I hate printers. I have an HP Laserjet IIIsi that has been a pretty good work horse for the past couple years. Recently I haven't been able to print a single page successfully. The paper jams every single time. prior to jamming, there would be toner covering nearly the entire page.

Now, I understand how a laserjet printer works, but I can't quite troubleshoot this one. As far as the toner covering the page goes, I could assume that either the drum isn't getting cleaned, or the charge on the drum is screwy. I don't know. Here's a pic of that problem:


As for the jams, they all occur in one of two places. This appears to be either in the fuser, as I gather from this shot:


or here, which I can only think is part of the paper feed mechanism:


Any ideas? It's possible that this is merely an issue of a toner cartridge on its way out, which might be causing problems in other mechanisms in the printer. Could that be the case?

Anyways, thanks for any help.

post for adding photo

post for adding photo again

I work on Lexmark laser printers and from the look of that paper it could be the toner cartridge but my guess is the fuser. It looks like the toner isn't adhering to the paper which would be a bad fuser and also when they start jamming under the fuser it means it's going bad. But then again I haven't worked on a HP one.

I'm having printer problems myself tonight. My kitten decided to play with the paper as it was feeding out and jammed it good. I love my kitten

You've probably already read this, but i'll post it anyway.

For the CQ problem I would try another toner that machine has an all in one toner that has the drum, charge corona and a bunch of other crap in it.

If it is still jamming after the new toner check to see if any gears on the fuser are broken.

In addition to what ricin said to read, also try www.fixyourownprinter.com . My old laserjet was having trouble, and their repair kit was inexpensive and included an amazingly complete instruction video.

Mine was a laserjet 3p, not a 3si, but my basic understanding is that these old laserjets have certain things that wear out rather predictably at X number of years, so it's not surprising that your laserjet is giving you grief right now since mine is approximately the same age.

Thanks, folks. And thanks for the link, Tony. They only appear to have a repair kit for a couple problems relating to my printer, but that's okay. I've posted my question there too, and hopefully some nice person will respond.

Any advice on where to get a replacement toner cartridge? They don't seem to have my model on their list, unless the one that works for the III and IIID will also work for the IIIsi. It seemed pretty specific, though. And hey, if $39 is all I have to spend, I have no problem replacing it. I thought it was far more than that.

*edit*
besides, I believe this cartridge has been in there for about 4 years now. Granted, it hasn't done much printing since I got ahold of it, but in its office setting, it was printing all day. it's probably just time to replace the cartridge.

Officemax has them but they are 125.00 dollars.

here is a link to some refilled ones.
http://www.pacificink.com/TH92291Aproducts.html

Yeah, that's the price range I was seeing tonight. I had thought they were over $100, and I suppose they are. Do you think the refilled ones are okay? I'm much more willing to go for that $45 one than something in the 80's.

besides, I believe this cartridge has been in there for about 4 years now.

Um, when you said "I know how laser printers work", I assumed you'd already done the obvious things like replace the toner cartridge.

Hey now

I don't think it's unreasonable to post here before replacing anything. Upwards of $80 is not acceptable for a first troubleshooting step, IMO.

Besides, I think I'm a little off on the age.

Anyway, my family had a LaserJet IIP at home for over 10 years, and we only changed the cartridge on that one twice.