Defective Laser Printer - repair or scrap ?

[zenophile]

Hello,

I bought a 2nd hand Laser printer on ebay (QMS DeskLaser 600).
After rooting out the Windows XP drivers I printed a test page,
which had a slightly grey background. The 2nd test page had a
more pronounced grey background and the 3rd was hopeless -
basically a blotched black-grey image.

I opened it up and see that the drum is covered with toner.

Does this printer need a new drum-toner combo? - or should I
throw it away and give the seller negative feedback? Surely it
can't be repaired - as even if I cleaner the drum it would just
continue to print garbage after a couple of pages.

I suspect that the seller sold it to me after cleaning the drum
himself.

 

[measekite]

If you want a laser get a $400 new laser like an HP or Brother. If you
want to print near laser quality and photos as well get a Canon IP4000
for around $130.00. In your case EBAY=SCREWED.

 

[Binky]

Hello,

I bought a 2nd hand Laser printer on ebay (QMS DeskLaser 600).
After rooting out the Windows XP drivers I printed a test page,
which had a slightly grey background. The 2nd test page had a
more pronounced grey background and the 3rd was hopeless -
basically a blotched black-grey image.

I opened it up and see that the drum is covered with toner.

Does this printer need a new drum-toner combo? - or should I
throw it away and give the seller negative feedback? Surely it
can't be repaired - as even if I cleaner the drum it would just
continue to print garbage after a couple of pages.

I suspect that the seller sold it to me after cleaning the drum
himself.

Given the relatively low price a new unit, I think the solution depends on
the type of person you are. I had a problem develop with HP 4M+ bought for
£30 at auction and had the same situation as you in front of me - fix it or
bin it?

Well, boys will be boys and that new screwdriver kit hardly gets used
so.....I decided to try and fix it and learn something at the same time.
After getting a trustworthy opinion of the problem from
fixyourownprinter.com I bought a kit to repair the fuser roller and a video
CD how to do it from them (their diagnosis was spot on too!). I had to
replace the pressure roller as well but sourced that part quite cheaply in
the UK. I may have doubled the initial cost of the printer but it's been
working fine ever since I now have no fear about taking on other repair
tasks (once I get the service manual) should I have to.

Also, I have noticed greying backgrounds only appear when my toner is low.
Not quite to the extent you report though.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Hard to say. Some toner may have spilled during shipment and
contaminated things temporarily.

The drum wiper may have shifted or become damaged. The corona wires may
be dirty, etc. There are many possibilities.

Was the printer shipped with the toner and drum installed? It may need
some clean up.

Art