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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.
I had a similar problem when I cleaned my printer.
Make sure that the small connectors on the end of the purple cables are fully pushed into their sockets.
It’s easy to leave one slightly out. You can hardly see the difference but unless they are fully home they don’t make contact.
Gary.
Well, i also did this…I’ve opened the top of the printer (as shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV7FJiBHj5w&feature=related) and removed completely the leftside board to check the switch… it seems ok, according to the white line on the green board the lever is exactly where it should be and it clicks
I remounted the top, as well as the left side board….and tried powering up the printer (without the left and the right cover, do I have to reassemlbe it completely?) and it keeps saying error “door open”.
could it be some issue with some cable? but where??
thanks in advance
thanks… so… I’m tring to follow your instructiions:
>With the left door off (Circuit board side), the micro switch contact is on the upper right corner, –> I think I’ve seen the black plastic switch on the top left side.
>while looking at the the big circuit board. Open the front door, next, install the circuit board, –>You mean the board which is in the back, right? not the big one on the left side (the one which stays under the left panel… according to the instructions this one I didnt removed at all…)
and then close the front door. Listen for a “click” as the door makes contact.–> if I press manually the black plastic switch, I heard a “soft click” is this a good signal?
thanks
I published a overview of the “Door Open” Problem a few months ago… It should be still on the forum. You may have bent the micro switch contact… With the left door off (Circuit board side), the micro switch contact is on the upper right corner, while looking at the the big circuit board. Open the front door, next, install the circuit board, and then close the front door. Listen for a “click” as the door makes contact. If no click, open the front door, loosen the circuit board, and bend the micro switch contact SLIGHTLY. Repeat the process until you hear the click. Worst case, you broke the micro switch… Then go to your local electronics store and buy a new one, and solder it on. Voila… It should work. Always remember to open the front door first prior to installing the circuit board.
I followede very carefully the instructions…. but, got into an “open door” error…
I tried checking
- the door switch
- the 4 cables in the bottom right (as well all the others but for the two connecting the lenses..)
but the error doest go away…
When I power it on you heard it “clickes” a couple of times… and immediatedly goes into error…
HELP!
Great instructions – this is the second time I have had to do this to my wifes laser. First time was using the original instructions referenced in this post- this write up makes it even easier. Once recommendation – if you can – add a power driver and magnetic bit holder to the toolkit. I had the printer back together within an hour – oh and those ribbon cables on the right hand side CAN change position – I ended up with the bottom two on top of each other and had to guess (incorrectly as it turned out – got a fatal error on power up with the printer still open – but a quick swap over had it all working).
Cheers!
GREAT! My printers works perfectly again.
Thanks a lot!
Great manual – work first go;
A warning to smokers – I used my printer in a small room where I was smoking. Cleaning the mirrors with a dry cloth did not do the job. I had to use a liquid household glass cleaner and then dry up with a cotton cloth.
Thanks for this great tutorial
Thanks very much for that. My printer has only been used as a monochrme printer for over a year thanks to this problem. I even bought another printer on Ebay, only for it to have the same problem. I’ve just completed the cleaning and the difference is staggering. I had problems removing the cable trunking (and indeed I broke a wire doing so). I’ve reassmbled it without the trunking so that it’s easier to do next time I need to clean the mirrors again. Thanks again, Gary.
Just finished cleaning the mirrors and assembling the print enough to recalibrate and print a test page. The difference is amazing! The print quality looks like it did the 1st time I used the printer. Thanks for taking the time to document this procedure, Andrew. Thanks everyone else for their hints. Especially, W David Woods on removing the trays. I have a squeaking noise to take care of before I close it all back up.
I hate to say this but there is either a connector not connected, or put in backwards. I would tear it down to the mirror box again, and check each connector three times. Also look at both side of the big circuit board, and make certain that all of the back connectors are connected. The ribbon connectors are the hardest… Make sue that they are seated well.
I thought I followed all the steps in re-assembly, but the paper comes out totally blank. There are no error messages. The printer sounds like it is printing. I ran the calibration and clean modes, but still totally blank paper comes out. Any ideas on what I did wrong? Thank you!
I just tried pushing the test button on the circuit board. That does print out a page with the colored lines on it. So my problem isn’t mechanical. No options on the menu structure print – only blank pages. I tried restoring the defaults that didn’t do anything either. I must have messed up something along the way, but I don’t know what.
Hey Steve, I had the exact same problem with the printer coming up with no errors and but still printing blank pages. I figured out that the problem that the end of the top ribbon cable going to the optical box was slightly crunched. One of the tiny metal contacts at the end of the ribbon got pushed to the side and was shorting out with a neighboring metal contact.
I used a small flat head screwdriver and a magnifying glass to push the metal contact to straighten it out. After fixing that connection everything printed out fine. I recommend looking very closely at the end of all the ribbon cables to make sure you don’t have the same issue.
Also, I recommend to anyone else performing this fix, make sure you plug in the ribbon cables very carefully, and that you line them up perfectly with the connector. For the optical box, plug the 2 ribbon cables into it before you screw it in place so that you have easier access.
Frank do it again. It will be a lot quicker second time around. Make sure you clean not only the four mirrors but the under sides and top of the 4 big perspex lenses , the four smaller perspex lenses that surround the spinny round mirror thing and the 4 approx 8mm diameter circular lenses that are off to the side of the laserbox. I used a clean dry microfibre cloth wherever I could rather than a q tip as I found the qtip left little strands of cotton around and I didn’t know whether they would affect laser activity. A final thing I did was to hold the open nozzle of a vacuum cleaner and pass it over the entire box about 20mm above everything – I figured there was nothing loose to get sucked up so I had nothing to lose. The important thing to make sure is that you have the laserbox positively aligned and in place when you reassemble. Also before you put the rear plate and sides back on, plug it in and print a config or demo page from the menu – this will tell you if you still have your problem and have to disassemble again or whether you can reassemble to finish – obviously while you have it plugged in with the circuitry exposed don’t touch the circuitry
I performed the entire operation in about 5 hours. The only issue was putting the mirror box into place and securing it with the (3) screws. Had to perform 2 color calibrations before the machine came back into alighnment. The red is still a little toned down but at least I have it back. Printed out a high res color chart from the web but the color is still a little weak, primarily due to red. What to do, the cleaning again? The dust is so slight but easily seen as I cleaned the mirrors.
Excelent! Worked straight away! I have donated 10EUR via Paypal.
I have some extra fotos on the spring in the laserbox if you want them.
Regards
Hans
Immensely helpful instructions. The cleaning worked beautifully. Many thanks.
However, I also experienced a missing strip of (black) printing that ran approximately 3 cm down the RHS of the page all the way down, which seems to be what the comment by Colleen King (20 March 2012) also described. On a different web site, another user posted a comment about something like this and mentioned the importance of properly aligning the optical box upon re-installation. This can be done with the (three) screws that hold it in place, two of which are reached above the circuit boards, the other one under the flexi-plates on the base, and the adjustment can be made without removing the circuit board cage or the wires. I laid the printer down on its rounded front, loosened the screws, and then pried the optical box up as high as possible – there was an audible snapping sound. Then fastened the screws down tightly. That did it! Put the paper tray back, printed test page and the full black range is back. However, it was necessary to once again force a colour alignment as described in Andrew’s step 24.
Rene
Thanks for this additional advice. I was having problems with my black toner after the fix too- and your suggestion to lift the optical box worked very well.
Thank you , thank you…
I called local technicians recommended by the HP website and they were ready to charge me $80 per hour to fix my printer. I started to fish around online to see if I could fix the problem myself. I am an artist, so naturally I was scared to even touch the printer, yet I still wanted to fix it for free! I cannot thank you enough for taking the time and effort to patiently and simply explain how to do this process. It took me two hours and my printer is back to normal again! I have had it for seven years now and I am happy to say that I will have it for seven more. Thank you, cheers! Anne.
Obrigado
nao vejo o volume do torner preto/azul mas funciona
Jan/Manel
Você apenas tem que continuar tentando – certifique-se de limpar todas as lentes, assim como espelhos. Os quatro grandes na parte superior, os quatro pequenos redondos que estão fora para o lado e as quatro pequenas as curvas posicionadas de cada lado dos quadrados de prata girando. Se você pode usar um pano de microfibra pequena em vez de um Q-Tip – q-tips deixar fios de fibras de trás. Então, finalmente, antes de terminar a usar um bico de aspirador realizada 2-3cm longe dos componentes para remover qualquer poeira último da caixa. Ao remontar garantir que os localiza caixa óptica positiva de volta para o corpo da impressora, como então ele será alinhado corretamente.
ter sorte
Considera Nick
Agora deixei de ver o preto e o azul
Fiz isso tudo agora dá o erro 51.22
I forgot to report back that ours worked perfectly again after the second opening and recleaning. There was no dirt but we did reclean and it is still working okay. My go to guy that cleaned it, noted that the optical box does not have a precision alignment method and it may not be going back perfectly in place (although it did work okay the first day). I noticed that the magenta toner cover had fallen off at one end so maybe that is another possible cause of the problem but we also had a paper jam and don’t know which came first. Not enough of a control situation to say one thing or the other. Just do it again, cos it works.
Hi Guys – Thanks for the tutorial – I had done it already using another one but a fresh slant is always useful. What I found really food were these comments as the 1st time I did it the Magenta came back but black was washed out on the RHS. Then 2nd time the situation was resolved with the leach out on the RHS but all colours were very faint. I was about to give up at this point until I chanced upon all the comments on here from peeps who had taken several goes to get it. So the 3rd time I took my time cleaning the mirrors with the Q tip – I used my compressed air can liberally and I was less tentative cleaning both the mirrors and the spinny round silver things. I used a dry microfibre cloth to buff up and clean the upper and undersides of the four big lenses. Then finally (and I think this may have made the difference – but it probably didn’t) I used the vacuum cleaner all round the inside of the optical box to suck out any stray motes lurking. I know some people might suck their teeth in disapproval but I thought what the heck – nothing to lose and there was nothing that could get sucked up in error – I did use the open end of the nozzle (about 1+1/2″ diameter)as using a tool with a narrower one might have been too strong a suction. I didn’t put it too close to anything just let it hover about 1/2″ above the spinny round things. Anyway printers working great now.
thanks!!!
Excellent document, there are a lot of screws. This equally applies to the Canon LBP 5100 colour laser as it uses the same print engine. I lost the spring from the laser shutter but Halfords sell a spring pack that has a suitable replacement. I used surgical spirit to clean the mirrors and lenses with cotton buds. I had several attempts to get it fully clean. It is possible to remove the metal panel with the circuit boards without stripping the wiring out of the top cable ducts. The L shaped cable duct can be unclipped then the long top duct can be released (slid to the left) and lowered enough to remove the fixing screws. The left side cable duct can be unclipped then it slides down and out to assist removal of the metal panel.
Many thanks for the guide, it was clear to follow and bought our 2605 back to life. At some point in its life a magenta toner leaked everywhere and got inside the optical box.
To save cutting tiny labels I just wrapped them around the wire instead.
Matt
Sad news, the black started fading on the RHS. Can’t imagine what happened to cause it. Have shaken the brand new toner but no change. Have to start over again
Hi Colleen!
Are you talking of the right hand side in portrait mode? Does the fading involve straight upright lines?? Then it seems very much like what I tried to describe just below, due to some fluff remaining in the optical box and unfortunately: yes, you do have to do it again (see my ATTENTION 1 & 2). Good luck!
Cleaned my printer for the third time now.
Thanks again !
YES! Brilliant again
Thanks a lot!
It took me 4 hours in the first go and 2 hours in the second. (The first go had very tight screws. Mind to take a thin screw driver with at least 10 cm shaft, a cheap bit set is not particularly helpful.)
ATTENTION 1: Be careful with the cotton, or some tiny fluff might remain in the opt. box, which means that you get lighter or white streaks on your prints and that you have to open it all over again!—I used a dry cotton cloth and a lot of (dry) breath in the second go.
ATTENTION 2: Don’t forget to clean the small lenses just behind the LEDs! I had seamingly clean mirrors, but wiped some dust off a lens, which resulted in a much more brilliant red afterwards.
Details:
- Tools: Don’t forget your digital camera and a thin, dry cotton cloth. And compressed air, if possible.
- steps 6 – 8: evtl. loosen the screws of the top cover a little. Leave the front hatch open.
- step 9: Think of how to get the back off the labels before cutting.
- step13: Take off two trays and loosen one.
- step 20: see Attention 1
Btw: The involved printer is approx. 5 years old.
I have my printer since almost 4 years. Always did a great job until 6 months ago although the toners are 80% full. I found the solution here but still made a few phone calls to technicians since I have limited time to do this task. It was clear that I could end up with a very pricy repair or even a strong suggestion to buy a new one. Yesterday evening I printed your instructions and got to the task. Started at 8pm; some of the setting appart was tricky and had to be done with patience. I was very happy to observe that the lowest mirror facing upwards was effectively very dusty compared to the others. I then knew that all this work was the solution to the fading magenta. Putting it back together was very easy. No left over screws. Plugged it back and calibrated it. Printed the demo page. Working like a brand new printer!!! I could repeat this job in half the time now. Thank you so much for the instructions. Please note that I am a nurse, not a technician.
Really grateful for this. I had downloaded an article on this before but lost it. I finally made sometime to do this and it was so easy.
I found that the engineers I had paid to do this task for me over a year ago had lost 6 screws from the circuit board panel. I hadn’t recalled them because it stopped printing red shortly after their last visit, which had been to repair the drum and belt that was destroyed by one of the lost screws on the first visit.
Thanks again
Update: Our printer is now printing beautiful colours. I am over the moon. We have calibtrated several times and it is still a bit off but will forsake perfection for colour. The colour is better now than when we first purchased. If only we’d known then.
O…M…G…You are a genius!! I was just able to fix my building superintendents printer with this. He’s very very happy and his jaw hit the floor when I brought it back with printouts from the now fixed printer. Very detailed and the photos helped TREMENDOUSLY!!! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOO much for taking the time to post this how to.
Thanks for the excellent detailed description. Easy to follow! From a previous life I still have a Spudder Probe for assistance moving the wire forms around. See link: http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/995598-tool-pick-probe-nylon-yellow-7-jic-22035.html . Everyone should have 1 or 2 of these kicking around. I think a dental pick would also work, but be gentle. Also if I have to do it again I will carefully cut off the tie wraps and replace them with a good quality heavy thread. Thanks again!
I have just found your article on cleaning the HP2605dn and am doing flips over it even though we haven’t started cleaning ours yet. We’ve owned ours for ages and always just thought that the HP colour quality was bad and regretted buying it. I disliked it so much that we left it unused for months after it ran out of toner. I replaced the very expensive toner a couple of weeks ago and cursed myself for doing so. Will post an update if your solution works on ours. The suspense is killing me.
Saw your instructions last year but didn’t have the courage to try them out but my husband is now printing off a lot of colour journals of our various trips and they were looking flat and colourless, so had to take the plunge. Printed off your excellent instructions and photos and the job took me about three hours this afternoon and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! When printing the ‘Supplies status page’ before doing ‘your fix’, the magenta was showing as a pale pastel pink. Now, after the ‘fix’, it is printing a deep solid colour, just like the other colours – same cartridge, but now with a clean mirror!! Thank you so much for making it possible.
Thank You very match, your manual ist brilliant.
My printer has such nice colors
A very successful fix today. Excellent instructions and I’m a very happy bunny. I have one suggestion for your instructions. Step 13 proved tricky (which concerns removal of the cable trays). I think it would be worth pointing out that the right-hand L-shaped tray should be removed first. A couple of plastic clips need to be disengaged for this. Then the long tray can easily be slid sideways and it comes right out no problem. I scratched my head for 20 minutes over that one. One other note: On each pair of mirrors, one was very clean and the other dirty. I cleaned both dirty mirrors as recommended and though I got most of the contamination off, I could not make them look as clean as their partner. I presume that the dirty ones are the up-facing mirrors.
Brilliant! Many thanks!
I’ve now followed the instructions to the letter twice and each time the printer starts initializing and then shows 50.2 Fuser Error. Before it worked fine except for no magenta. Any suggestions what I’ve done wrong?
To quote Ron Weasley: “That was bloody brilliant!!”
I am so glad i stumbled on to this forum. thank you very much. followed instructions and voila! It saved me the expense and the hassle of buying another color laser printer. thank you for your in depth instructions.
Thank you , thank you, thank you. This fixed our printer problem 100%. We had been very happy with our 2605dn printer and then the quality deteriorated pretty quickly to faded, greenish/yellow and uneven prints (like the ones on your web site). I came across your web site fix in May of 2011, but didn’t muster up the courage to take it all apart until today, March 5, 2012. It took about 4 to 4 1/2 hours with extra time making sure that everything in the optical box was clean. Your step-by-step directions were clear and the only time I started doing something wrong (pulling out the cable connectors incorrectly) was when I failed to read your directions fully. Your suggestion to take digital photos of the circuit board and the back of the printer was very helpful. I was able to refer to the photos on my computer screen during re-assembly. Labeling the wires was also a must. I used masking tape to label each of the wire sets.
This is a fantastic set of instructions. Thank you very much. This has rejuvenated my printer. Many many thanks. The instructions are clear and plain and very easy to follow. I was though surprised by the stiffness in getting the cable plugs out of the circuit board. I was initially in fear of breaking them. But all worked out well. Have a beer or two on me. Very much deserved.
I think that I did something wrong but I still don’t know what.
The fading problem is now gone… All 3 colors are now working perfectly well, but black is no longer printing at all. Any idea ?
Praise the Lord! This was the most helpful document I’ve found. I’m sortof a technical guy, but I would not have attempted anything this deep without your guidance and pictures. Thank you so much!
I ended up with one leftover screw. Ha ha.
It worked great, thanks.
Followed the steps, with fantastic results. I was very dissapointed initially with new toners, but this guide fixed it all. I found the wiring harnesses easier to put back in.
Trevor
Thanks for taking your time to provide such thorough info that gave me the confidence to fix to my printer that was driving me crazy, it works like brand new after following your instructions. I bought you a few beers to show my appreciation. I’m ready for one now myself, Your the Best !
Thank you so very much for the detailed instructions and pictures! Reds are once again looking red instead of orange-yellow. If anyone else is having problems with the reds/magentas starting to fade from their HP 2605dn, here is a great place to find the answer to the problem!
Just finished…first time I didn’t have to fly by the seat of the pants doing “some” repair. Printer works perfectly…cleaned all the optics in there…the “red” mirror was filthy. If it hadn’t been for your excellent document I would have spent many hours spinning my wheels and would probably have replaced a perfectly good printer. Thank you!!!