Opinions Needed - HP 9040dn Printer Replacement
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We have a beloved HP 9040dn with three paper trays and the 8 tray "mailbox" on the site to sort printouts to a user assigned bin. It has been used heavily and at 929,000 copies. It has developed a problem of printing a line here and there (mostly on the left side) BOLDER than the other parts of the paper. That may not sound like a big problem, but for these being detailed manufacturing documents and drawing, BOLD can really mean something. I've replaced the toner, rollers and fuser with a maintenance kit, tried updating or even downgrading drivers, tried PCL5 and 6 drivers, firmware on the printer, cleaning the printer. Even had a second opinion from an HP guy I know and he said it could take him a while to research and find the cause of the problem. Nothing seems to fix this.
So first up, has anyone seen anything like that and if so, a resolution? A good online search turns up similar problems and solutions but none that really fit or resolved our problem.
Second...does anyone know what the HP 9040 is rated for as far as life span? I thought pushing 1,000,000 copies was pushing it but a salesman told me in theory, it could average 18 million (he did some "math" on that.)
I'm being offered a refurbished for about $2400 with a year warranty but no record on how many copies it has made.
Finally, do they even make printers with the 8 tray "mailbox" at the end anymore? I had my eye on the M806x+ but it doesn't have the mailbox option, only a stacker. It doesn't have to be HP. The 8 tray sorter is very important to us.
Thanks in advance!
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Duty cycle on a 9040 is only 300,000 pages. Are you doing a million total, or a million a month?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Duty cycle on a 9040 is only 300,000 pages. Are you doing a million total, or a million a month?
I knew my sales person was doing bad math...no...this one has about 929,000 total it its lifetime...so, yes...well past the duty cycle...now, that isn't per maintenance kit cycle, right?
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Sounds like you are getting into the retirement age of that printer...
Some people going much higher, like over 2m but many close to where you are.
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Right, you are supposed to overhaul the device at 300K pages.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Right, you are supposed to overhaul the device at 300K pages.
Yeah, it has had 2-3 Maintenance kits since I've been here and I've managed to overcome all of the little issues beyond this BOLD print problem.
So I've basically gotten to the end of "standard" duty cycle though some have done 1-4 million pages before...makes a refurb harder to justify at $2,400 not knowing how many pages it has done.
But not being able to find a new printer with a 8 tray sorter has been this a very difficult task indeed...
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That seems like a healthy amount of printing. Not a record, or anything, but enough that if the printer dies, it wore out.
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@Reid-Cooper said:
That seems like a healthy amount of printing. Not a record, or anything, but enough that if the printer dies, it wore out.
This research is about to drive me insane...my manager is suggesting we get full HP service call on it to see if we can get this problem fixed and keep riding it out.
We found a new, in box 9040dn on Amazon from a third party that said they got a lot of these surplus a few years ago...no return policy though, so if it is DOA, we are screwed out of $3,400.
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Surprised no one pinged me for this thread! I'm the printer guy after all!
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Also, in regards to having just under a million prints on it, that's not a big deal. My father worked at a CPA firm in the early 2000s and after 2 or 3 years, this one Xerox MFP they had had gotten up to over 3 million prints/copies. As long as it's well-maintained, they last a long time. Also, is it a specific program that you're printing from, or is it just out of something like Word?
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@thanksaj said:
Yes...updated the firmware...no effect...it has 128Meg RAM...I went ahead and ordered 512Meg and it will be here next week...doubting it will fix it but worth a shot.
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@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Yes...updated the firmware...no effect...it has 128Meg RAM...I went ahead and ordered 512Meg and it will be here next week...doubting it will fix it but worth a shot.
I seriously doubt it's a memory issue. Most of that is handled by the spooler.
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Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
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@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
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@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
Then that basically rules out software issues. Given the situation, there may be something wrong with the fuser, transfer roller, or a couple other components. I'd say it's time to replace the unit, unless you want to spend a small fortune getting an HP technician to look at it and only possibly fix it.
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@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
Then that basically rules out software issues. Given the situation, there may be something wrong with the fuser, transfer roller, or a couple other components. I'd say it's time to replace the unit, unless you want to spend a small fortune getting an HP technician to look at it and only possibly fix it.
I am thinking it may be the transfer roller...I looked at it again and a plastic gear piece was sitting inside of it...didn't immediately see where it went but I have one on order just to see...would be amazing if that was the only problem.
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@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
Then that basically rules out software issues. Given the situation, there may be something wrong with the fuser, transfer roller, or a couple other components. I'd say it's time to replace the unit, unless you want to spend a small fortune getting an HP technician to look at it and only possibly fix it.
I am thinking it may be the transfer roller...I looked at it again and a plastic gear piece was sitting inside of it...didn't immediately see where it went but I have one on order just to see...would be amazing if that was the only problem.
Another common maintenance item on high volume printers.
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@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
Then that basically rules out software issues. Given the situation, there may be something wrong with the fuser, transfer roller, or a couple other components. I'd say it's time to replace the unit, unless you want to spend a small fortune getting an HP technician to look at it and only possibly fix it.
I am thinking it may be the transfer roller...I looked at it again and a plastic gear piece was sitting inside of it...didn't immediately see where it went but I have one on order just to see...would be amazing if that was the only problem.
Another common maintenance item on high volume printers.
I think it may have broke when I replaced it about 3-4 weeks ago, which is when this problem happened. But didn't equate it with that...ugggh.
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@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
@garak0410 said:
@thanksaj said:
Is it always the same document that has the issue? Same font?
Happens to all paper sizes...all drivers and OSes (Windows 7 and 8.1)...even the built in paper path test and configuration pages...
Then that basically rules out software issues. Given the situation, there may be something wrong with the fuser, transfer roller, or a couple other components. I'd say it's time to replace the unit, unless you want to spend a small fortune getting an HP technician to look at it and only possibly fix it.
I am thinking it may be the transfer roller...I looked at it again and a plastic gear piece was sitting inside of it...didn't immediately see where it went but I have one on order just to see...would be amazing if that was the only problem.
Another common maintenance item on high volume printers.
I think it may have broke when I replaced it about 3-4 weeks ago, which is when this problem happened. But didn't equate it with that...ugggh.
Well hopefully this fixes it!
