- Streaks
- Faded prints
- Ghost images
Faint, repeating images from a laser printer that is equal to the circumference of the photosensitive drum can be the result of a faulty cleaning blade, erase lamp, or a problem with the corona causing residual toner to stick the drum.
If the distance between images is equal to the circumference of one of the fuser rollers, then the fusing may not be complete due to damaged rollers or an incorrect temperature setting.
What Ghosting Is And How It Can Waste Printer Ink
- Toner not fused to the paper
Toner smears usually indicate a failure of the fusing mechanism. The fusing mechanism uses a combination of heat and pressure to adhere, or fuse toner to the paper. If toner on the paper is loose or can be wiped off easily, the fuser assembly may be damaged.
If toner smears appear on the leading edge of the paper, the paper guides may be dirty.
Laser printer print defects - Toner smear
- Creased paper
- Paper not feeding
- Paper jam
Paper jam describes the condition when paper becomes stuck in the printer feed and is unable to eject. The printer is rendered inoperative until the paper is removed.
- No connectivity
Printer connectivity issues can be the result of a variety of issues and may not necessarily be the fault the printer. It is important to first determine the source of the issue in order to correct it.
How to Troubleshoot Computer to Printer Connections
Troubleshoot network printer problems
- Garbled characters on paper
A print job that prints garbled text or is otherwise not legible could be a sign of a corrupt or incompatible printer driver. Most printers will have driver software bundled with the Windows CD, but a printer that was released at a later date may not. Under such circumstances, you may need to load the printer driver software manually. If you cannot find the proper printer driver on any of the disks that came with the printer, check the manufacturer's web site.
If a printer continues to produce gibberish printing after updating the driver, check for cable or port damage.
- Vertical lines on page
Sharp vertical lines appearing on the page can be an indication of scratches on the photosensitive drum inside the toner cartridge. The toner cartridge itself may need replacing.
Vertical lines that appear smeared may be the result of a fuser assembly that needs replacing.
- Backed up print queue
- Low memory errors
The "Out of Memory" message means the memory capacity of the unit has been exceeded. The amount of memory used depends on the amount or type of data on the documents being faxed, copied or printed. Documents with graphics and/or color will use more memory. Out of memory errors can sometimes be resolved by rebooting the computer or installing additional memory.
More on Out of Memory Errors
- Access denied
- Printer will not print
Documents in the print queue that will not print and cannot be deleted may be the result of a stalled print spooler. To correct this issue, try to stop and restart the Print Spooler service. If the issue persists, check the hard drive. There might not be enough space for spooling the document. If not, relocate the spool folder to another volume. Once you have cleared and restarted the Print Spooler, go back and re-print all the affected print jobs.
- Color prints in wrong print color
- Unable to install printer
- Error codes
Whenever the printer is switched on, it automatically performs a series of internal self-tests and initialization sequences. If any of the tests fail, a system error or a system warning will typically be displayed on the LED display of printer. Whether it's a number or a term displayed, printer error codes inform the user as to what is not functioning properly.
