HP’s LaserJet product line debuted in 1984 with a $3,500 model that printed eight pages per minute using a 3,000-page toner cartridge. When your modern office LaserJet begins to print pages that smear when touched, concentrate your troubleshooting on the printing components and consumables that directly contribute to the faulty sheets in the output tray.
Toner Cartridge
Toner is a powder that combines pigment and finely ground plastic to form a heat-set bond with paper. Toner formulations differ depending on the machine and manufacturer. Although new cartridges typically contain toner with the appropriate fusing properties for the printer they are intended for, remanufactured cartridges may be refilled with material that requires a higher fusing temperature than your LaserJet. Toner cannot bond properly under these conditions, causing it to smear and wipe off. To resolve the issue, try a different toner cartridge.
Fuser
The fuser in your LaserJet provides the heat source that permanently bonds toner to paper. If the fuser does not reach the proper temperature to complete the bonding process, the result is similar to what happens when you accidentally insert the wrong toner into your printer. Fuser problems can be caused by component failures, the use of improperly remanufactured parts, or improper setup after a repair. Some failures may result in a warning message on the printer’s front panel as a result of the machine detecting the fuser’s inability to reach the proper temperature, while others simply result in blotchy, smeared toner. These issues necessitate the assistance of a technician.
Paper Selection
Too-thick or too-smooth paper, as well as sheets with a heavy surface texture, can limit the ability of your LaserJet to fuse toner onto your chosen media. The recommended range of thicknesses that fall within your printer’s paper-handling capacity is specified in your user guide. Excessive paper may be unable to move smoothly through the sometimes-complex twists and turns of the printing path inside the device, limiting the fuser’s function. Heavily textured sheets have a surface that is too complex for the fuser’s heat to reach into the design’s low and high points. The too-smooth surface of glossy sheets, on the other hand, prevents a Smears that appear in addition to otherwise well-formed output may signal toner contamination inside your LaserJet, either from a leaky cartridge or from improperly fused sheets that leave toner residue behind. Smears at the edge of the sheet that enters the printer first point to dirty paper guides. Although you can follow your user guide’s directions for basic cleaning inside the printer, any cleanup that requires disassembly should be left to experts who know how to handle the laser and heat sources these devices contain.assembly should be left to experts who are familiar with the laser and heat sources contained in these devices.
