Dell 1700n causes streaks

stevepedersen,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

If you are getting vertical streaks when printing it may be that the toner is smeared before fusing to the paper or the toner cartridge is defective.

Try the following:

If paper is stiff, try feeding from another tray or the manual feeder.

Replace the toner cartridge.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I have tried all of that except the manual feed part (I have switched the paper, drum and cartridge).  Manual feeding of the paper would not be a practical permanenet solution as the printer is a shared printer around the office.

I've got one of these at home.... Very solid little printer, have never had a problem with it.

Laser's don't use Ink, they use Toner which is FUSED (melted and pressed) to the paper surface. ZERO drying time.

Do you know how to print a settings page? (just press the continue button for a few moments)

We need out where the streaks are occurring. Open the back cover during this test.

Print a settings page and time how long it takes to print. (By the way, does the streak happen when the back cover is open?)

Do it again, but pop the front cover open about halfway thru the print cycle and remove the cart/drum assy.

The part of the page you see inside the printer towards the front is blank. The part that's past where the drum was positioned has UN-fused (you can rub it off) toner on the page. Anything you can see in the back of the printer made it into the fuser.

At what point in the print cycle do you see the streaking begin?

You may have to do this a few times do get the paper where you need it, but you should be able to determine just where the streaks are introduced.

To clarify, you said you replaced the image drum. You are referring to the greenish/bluish drum assy, right?

Thanks for the suggestions!  I will give it a try.  To clarify what I have done, I have replaced the toner cartridge, and the greenish/bluish drum assembly and tried different paper.  What happens when the paper comes out is I can see two white vertical streaks on the paper that appear to match up where the rollers are.  The streaks occur at any point on these vertical lines where there is toner on the paper so basically from the beginning of the page to the end is where I get streaks, or smudges like the toner gets smeared.  I have tried opening the back and the streaks still occur.  I will try your halfway point experiment and see what I can figure out from that and report back.  Thanks.

I have this same problem with a 3100cn.

I stopped the print before the fuser and the vertical marks were there pre and post fuser.

Any next steps?

Thanks so much.

this fixed me.  taking off the whole top.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19225259/19355066.aspx#19355066

i have a friend with the same printer and same problem.  i will pass this along.

neither of us print much.  i noticed the post about heating / molding the top is gone,  maybe that can be reposted?

on a side note.  i know i am not going to get anything for this but this problem has left a bad taste for me in regards to dell.  i have about $300 dollars wrapped up in trying a different fuser, toners, cleaners, papers, taking apart the drum, cleaning it, emptying it, and the time involved.  most sadly, the hundreds of photo prints partly ruined by streaks.

as others have said, this is a defect.  please quit telling us otherwise.

i am very grateful for finding the other post and getting the problem fixed.

is there any long term issues running with the top off the drum?

thanks,

bh

BH,

The streaks you experienced in your 3100cn color laser were caused by an entirely different, and unrelated, problem than the originator of this thread on his 1700n..... you probably should have a started a new thread.

I can't find my old post either, but I can give you links to the images I've posted to resolve this.

There are four images: 1  2  3  4

And to answer your question..... I see no problem leaving the top cover off as long as you only removed the screws shown in image 2. Just ensure the top of the printer remains dirt/dust free as possible so it doesn't filter down onto the belt surface.

One more advantage to having the cover in place is when you need to remove the Drum Cart unit..... It's difficult to remove without the handle.

thanks for the response. 

this was just the first one i saw that matched my symptoms.  since then i have found the hundreds of posts with people having the same issue.

also, i wouldn't have to post here at all or in the wrong spot if my printer was working after 4,000 prints.

after further trouble shooting i noticed all the advice given about it being the warped plastic is incorrect.  the cover is a hard plastic with ribbed construction and wouldn't warp for anything (normal wear and tear inside a printer).  especially not randomly for so many people.

my guess.

its the rubber belt.  stretching out.  a couple of people mention high heat, some mention too thick of paper.  age and use wrap up the other reasons behind the rubber belt being stretched.  of course i cant test this with out a new belt.

if dell sells or decides to sell these rubber belts i would buy another one.

again, thanks goes out to the forums.  at least now mine is working (not fixed).  no free new drum shipped out, guess i just missed out.  seems like dell should treat customers fairly and equally.

BH,

I can tell you with unequivocal authority that cover warpage is the only cause of this problem.

How do I know that? My company sent me to a service conference hosted by the Vendor that makes this machine for Dell and this was a subject brought up and discussed at length. It is NOT the belt, but the mold injection points on the underside of the cover scraping the image from the belt. That's why you can take the cover off..... and the problem is gone...... which I note, is what you did.

Not sure I agree with the "fair and equal" comment. This was an old problem (Dell began shipping this design in Sep, 2004) and Dell did replace many, many drums for this problem. How long should we hold their feet to the fire? Yep, you missed out.

i think you are confusing effect with cause.  have you tried replacing the rubber belt?  if it is the plastic cover then why wasn't it a problem from day one?  what is more likely, hard plastic changing shape or a rubber belt stretching?

just because you discussed it at length doesn't make your assessment any more or less valid.

i didn't even contact dell support, so i am not holding their feet to the fire.  beside a defect like the plastic cover should of been handled for all owners not just some.  duty cycle is 42000 prints.  i had about 4,000 when this issue started 1-2 years ago.  i bought mine Sept of 06.

if it was the cover, why did they replace the whole drum unit?  they could of just shipped out new covers.  unless it was the new belt inside the drum and not the cover that is the fix.

i am still willing to try a new belt if someone knows where to buy one.  i wonder if anyone has put their warped cover on the new drum they received.  i bet not.  if they did i wonder streaks would of been seen.

I'm sorry..... This will be my last response to this issue as to discuss this any further would put me in violation of the NDA I had to sign with the vendor.

If the person who initially opened this thread against the 1700n wishes to "jump back in", please do so and we will do our best to help you.

I'm not the original person who opened this thread but my Dell 1710 is doing the same thing.

Two light, black streaks on the printed side of the paper, about three inches in from either edge of the paper.  When I run the test with the rear door open here is what I find:

There or no streaks on the Photoconducting Drum and the text on the drum is clear and without defects.  On the paper though, the streaks appear both before entering the fuser as well as after exiting the fuser.

Just so you know the toner level has about 30% left and the Drum has about 60% left.  But these streaks started before I replace the new toner.

Thank you,

Phil C

When diagnosing print quality issues, pictures speak a thousand words.
If you can, please scan or take some pictures of your defective images and post them with your reply. You can upload your images here[1].
fyi...... max image width allowed in this forum is 500 pixels.

After uploading the image, click the link to that image to open it, then right-click in the center of the image to show the URL. Copy the URL info and paste that in your reply.

[1] http://en.community.dell.com/media/g/printers/default.aspx

Gotta tell ya though, from what you're describing, especially with black streaks, it sure sounds like you have some scratches around the drum. Do the black streaks go all the way down the page, from top to bottom, or do they "repeat"?