I have a little HP 3-in-1 machine that I used a couple of years ago as my main printer for my computer. It is a B&W laser printer that uses an off the shelf toner cartridge. It always printed clean and crisp.
At some point it started the usual multiple-page pickup problems, and I set it aside and used a different machine. It sat for a couple of years, then I repaired the problem with the page pickup and started using it again.
The print quality is really poor, like a 1970’s fax machine. No tweaking of the controls makes an improvement and the print is fuzzy compared to what it used to do. It also leaves spots on the print, and occasionally, dark horizontal lines. The troubleshooting section says all of these symptoms may be due to a defective toner cartridge.
Can toner get old while a cartridge sits in a machine for a couple of years? Before I go out and invest another $55 in a new cartridge, I am wondering if I should just get a new machine.
I think toner cartridges have a pretty long shelf life, especially if they are kept in a dry, cool place. The printing problems do sound like they are being caused by the cartridge. Have you tried taking out and shaking the cartridge? That may get things flowing again.
I don’t think the toner goes bad, but the drum may. I used to leave a laser printer at my summer house over the winter. When I returned the next summer, the output was blank. Replacing the cart fixed that even though the first one was not empty.
In one way or the other, been in the “printing” business since 1986. Never stumbled upon a laser toner gone mad. But saying “no” to your question would be mockery to my printing experience as a whole. Murphy’s law, etc.
Can you clean the corona wire, too, if you have one? I would do that (and shake the toner) before replacing it. Laser toner printers work on static electricity - the drum, toner particles, and paper are electrostatically charged (the toner is charged by shaking it) to attract each other so that the toner particles are picked up on the drum and then transferred to your paper. You might just have an un-charged situation since it has sat for a while.
Try taking the cartridge out, putting it in a plastic bag, then that plastic bag inside another, and giving the cartridge a good shake. Please note the plastic bags are important: I have seen toner cartridges come apart and send toner everywhere (thank you Kyocera).
Failing that, check the fuser. It may not be getting up to temperature or the pickup pad or roller may be totally encrusted with toner. The fuser unit has an expected lifespan which will be detailed in the manual. The fuser unit is usually expensive to replace. Please note that the fuser unit is supposed to get very hot.
My business is recycling toner cartridges. I’ve been doing this since 1991. So I guess I know a lot more about toner cartridges than the average person.
Toner can go bad. I buy empty cartridges (which sometimes aren’t empty) and find that sometimes in a still full cartridge, the toner has turned to rock. This can happen if the cartridge is exposed to heat, such as in the trunk of a car or in an un-air-conditioned house or garage in a hot climate.
The main problem with a toner cartridge going bad from not being used is that the rubber wiper blade that cleans the drum can oxidize over time and the chemical reaction in the wiper blade causes a chemical reaction in the photoconductive surface of the drum. Since the drum hasn’t been turned, that one spot on the drum no longer works and you get a horizontal line across the page…usually 3 to 5 times down the page depending on the circumference of the drum.
The oxidation of the wiper blade can also cause the blade to not wipe which will cause a repeating image. I’ve seen blades that were so oxidized that they broke completely off.
In the really old cartridges, there was a corona wire and if any toner or dust got on the corona wire, there would be random vertical lines down the page. This could be cleaned off with a q-tip or sometimes a brush was included with the printer for cleaning it off. That technology became obsolete in the early 90s.
If the toner has been heated causing clumps of hard toner mixed in with still powdered toner, the hard toner will cut grooves into the magnetic roller that transfers the toner from the hopper to the drum. This will cause light print because the layer of toner that’s transferred to the drum will not be consistent.
Finally, the drum will go bad if it’s left exposed to light for a long period of time. We used to take the “puke green” drums out of the old HP LaserJet 2 and 3 cartridges and set them on the windowsill and the side facing the sunlight would turn a bright yellow-orange within a few hours. Newer drums don’t seem to be as sensitive to light, but you really should keep 'em in the printer or in the black or foil bag they come in.
One more possibility. Sometimes, the wiper blade will stick to the drum causing the rubber part of the wiper blade to flip over.
Sometimes, this will cause the drum to bind and you’ll hear the sound of gears grinding. (No worry about damage to the printer…the gears on the drum are made out of a softer material than the drive gear in the printer, so the gear on the drum will strip before the drive gear).
In other cases, the drum will continue to turn, but you’ll have a very messy print. Toner speckled all over the page, blurry print, sometimes a whining or whistling noise like a car with bad brakes.
If this happens, you have to replace the cartridge or have it rebuilt.