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A laser printer series by HP for home and office use. These printers often have problems with the formatter board.

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Is my printer's fuser failing?

I am troubleshooting a HP Laserjet P2015 printer. It is using an aftermarket toner cartridge. I purchased the unit used and have been able to use it with no problems for the last year.

Recently, when I print something, I can take my finger and smudge the ink on the paper. The toner flakes off very easily, even with documents printed days ago. I have tried different paper, but I haven't tried a different toner cart. I don't want to invest in a new toner cart only to find I have the same issue and wasted the money. My current toner cart has worked fine without issue for close to a year. It is about half full. I have removed it from the printer, cleared the paper path, and shaken the toner cart gently over a waste basket to ensure that the toner is settling evenly.

My first guess is that the fuser is starting to fail. If the unit is not getting hot enough, it wouldn't make the toner adhere to the paper properly during printing. Has anyone else experienced this issue with a similar model HP laser printer? If it is the fuser, I need to determine if it's worth investing in the parts to fix or a replacement fuser piece, or just buying a new printer. My investment limit is $50. Beyond that and I will use another printer and look for a suitable replacement.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Ryan -- I think you will discover what I did: the fuser is failing, not the cartridge. If you are happy with your printer model, then get a newer one which uses the same cartridge. Otherwise, just upgrade.

Ken Gordon

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Actually, you can change-out the fuser sleeve yourself. the best bet would be to go to YouTube, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hUHpvOh...) and save all that money. The new fuser sleeve might cost about $16 on eBay. Just be sure to enter (make, model), & you can be on yr way to fixing that printer yourself!

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Tough question because of the economics. For me, I weigh the cost of the toner vs a new machine with toner included. If the toner costs 80% of the price of a new machine and my old machine is out of warranty, I go for a new machine, preferably the same machine so I might be able to use the old one for parts. This has come about because the printer companies make their money on the inks and not the printers. Ten years ago a color laser printer was in the $1500 to $3000 for an entry level machine. Yes you fixed those machines and refilled the toners. Todays corporate philosophy makes waste almost mandatory. The new printers have lots of bells and whistles and are made as cheaply as possible. I still see Apple LaserWriter IIs and above working just fine after 15 years of service and 500,000 copies. The only problem has been networking the non-ethernet ones. I also still have some parts in inventory for some of those machines.

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Totally agree with mayer. The least expensive fuser for your printer still runs you $75 http://www.primelec.com/HP-LaserJet-P201... right up to $200. So it's just a matter of economics, and yes, it does sound like a fuser issue.

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If the toner isn't fusing to the paper and everything else is acceptable (alignment, toner density, etc), It's definitely a fuser. Before you consider it a write off, I'd:

  • Use a continuity meter to check that your fuser is receiving current
    • There should be a contact that touches the fuser, make sure it is
    • Use 91-99% Isopropyl alcohol to clean away any lubricant around the contacts and reapply a small amount of conductive lubricant
  • Make sure the fuser itself isn't coated with TAB (Toner additive build-up), preventing the heat from reaching the paper
  • Check for fuser wrap- I've actually seen paper get rolled around the fuser and appear to be faulty
  • Check on eBay for P2015 parts, there are new kits for sale (~$20).

Let me know if any of these don't work and I'll ask one of my tech support guys.

RemanMan

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search the web for "RM1-4247 HP LaserJet P2015 Maintenance Kit with fuser" because if your fuser is failing, it is also a good time to change out your feed rolls.... (The RM1-4247 is the HP Part Number)

SOURCE: HP Authorized Service Provider

Found HERE for $200... just be sure to reset your maintenance count, you will have another 200k pages :)

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Sit down with a multimeter and a soldering iron. I think it might be a transistor or fuse/ the fuser lamp/ thermal sensor / fan that isn't working, so just try testing those pieces.

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Hi, Ryan! You know I had the same problem with my printer. First 2 years it worked very fast an good, the printed text was bright and legible. But than I started to notice that the text are smoothed on the page and my fingers are always in tone, I called to the service center, they took my printer and said that fuser unit is broken. So more likely you have broken fuser unit. I have bought new fuser here http://hardware.nl/fuser-unit/ they have for HP as well. Search it

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Ryan Lucas will be eternally grateful.
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