magenta. Now we are having a lack of black on one side with streaks. Any ideas?
Step 12 was challenging to remove the black cable tray. You need a small tool (like a small flat head screwdriver with a diameter of like 1-2mm) to poke into one of the spaces to release a clip so that the cable tray pops out. Then you can remove the cable tray in step 13. You must remove the cable tray in step 12 first. Also, the screws holding the optical box strip very easily, don’t over tighten them when you put them back in and be careful when removing them. Take careful notice of when you remove the lid of the optical box in step 19. It says there is a spring, but notice how to put the top back on as you have to push that piece with the spring back into box with the other end with the spring is on the other end of the box.
It worked. I have an HP Color LaserJet 2600n. Thank you for sharing your knowledge (and detailed instructions) with us.
Thank you! This is the second time I’ve had to do this, and I am extremely grateful for people like you for taking the time to create invaluable tutorials such as yours. Great job!
Great instructions – thanks for making them available. I happened on them after using Don Thompson’s 2007 instructions.
In case anyone else runs into a problem when restarting their printer – when I put the machine back together, I got a 51-23 error (Yellow laser scanner error). A bit of ferreting around uncovers the suggestion that one of the wires may not be reseated problem (rather than an actual hardware failure). When I disassembled the machine again and reseated everything, I got a 51-22 error (magenta scanner). Heartened, because I figured I was on the right track (and this time I didn’t put the machine back together), I rechecked everything and this time the errors went away.
However, I now have two large horizontal bars across each page – the first is cyan and magenta is a bit further down. It looks rather like there’s an upside-down Dutch flag overlayed at the top of the page. I’ve calibrated the color three times with no effect. Has anyone else run into something like this?
Thank you so much for this guide. I was ready to order a refurbished printer today but ran across this guide and it seems to have fixed the prob. Magenta was practically not printing at all. Seems to be good as new on test page. I did go one step further in that the mirrors appears to still be a littel dirty after using a dry Q-tip. I dampened one in isopropyls alcohol, removed the excess from q-tip with a paper towel, cleaned mirror with damp swab then cleaned and polished with dry one. This seemed to remove even more “dirt” than just a dry one and alcohol evaporated very quickly leaving no appearant haze of film. Thanks again. Saved me the cost of a replacement printer!!!
Sincerely
Scott
It took me about 1 hour to complete the process partially due to cleaning every part that was removed. The difference is ten times greater than the photos at the top of this page. I followed the detailed directions and had success the very first time. This is an excellent site with a great solution to the printer problem than many will develop over the years. The difference in the printing is absolutely amazing! Thank you!
May I call you magnificent! (and myself for doing it anyway and the thought to be crazy to
perform 26 steps to repair a printer)
Remarks, please find the right screw driver for an incredable amount of srews which wo’nt surrender easily.
I did’nt bother to put al te screws back of step 11 (how many srews do you need to nail it?), in case a second cleanup is needed (next year?) But without this instruction it would have been impossible where to look for. I think this is the reason why HP isn’t selling printers anymore with q600x cerdtridges? (in the Netherlands)
Stupid to hide such an important peace that can become full of dust.
Anyway, I am very happy that the 2 hour effort resulted in nice red colors on my paper.
So thank you very very much for sharing this information.
my door open error was caused by the lvps, once i changed that my unit comes ready. YAY
Excellent instructions. But make sure that the black scanner box is back correctly. Tip: reinstall it with the front door open. This has two advantages (1) you can see much more clearly what you are doing, (2) it puts the laser block-out interlock into the correct position (closed) for installing the black box.
Thank you for this great tutorial!
I have followed your instructions and the washed out red tone problem is solved, but now every of the 4 tones is very light and not bright.
Have I done something wrong? Is there any idea what I could do?
Thanks, greetings from Germany!
color jet 2605, had magenta fade. did the take apart cleaned dirty mirrors, reassembled got a door open error, reseated all cables, door open error still there. saw somewhere the hvps was prob. replaced, no help…..any suggestions
Did you find an answer to your blank page printing, the same has happened to me?
I got it fixed! I took it all apart & put it back together again…3 times. Now it works! And yes, the reds print well now.
I followed these instructions, but after I reassembled it, it prints blanks. The paper feeds through, but nothing is on it. Maybe I damaged a cable? Any idea which one? Suggestions?
hey thank you very much for the detailed instructions worked like a charm
Thanks a lot for this guide. I was able to finish it in 45 minutes. The guide is very detailed and explains every detail.
I was about to throw the printer away after all the trouble and changing cartridges. I was actually about to go get a new printer, when I found this page and thought I’d give it a try. Now this is on my favorites.
Thank YOU !
Again, another happy customer – many thanks!
Thanks this worked very well and only took 1 hour i think it would have taken less if i could have gotten the wire tray off faster….
Thank you for the easyfollowed instructions that made this task easy. Was going to buy a new printer but decided to try to find some info on what could be wrong and came across this page and it made my day.
After having calibrtated and cleaned it it works like it did when I bought it.
Thanks again
Jan in Lund, Sweden
Thankyou very much. I was given a quote by a laser printer repair company of several $100. With this set of instruction, I was fearless and got right to the heart of the problem. The instructions were precise, and completely fixed the problem I was having.
Thanx alot
Thank you so much for this – saved my bacon!!! There was hardly any dirt on my mirrors but still did the trick – even removing the tiny bit that was there. I use the printer in my photography studio for day to day printing and was in a desperate panic to get it sorted – thankyou thankyou thankyou!!
Just wanted to say a big thanks for this walk-through Andrew. I bought a second hand HP2600n from ebay for $65 and when i got it home I started printing and the magenta toner was terrible. I stumbled across your website and thought that I would give it a try considering I paid so little for a printer(guess that’s why the other guy got rid of it). The printer now prints like new. Thanks you once again for such thorough, yet simple instructions.
Thanks a ton. I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past few months and just happened upon this page. Worked like a charm. Well, the second time anyway. I didn’t have the optical box positioned quite right so my colors were faded. Took it apart again and fixed it in about 20 minutes (much quicker the second time!).
Putting it back together, I also had the “open door” error–turns out one of the data cables had the silver contact peeling up a bit and smoothing it back down worked. I’m so happy that I don’t have to run out and buy an new printer!
Thank you! Worked beautifully! Wish the clowns at HP could just say: Hey, your warranty is expired, but go to this URL and you can solve your problems in 2 hours or less.
Thank you so much for this walkthrough.
Just wanted to share in my experience. In putting the printer back together again, I missed one of the many connections to the DC board, and when I fired up the printer, the display kept saying “Jam in Output Bin”. Hope this helps anyone else attempting this in the future.
I had a client with the exact described problem, I wrote my initials in the dust on the magenta mirror with a q-tip. After putting it all back together (halfway I realized I forgot the last, black screw on the optical box LOL frustrating) the magenta was AMAZING but yellow was still messed up. (Yes I cleaned it’s mirror too)
I think I overlooked the plastic thing before the mirror, after taking it apart again I found some dust on it, I went ahead and cleaned it all up, took a break to pray about it, and put it all back together. IT WORKS AMAZING. I calibrated once after that.
Tips:
1. The termination on the purple cables is strong, you won’t strip them out by pulling *evenly* across the termination, this is pretty general in computer technology (just don’t jerk them, apply a constant force)
2. The data cables are fragile, the type of cable they are is not meant for kinking and twisting, be careful.
3. The main back panel can be removed without unweaving the cables, this is extremely complicated but can speed things up if you’ve already taken it apart once.
4. If you absolutely lose the spring this isn’t the end of the world. It just keeps the door covering the lasers to pop back into a closed position, something gravity does well by itself. Just don’t push your luck, take a good hard look for it.
I think the “not calibrating” problems is due to one of the colors (yellow) still being dirty. Make sure you clean everything in the box, I assume if just one color doesn’t work right it wont be able to calibrate all four.
Network / Computer consultant
Nathan
Just finished up with the maintenance, absolutely outstanding. Like the rest, the magenta mirror was dusty and the printer required calibration when finished.
One thing I’ve seen mentioned several times is the use of Isopropyl Alcohol. This is a big NO. It will leave a film on the mirrors. It is only dust and a cotton swab and air should be enough. These are first surface mirrors (the reflective coating is on the outside so there is no distortion) so do not use any kind of paper product (toilet paper, etc) as they are a wood product and will scratch the mirrors. If you do need to clean with a liquid use a 10 to 1 mix of ammonia and water with the cotton swab.
Ken
Incredible. Followed the instructions and have a fully functional printer again. Thank you so much.
I had to take it apart three times and recheck cables before I got it right.
I was getting the 51.22 error after I had put it back together. Turns out I had somehow managed to get two of the data cables mixed up.
Now I just need to figure out how I’ve managed to put it back together but left a slight gap on one side of the door. I may have slightly knocked something out of shape when I was tilting it to one side etc.
But still. Printer is working again. Kudos for putting this info up.
I wrote on this blog approx. 18 months ago thanking you for the advice given re reporting the fault to HP & obtaining a replacement – which I did.
18 months later with magenta fading tried your hands on approach & dismantleted the printer to observe ‘dusty’ mirror. I also noted that the yellow mirror was slightly dusty – these are the 2 mirrors that are angled upwards where the other 2 are angled downwards – of course, Newton’s law of gravity works in HP printers as well as apple trees!
Unfortunately, When reassembled & multiple calibrations print was significantly worse (would only print on left hand half of page for both magenta & yellow, other colours ok, plus misaligned). Anyway, repeated all steps again (dismantled & reassembled) carried out a single calibration & hey presto – perfect printing. Don’t know what the issue was first time round.
Big thank you
Ian
ps. to my mind as HP have in effect admitted to a design fault, ie. optical box not sealed, then surely they can’t (legally) withdraw their offer to replace a faulty printer?!. Any legal experts out there?
Wow, I can’t believe how well that worked!!!! Thank you so much!!!
I had done the Supplies status page from the printer and everything looked fine except for Magenta which was a light pink. Pictures looked terrible.. As everyone else said, my mirrors did not look very dirty.. There was just a touch of dirt on the cotton swabs, but I guess that was enough..
Again.. Thanks!!!
Enjoy your beer on me…
(Oh yeah, took about 1.5 hours including adding bag filter..)
I cannot say thank you enough. I had the full blown magenta fade problem. HP offered to repair it for £170 so I thought I’d have a go. I’m not a complete novice but without your instructions I would not have had the courage to dismantle the printer that far.
The mirrors didn’t actually look that dirty but I used a soft brush first then a cotton bud to remove what might have been an extremely fine layer of “dust”. Reassembly was not as difficult as I’d anticipated and I was almost shocked (relieved) when the printer worked normally on switching on!
The first test run showed excellent colours but the blue print was slightly malaligned on the left of the page. Then I remembered calibration and the next print was perfect.
Thank you. Very much obliged.
Yes yes yes!
In two hours my husband (who didn´t believe it would work) and I followed your guide. The mirrors didn´t look very filthy, but we used the cotton swabs and put everyting back together not sure if it would help. Then we connected the printer and without any calibrating or whatsoever it printed as good as new!
Thank you!
Greetings from the Netherlands,
Karin
This is incredible, I did this in about 45 minutes following your step by step guide. The difference is un explainable.
Make sure you calibrate 3 times after pulling it apart, then do a cleaning 3 times, seems excessive, but feels, and looks brand new. Thankyou so so much for this guide it is really fantastic.
Regards
Greg from Sydney