Posted by KathiAZ on 11/29/06 11:01pm
Msg #162908

I hate my printers...Again

My Dell 1710N will not work properly. I have uninstalled, and reinstalled it several times with no luck. It will not print full size on legal paper.

My HP3015 just stops working. I have had it in the shop twice, and it continues to break down.

I need a simple, no frills, laser printer that can print on legal paper. I don't care if I can't print on two sizes on paper. I just want to be able to print. I am tired of trying to get these bells and whistle to work.
Any suggestions?
TIA

Reply by SpinClose/MI on 11/29/06 11:04pm
Msg #162909

My HP2420d has worked flawless for almost 2 years.

Reply by Laurie_PA on 11/29/06 11:20pm
Msg #162912

Kathi, I don't know if your HP is set up the same as mine BUT when you install go to the 'HP toolbox' (there should be an icon on you tray) and then device settings. When you get to device settings on the left side go to "Paper Handling" and adjust your trays to show what tray has what paper.
I had the same problem because I have a two tray and it shows as three trays because the manual feed is considered tray 1.
This fixed the same problem for me.

Good Luck.

Reply by Lisa Prestegard on 11/30/06 7:19am
Msg #162939

My cheap-o Brother 5170DN is a workhorse! (Office Max, $250 approx.)
Initially, I bought a few new toner cartridges and since then have been refilling them for about $12 each (High-yield). I usually get 4-5 refills per toner cartridge.
I have used this printer for two years, just replaced the drum with an after-market $59.00 one last week, and have had not one single printing problem.
The manual said this printer has a 20,000 page per month capacity, and I push it to the limit constantly.
What's more, I have never had a PCL conflict of any kind.
My HP, on the other hand, crapped out on me within three months

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 11/30/06 9:06am
Msg #162959

Re: I LOVE my hp....

Got it on e-bay when I started out (to save money and cut my losses) - based it on the HP I had at the law firm in CT - HP2200d - prints both size papers automatically and auto-duplex - LOVE IT!! It's a refurb cost me $125 plus $35 shipping - I've already gotten my money's worth out of it..

We had a Dell in the office in CT (the one they give you free with a desktop computer?) - thing never worked - thankfully the receptionist had that one - she crabbed about that printer all the time and was still crabbing about it when I left.

For printers I swear by HP.

Reply by TRG_wy on 11/30/06 9:24am
Msg #162962

Re: I LOVE my hp....

I too have a 2200d and it has been a workhorse for five years now. Course I bought it new for $800 (ouch). I refill my toner and get about five refills per cartridge.

I am however looking for a new printer. The Brother HL-5150D looks promising, but the additional tray costs $199.99, $20 more than I can get the whole printer for!

Reply by MikeC/NY on 11/30/06 9:35am
Msg #162964

Re: I LOVE my hp....

I just bought a 5150D. It has a 50 sheet multipurpose feed that you can use as a tray = letter size paper in the MP, legal in the full tray, set the printer properties to define what size paper is where, and you're set.

Reply by TRG_wy on 11/30/06 9:40am
Msg #162965

Re: I LOVE my hp.... Thanks Mike

That info helps a lot. I was thinking the MP was maybe 1-10 pages only. If legal fits into the 250 tray sounds like a winner then.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 11/30/06 12:10pm
Msg #163001

Re: I LOVE my hp.... Thanks Mike

Legal fits in the 250 tray; the tray juts out from the back of the printer a bit when you use legal, which is an interesting design. Just make sure that you set the two trays in the printer properties, and if you're printing PDFs to check the little box in the print dialog that says "Choose paper source by PDF page size".

Staples sells the 5150D, refurbished, for $149 on their web site.

Reply by Larry/Ca on 11/30/06 12:32pm
Msg #163007

5150D users that use...

the MP Tray for their letter size. I have had one of these for awhile now and sometimes in a package it will jam in the transition from letter to legal on one page in the document (say page 27) and when printing the borrowers docs it will jam on this page again. I can count on it, if it jams on page 27 in the first printing then it will jam on page 27in the second printing. Have any of you using your 5150D as as dual tray with the MP Tray for letter had this problem. Has really puzzles me as this could not be mechanical. Seems like the problem is in the package as it is sent to the printer. I have reinstalled the driver several times and it did not fix this. If nobody has this problem I think that I will get another 5150D as I love this printer.

Thanks, Larry

Reply by MikeC/NY on 11/30/06 4:49pm
Msg #163058

Haven't seen this problem, Larry...

but I've only had the printer for about a week. It spit out a couple of loan doc packages with no problem switching from legal in Tray 1 and letter in the MP tray. I'll let you know if the same happens to me, but I agree with you that it sounds more like a bad doc package than a mechanical problem.

Does this happen with random packages from different sources?

Reply by Larry/Ca on 11/30/06 6:35pm
Msg #163071

Yes Mike, it doesn't seem...

to be documents from one source and really doesn't happen on every package, about every fourth or fifth package it will do this and usually only once within a document. If nobody else has this problem then I'm taking it back. I've also used different computers and the problem persist. I have, today, e-mailed Brother to see if they had any advise on this problem. thanks for your response. I really thought that other users of this machine that use it as we do would have the same problem.

Thanks again, Larry

Reply by MikeC/NY on 11/30/06 8:09pm
Msg #163094

Re: Yes Mike, it doesn't seem...

As I said, I haven't had the printer long enough to know if it's a problem but I will definitely be looking out for it.

Just out of curiosity, if the package jams on page 27, have you tried printing a range of pages around that one - maybe page 20 - 40? My guess is that if it jams at the same point on a range print, the problem is definitely in the doc package; if the range prints clean, you're looking at either a hardware or memory problem.

Reply by Margaret_FL on 11/30/06 1:16pm
Msg #163023

Re: I LOVE my hp....

Try ebay or Amazon.com for 2nd trays. I got mine on Amazon.com and I did not pay $199, something like $50

Reply by Ndwa on 11/30/06 12:36pm
Msg #163010

Re: I hate my printers...Kathi

Dell printer setup can be a bit tricky. I've been using a Dell 1700 (dual trays) for 2.5yrs without any problem. Email or call me see if I can walk you through.

Reply by BrotherOwner on 11/30/06 11:52pm
Msg #163174

For Brother printers...

Check out PCCONNECTION.com. HL 5170DNLT (Duplex,Network connection, 2nd 250 sheet Lower Tray, hence DNLT) for $230.04 refurb. Brother will honor the FULL 1 year Brother warranty as these are REFURB by Brother. Got one, love it. Also look at 5140 or 5240. 128 meg of add'l memory is only $20-21 for 5100 series, shipped free. I gotta check the company name for the memory, but brother doesn't sell memory. 5140 comes with 16 meg, 5170 with 32 meg of memory. Some PCCONNECTION prices thru 12/1 but maybe they'll honor longer. Good company tho.