Printer Questions Threat: The printer was totally fine before it broke

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Printer Questions Threat: The printer was totally fine before it broke

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

Peachfart posted:

Lots of IT guys bemoan how terrible printers are when in most cases they are just set up incorrectly.

Hey let's be fair, it can be both. It's probably a terrible printer set up incorrectly.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2021 16:25

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 08:16

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

I have an ancient Laserjet CP1215 that has some color alignment issues. Black prints perfectly fine but the rest are off with cyan being way off. I've got a XP VM running the HP Toolbox to run the automatic calibrations, which did nothing, then I did a factory reset on the printer and ran three more calibration cycles, which did nothing, and I've replaced the cyan and magenta cartridges with genuine HP cartridges just in case.

Anyone know if there's anything I can do to fix it?

Here's the main calibration page:

And the supplies page. I've since replaced the magenta cartridge but it's still showing the same alignment issues.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2024 22:34

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

tribbledirigible posted:

This is going to sound so dumb, but replace the K toner cart as well. Near end of life toners sometimes cause weird signal issues. I can't give the actual why, I've just seen it happen or someone I was on a call with/ chat say it worked.

Not a dumb idea at all, but I gave it a shot and no dice. I even swapped out the Y cartridge just to be sure that wasn't the problem.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2024 09:00

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

tribbledirigible posted:

Ok, are you seeing any error messages?

Because it sounds like your misregistration sensor on the ITB is borked.

The calibration process puts down toner on the belt directly, this sensor assembly checks the placement of each band of toner as it passes. If it sees misalignment, it signals the corresponding laser to adjust.

If it's not working right, that usually produces a "54.XXX" error.

I'm not sure where you are in the world, so I can't give you availability on the part.

And it sucks because these were really the last gasp of when Hp printers were drat solid. poo poo these days don't last 5 years, nevermind 15.

No error messages at all, this unit only has idiot lights and not a LCD. The HP Toolbox software is only complaining about having non-HP cartridges installed. The printer seems to think it's working fine.

I'm in the USA. If you think there's a part I can replace I'm game to try, I just don't know where to go for that since fixyourownprinter.com went down.
Otherwise I'm looking at getting a used Brother HL-3170cdw for that sweet duplexer and cheap toner.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2024 22:45

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

Cleaning the ITB didn't help so I'll look into getting a replacement, I just wish they weren't so pricey.

Thanks for all the help, if nothing else I have the service manual for this thing now.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2024 06:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Printer Questions Threat: The printer was totally fine before it broke