Laserjet 4500 washed out colors

[awayman]

We have two HP Laserjet 4500 Color printers, and one is printing washed out colors on its print jobs. The yellows are undersaturated, and there is too much pink on top of everything.

I've printed from two different PC's (both Win2k SP4), from three different applications & different types of files/images, and get the same results each time. One printer prints fine, and the colors are messed up on the other one. There is an indicator that the Black toner cartridge is low, but I don't think that would cause these problems.

The color & print quality settings seem to be the same for both printers; any idea what is causing this?

TIA

 

[Miker75]

Try printing a configuration page (found through the menus, press on the right side of the Menu button once, then press the right side of the Item button twice and the press Select). This will print out a configuration page for you, and the base colors should be displayed on the bottom of the page (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). If any of those colors look faded or washed out, then you might have a problem with that specific toner cartridge.

Michael


HP Certified Technician

 

[awayman]

Based on the two config pages, I adjusted the density settings for Yellow up to 5 and the Magenta down to -3, and the colors are close now.

I assume something is worn out on the printer I had to adjust that's causing the colors to be put down differently. Is it a difference in the toner cartridges, something else in the printer, or is this just a normal variation between printers of the exact same model?

 

[Miker75]

I had one 4500 that was printing faint pages. Turned out to be the laser assembly needed to be pulled apart and cleaned out due to dust contamination. After that it printed like new. I'm not sure how yours is, since I can't see the printouts, but something like this may be causing your problems.


HP Certified Technician

 

[hpwizzard]

Are you using original HP toner ? Check in the toner carousell also that the spring for the shutter mechanism is not missing or worn causing the magenta to leak. Also the contactplates to the toners might be dirty and need cleaning for good contact. Eventually try swapping the toners in the two printers and you will notice if the problem is toner related.