HP 4200 laser printer problems - what is happening?

[NaX]

My very reliable HP 4200 laser printer is now smudging prints.
There is lots of toner, the maintenance kit is OK, using good paper, and I've cleaned it numerous times (paper cleaning cycle).

Changing the toner cartridge - no change.

any ideas?

[bgf]

It appears that your fuser is not working properly. I have tried to find out if the fuser and the toner are in the same package as my laser is. But this link below indicates it is separate. If so It should be changed by the look of you test page.

Accutek Imaging Resource Inc. HP printer parts, Maintenance Kit, Fuser Assembly, Fixing Film

[NaX]

actually fixed it
all my toners were 3rd party - and this screws them up (especially doing a lot of duplex printing in which I was doing)

HP LaserJet 4050 Printer series*-* HP LaserJet Printers - Staining, Smudges, or Gray Shading - bpl01774 - HP Business Support Center


bought a true HP toner, ran 4-5 cleaning cycles and it is almost 100%

(last time I use third party toners - and I've used them lots but due to the recent duplex printing barrage, this is where the problem of the toner became apparent)

[bgf]

Glad to hear the solution was found. Yes cheap third party toners can cause lots of problems right up to ruining your laser. There are seals in the cartridge and they will probably last for one recharge but not two or definitely not three. So you are playing Russian roulette putting one in your laser. I am retired from HP but not in the printer section but I have seen lots of laser problems and third party toner cartridges cause a lot of them.
Congrats on your finding the solution to the problem.