Question Multiple problems with print quality from Brother laserjet printer

[quinncollard]

I have a Brother HL-3140CW printer. It's always worked fine, but I'm suddenly having multiple problems with the quality of the printouts.

When I print in color, there's vertical banding on the page. There's more of it on the left side. The colors on the left side of the page are also lighter than the rest of the page. The other colors are darker than they should be. When I print in black and white, the banding is horizontal. Text in both color and black and white is fine.

All it really says in the troubleshooting section of the Brother page is to clean the inside of the printer with rubbing alcohol and run the color calibration--I've done both these things multiple times but it doesn't make any difference. I've also tried replacing the black toner (the only one I currently have a spare of on hand) but that also did nothing.

 

[velocityg4]

Check your transfer belt for wear. Also carefully check the roller on the fuser assembly.

 

[quinncollard]

Check your transfer belt for wear. Also carefully check the roller on the fuser assembly.

Checked all that and it all looks good. Also wiped it down with a cloth but the aforementioned problems are all still happening.

Another thing I'm just noticing with some more testing is that the banding sometimes won't happen on black and white professional pictures I've downloaded (as opposed to ones I've taken myself with a digital camera, which it's always happening on even when I crank up the resolution), but is still always happening on color pictures, no matter the source. The plot thickens!