Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (
More info?)
Sorry but the 4L,5L and 6L behave in the same way, no NVRAM so they lose their
pagecount at power off. There may be other HP's that do the same but only those
aimed at the lower end of the consumer market. They are all good printers with
only 2 bad habits.
1. The pick up rollers and separation pads wear (same really with all lasers)
but can be replaced cheaply with a bit of mechanical knowledge or in some cases
rejeuvenated with Isopropyl alcohol for a while. The symptoms are failure to
feed paper and/or feeding more than one page.
2. They sometimes experience failures that result in permanent patchy missing
or light print, this is an electronic failure (DC Controller PCA) that costs
more to replace than the printer is worth, don't worry too much since not all
of them have this problem but if you do see this it is worth being forewarned.
The problem you described does not sound like that because when it happens it
does not affect the whole length or width of the page.
Tony
"tiktak" <hikoryERASETHISPART@gmail.com> wrote:
>Thank you George. and thank you Tony as well.
>
>I also bought a hp laserjet 5L from same person today. have not tested it
>yet. does that one allow pagecount review? if so, I hope its a simple
>procedure.
>
>I was basically sick and tired of my inkjets, I've been buying used inkjets
>all my life, paying $10-20 each, refilling on my own etc. I Said enough is
>enough. so a guy in my area (I'm in canada) was selling used, still printing
>laser printers.. hp 4l, 5l and nec superscript 1400 (pagecounts here?).
>picked them all up for around $120US for the lot. I just tried the 4l for
>now. will wait for toner to run out then try the 5l. then the NEC. I
>think the nec is fairly new, low pagecount... hope its a decent printer. I
>think the 5l is also a major step forward from the 4l, but I don't know that
>much about them.
>
>at this point I don't even care if this was a decent deal or not, I'm just
>glad to go laser way. now I have around 10 ink printrs I'll probably sell
>in a lot and try to at least recover the $120US I just invested in lasers.
>
>
>regards.
>
>"George E. Cawthon" <GeorgeC-Boise@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>news:67xQe.856$ym5.737@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> tiktak wrote:
>>> okay, I just bought a used hp laserjet 4L, brought it home. first few
>>> powerups were paper jams, so I replaced the paper in tray and now seems
>>> okay as far as paperjams, however, printing a few pages gives me lighter,
>>> much lighter (or in econo mode, barely visible) print on the left
>>> handside of the printout, for I'd say 1 inch of the print, top to bottom.
>>>
>>> is this a sign the toner is running out? maybe cleaning? how do I check
>>> toner left??? if not toner, how to resolve this problem?
>>>
>>> by the way, I installed this printer with xp builtin drivers, should I
>>> have used other drivers perhaps? besides drivers, are there any other
>>> tools I should be using for this printer? maybe toner level check
>>> utility?
>>>
>>> regards
>>>
>>>
>> Yes, the toner is running out, or it has merely settled to one side.
>> Remove the cartridge and gently shake from side to side to get the toner
>> to level out. Then put it back in.
>>
>> There is no paper count on a 4L, which was marketed as an inexpensive (not
>> by todays standard)home product My 4L doesn't have a sticker, the name is
>> molded into the plastic right above the paper tray. Mine has receives
>> light interspersed with some heavy use (e.g. printing 200-300 page drafts)
>> and is still being used. The 4M and 4+ were for office use with larger
>> memory capacity.
>>
>> The printer could easily be made in 1993. I purchased mine in 1994 for
>> $596 locally minus a $50 rebate. Seems like a lot, but then my first 9
>> pin dot matrix (wide carriage) cost about $300 and I had to buy a $125
>> adapter to use it with my Commodore 64. Times do change.