Printout Smears All Colors Except Black

Figure1: All colors smeared except black

CAUTION: When troubleshooting this issue. Do not arbitrarily remove the Mylar strip.

Figure 2: The Mylar strip.1 -Mylar strip with the imaging drum and the transfer drum removed.

The Mylar strip (see Figure 1 above) may be the root cause of this issue. To determine if the Mylar strip is the root cause, perform the following:

Print the demo page.

Text looks great.

Colors in the picture are smeared.

Check the gap between the imaging drum and the Mylar strip.

Pull the ITD, and look at the proximity of the Mylar strip and the imaging drum.

There should be a gap of approximately 2 to 3 mm.

Check the gap between the ITD and the Mylar strip.

Pulling the imaging drum.

Lock the ITD back in place.

Observe the spacing between the Mylar strip and the ITD.

There should be a gap of approximately 2 to 3 mm.

Check the edges of the Mylar strip. The ITD and the imaging drum are removed for signs that the strip has been rubbing.

If the cause is the Mylar strip, remove it.

At this time, there is not a part to replace, but the Mylar strip can be peeled off if it is positively determined that this is the cause of the problem. No harm will come to the printer, and the earlier printers did not have this strip in them at all; it was an airflow mod. Typically, unsupported media jamming causes this problem. When the media is removed from the printer, it bends the Mylar strip, eventually damaging the Mylar strip.

© 2005 Hewlett-Packard