Color Toner Missing from Color Images

An issue has been discovered on the Color LaserJet 4700/4730mfp that causes the transfer rollers in the ETB to remain disengaged intermittently, even after color printing resumes. The resulting color images may have the following defects:

Missing color toner - either on the full page or on a portion of the page (refer to the following figure).

Figure 1: Figure 1: Example of supplies status page

Extremely faint color.

Two stripes of toner (calibration patches) on the backside of images (refer to the following figure), if calibration has occurred prior to the printed images.

Figure 2: Figure 2: Example of toner (calibration patches)

In this case, the following calibration errors will likely also be listed on the Event Log:
Full Calibration:
54.0C.03 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.02 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.01 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.00 Halftone calibration error
54.0F.03 CPR sensor out of range
54.0F.02 CPR sensor out of range
54.0F.01 CPR sensor out of range
54.0F.00 CPR sensor out of range

Quick Calibration:
54.0C.03 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.02 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.01 Halftone calibration error
54.0C.00 Halftone calibration error

Use the following steps to isolate the issue and create a workaround:

Verify that the color cartridges are not running in Override at Out Mode.

Print a Supplies Status Page and check for the message Supply Used After Out with OVERRIDE under the cartridge part number. When a cartridge is used in this mode, the toner may be depleted, causing that color to fade.

Confirm that image is not merely printed in grayscale. If the full image is printed (i.e. if areas that should be printed in color are printed in grayscale), then the printer may be experiencing one of the following:

The customer may be using a black-only print driver.

RESTRICT COLOR USE may be set to COLOR IF ALLOWED or DISABLE COLOR through the control panel or Embedded Web Server.

COLOR SUPPLY OUT may be set to AUTOCONTINUE BLACK through the control panel or EWS.

Verify that all three color planes (CMY) are missing from, or appear to be very faint, on the Supplies Status Page.

Set Color/Black Mix in the System Setup Menu to the default setting of Auto. The Mostly Black Pages setting may exacerbate the issue.

Open and close the ETB. This will cometimes resolve the issue temporarily allowing the product to work correctly until a replacement ETB can be obtained.

Replace the ETB.

NOTE: Do not replace the print cartridges for this defect.

© 2005 Hewlett-Packard