leeuwin
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HP Laserjet III - Help
I have a Laserjet III that has developed a tiresome fault.
When first turned on and after selftest etc, trying to print will cause the printer to appear to start printing and feed the paper. It will then stop show an error of 51 and then produce one sheet of paper with 2 horizontal smudged lines one third of the way down.
Nothing will get to restart except turning off, opening the top, pull the cartridge out and in again, and then turn on. It then sometimes, about 20% of the time, start working.
I have replaced the cartridge and have cold-reset. The printer has fairly low usage in the past but it is still a good printer and am loath to get rid of it
Anybody have any ideas???
When first turned on and after selftest etc, trying to print will cause the printer to appear to start printing and feed the paper. It will then stop show an error of 51 and then produce one sheet of paper with 2 horizontal smudged lines one third of the way down.
Nothing will get to restart except turning off, opening the top, pull the cartridge out and in again, and then turn on. It then sometimes, about 20% of the time, start working.
I have replaced the cartridge and have cold-reset. The printer has fairly low usage in the past but it is still a good printer and am loath to get rid of it
Anybody have any ideas???
If your printer has an internal JetDirect card, try removing the card and then restarting the printer.
Here are some other things to consider:
It is possible that the toner cartridge is defective; there may be a bad cable in the laser scanner to the DC controller; the fiber optic cable may be faulty; the laser scanner assembly may be defective; the printer could be unable to detect the laser beam.
It is possible that the toner cartridge is defective; there may be a bad cable in the laser scanner to the DC controller; the fiber optic cable may be faulty; the laser scanner assembly may be defective; the printer could be unable to detect the laser beam.
Generally error 51 is either your scanner or your laser so I don't think anything you do except for changing one or the other will help fix the problem.
from the hp services manual
51 error loss of beam detect
possible causes
1. defective toner cartridge
2.Bad cable: Laser/Scannerto DC controller.
3.Cuts or kinks in Fiber Optic Cable
4. Defective Laser/Scanner assembly
My experience with printers says try a new toner cartridge. It is my biggest cause for problems. Some of those rebuild carts have high failure rates.
51 error loss of beam detect
possible causes
1. defective toner cartridge
2.Bad cable: Laser/Scannerto DC controller.
3.Cuts or kinks in Fiber Optic Cable
4. Defective Laser/Scanner assembly
My experience with printers says try a new toner cartridge. It is my biggest cause for problems. Some of those rebuild carts have high failure rates.
The previous comment from Joed is the answer for your problem, I only would say that it's more likelly to be the laser scanner or the fiber otic cable instead of the toner cartridge.
ASKER
Thanks guys, I have cleaned everything in sight, taken the covers off replaced them and now the printer appears to be working OK. The toner catridge, BTW, is a new genuine HP one. I also cleaned the scanner mirror which was a bit dusty. Perhaps I disturbed something back into place.
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ASKER
I thought that might be the problem. I will make a note for the next time :)