LaserJet 5L print-out has become too light

[Jay]

My HP LaserJet 5L has provided good service for 5 years, but the print-out
has become too light. Replacing the toner cartridge did not help. I'm using
HP paper, so that should be ok. I'm using Windows 98, and have tried
tweaking the "graphics" and "device options" choices, but nothing seems to
make any difference. Any suggestions to darken the print-out?

 

[Moo]

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/kkg2.html

 

[Jay]

My HP LaserJet 5L has provided good service for 5 years, but the
print-out has become too light. Replacing the toner cartridge did not
help. I'm using HP paper, so that should be ok. I'm using Windows 98...

Update:

I tried different things, short of taking apart the printer to clean the
innards (that is, I didn't try http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/kkg2.html).

One thing helped: installing the latest driver from the HP web site. Why
this can help is totally mysterious to me. Any ideas?

 

[Harley]

I had the exact same problem, also using Win98. I believe that the drivers
you are talking about from HP are actually older than the ones that come
with Win98. For some strange reason they do appear to give some relief to
the problem.

I however further acheived night and day difference when I took the
laser/scanner out of the printer and took off the sheet metal cover and
cleaned all the optics parts inside with a common lens cleaner cloth. The
resulting printouts look like when the printer was new.