Computers: Repair Your Own Laser Printer

Repair Your Own Laser Printer

Written by RJ Geyer

Having a printer repaired by a service company can be a pretty expensive proposition so we've compiled a checklist below that may assist you in fixing it yourself.

Paper Jams Paper jams are common. To clear repparttar jam pull repparttar 107197 paper out gently in repparttar 107198 same direction it was headed and then check for any obvious obstructions. If repparttar 107199 jams persist repparttar 107200 usual cause is worn pickup rollers. Over a period of time repparttar 107201 rollers wear down and become slick and don't pull repparttar 107202 paper in fast enough. If repparttar 107203 paper is stopping in repparttar 107204 fuser section it might be a bad gear or some debris causing repparttar 107205 jam.

Image Problems Most image problems are caused by a bad toner cartridge. If you have any streaking, light/dark areas or repetitive spots on your print, replace repparttar 107206 cartridge and see if it clears up. This is common when using poorly remanufactured cartridges. Some recyclers don't replace repparttar 107207 image drum and they should because repparttar 107208 original drums are only designed to last for repparttar 107209 expected toner life. If problems persist after replacing repparttar 107210 cartridge repparttar 107211 next area to look at would be repparttar 107212 fuser. The heat rollers can become torn or warped after a period of time causing an image defect.

Maintenance Kits On most of repparttar 107213 newer printers, HP has determined repparttar 107214 average life span of repparttar 107215 consumable parts and has a maintenance message programmed in to appear after a certain amount of pages have been produced. The message will be something like "PERFORM USER MAINTENANCE" depending on what model you have. This is just a rough estimate. Some of repparttar 107216 parts may go before this message appears and some will last long after. You can get a maintenance kit which usually contains repparttar 107217 fuser, feed rollers and certain other high mortality parts depending on repparttar 107218 model. The newer ones are designed to be user replaceable and don't require a skilled service technician to install. It's a good idea to have one since these kits will usually take care of most of repparttar 107219 problems you will ever have.

The Dell Syndrome

Written by Barry Shultz

From information I have gathered from different sources I have come to repparttar

conclusion that Dell cartridges are exactly repparttar 107196

same as Lexmark cartridges EXCEPT for repparttar 107197

cap.

For owners of Dell printers this should be cause for celebration. Now bear in mind that I have not confirmed any of these findings with my own tests. However, repparttar 107198 information does come from people who claim to have actually tried and successfully used a Lexmark cartridge in their Dell printer.

Before I begin I want to compare some pricing for repparttar 107199 Dell and Lexmark cartridges that we are referring to. These prices were accurate at repparttar 107200 time of this study.

Dell Web Site Black (310-4142) $26.99 Color (310-4143) $29.99

Lexmark Web Site Black (82) $29.99 Color (83) $34.99

Saples.com Black (82) $32.99 Color (83) $38.99

Officemax.com Black (82) $29.99 Color (83) $37.99

I have included prices from Staples and OfficeMax for Lexmark cartridges because repparttar 107201 whole purpose of this article is finding an alternative to ordering from Dell's web site which is very inconvenient if you need repparttar 107202 cartridge yesterday.

Apparently Dell has a monopoly on these cartridges. I did a Google search for Dell cartridges and I couldn't find anybody EXCEPT Dell selling them.

If you will notice repparttar 107203 prices from Dell are cheaper than repparttar 107204 rest but if you take into consideration shipping then it pretty much evens out.

Ok, on to repparttar 107205 procedures.

There are two ways to do this. You can modify repparttar 107206 printer itself or you can modify repparttar 107207 cartridge.

This procedure works with repparttar 107208 black and color cartridges.

To modify repparttar 107209 cartridge you must remove repparttar 107210 cap from your existing Dell cartridge. Depending on repparttar 107211 amount of glue it should come off easily with a carpet razor knife or a box cutter. You will need to buy a new Lexmark cartridge. Look for #82 (black) and/or #83 (color).

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