Posted by CopperheadVA on 1/23/13 12:39pm
Msg #451714

Two HP 2430tn's - printing solid black page all of a sudden

I have two HP 2430tn's. Printed docs last night no problem. Got up this morning, printed another set of docs. Went to the printer to retireve them and found that along with the text of the docs, each page is also covered with toner. I can still see the text through the toner covering the whole page, but basically each page printed as a solid swath of toner.

I figured it must be a bad cartridge, so I changed the cartridge. Same thing happened. So I dedcided I would deal with it later and would just use my other printer. SAME THING ON THE OTHER PRINTER.

I am at a loss as to what happened to cause BOTH printers to do this at the exact same time. I have tried power cycling them and a cold reset with no success. I had to resort to printing docs on my son's little HP P1006, which is OK in a pinch but not for the long haul. I have Googled the issue and also have done a search here but did not find anything.

Has anyone had this problem???

Reply by Eve/VA on 1/23/13 2:14pm
Msg #451732

If the same thing happened with both printers, is it possible that it's coming from the pdfs and it's not your printers?

Reply by John/MO on 1/23/13 3:19pm
Msg #451741

I have had that problem with docs from USAA and First American on my HP printer. The first 12 pages or so from title print fine, then the lender docs are all black. Must be something to do with the formating.
They print fine on my Brother printer and I used to take them to the UPS store and they printed them fine??????

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/23/13 3:45pm
Msg #451744

It's with everything I print - doesn't matter if it's a pdf

or something else. It also does it when I print a test page or information page from the controls on the printer. I am baffled.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/23/13 4:08pm
Msg #451750

Linda...read this..

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-All-in-One-Install-Setup-e-g-Windows-8/HP-Laserjet-P1006-Printing-BLACK-pages-problem/td-p/1848463

Hope this helps.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/23/13 4:08pm
Msg #451751

Hrrmm...maybe not..I saw "drum"..maybe the drum or fuser? n/m

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/23/13 4:32pm
Msg #451755

Re: Linda...read this..

The sample looks like what I get when I print, but I have tried switching out the cartridge and it still did the same thing. I just don't see how BOTH printers began doing it at exactly the same time. They are plugged into the same outlet but I have a mega surge protector on there.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/23/13 6:56pm
Msg #451787

Seems to be resolved now

Tried printing a few pages again this evening and still had gray haze on docs but it was much improved. My neighbor came over tonight and printed about 30 pages each printer and it seemed to get better and better, to the point that it looks pretty good. He said it's probably the after market toner and I should use OEM carts. Told him no can do because they are $200+ each and I replace every 3 - 4 weeks. I've been using aftermarket for years and some suppliers are worse than others but I've never experienced anything like this.

One thing finally dawned on me - my house heating unit went out yesterday and this morning when I printed and everything was all black on both printers - it was about 55 degrees in my house at that moment. My house is now warm and toasty and it's printing fine. I wonder if the temperature had anything to do with it? 55 degrees is cold for human comfort indoors, but is it too cold for electronics so that they don't function properly?

Reply by BrotherOwner on 1/23/13 8:48pm
Msg #451799

Re: Seems to be resolved now

So, try putting a scarf around each of the poor things. LOL. They were probably just cold and shivering. Seriously, check the HP website for "Normal Operating Temperature" for those machines. If something happens to two machines SUDDENLY and out of the blue, I'd think of the print instuctions the computer is sending, or some other variable in the environment. This is a good heads up for anyone who loses heat for a while in colder weather, no matter what the pinter. Glad your warm again.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/24/13 5:43am
Msg #451827

From an HP support document via Google search

Operating environment

Environmental condition temperature (printer and print cartridge)
Printing: 15° to 32.5°C (59° to 89°F)
Storage/standby: -20° to 40°C (-4° to 104°F)

Relative humidity
Printing: 10% to 80%
Storage/standby: 10% to 90%

I was below the minimum operating temp by a few degrees at least.

Reply by Jennifer Jackson on 1/24/13 6:27am
Msg #451830

I had the problem...had my printer 15 days (1 day past the return period) and my LOVELY local Staples store let me exchange it. They told me it was probably my toner but I didn't believe it. Sure enough, got my new printer, same thing...it WAS a bad toner cartridge.