HP Color LaserJet 2600 2605 - Faint Red Or No Red

If your Hewlett Packard Color LaserJet 2600 or 2605 prints the red (magenta) faint or not at all, the laser scanner assy needs to be stripped out of the printer and cleaned.

This fault affects the red first and is usually worse on the left hand side of the page. Before you start stripping the printer down, it's a good idea to try another red (magenta) toner cartridge in it first.

There are two probable causes of this. Firstly, the magenta scanner sits at the bottom of the printer and will tend to collect any stray toner or dust that's floating about inside the printer. Secondly, there is a fan situated right next to the scanner which will blow any stray dust or toner into it.

This is, briefly, how you remove the laser / scanner assembly from the printer:

1. Remove the right cover; remove one screw at the back and pull the right cover off
2. Remove the left cover; remove one screw at the bottom of the cover, press the clip in at the front, and pull the cover off
3. Remove the nine black screws holding the metal plate on at the back of the printer and remove the metal plate
4. Remove the cables connected to the two logic boards except for the flat cable connecting the two boards together and the yellow cables at the bottom of the right hand board
5. Remove the cables from the black plastic cable guides
6. Remove the L shaped cable guide at the right by pressing in two clips with a small screwdriver and pull the guide out
7. Remove the long horizontal guide by sliding it to the left and lifting it away
8. 2605 - unclip the cable guide on the left
9. Remove the eleven screws from the metal plate with the two logic boards on it and lift the plate away complete with the boards
10. Remove the white plastic clip holding the two flat cables from the scanner to the printer chassis
11. Remove the three screws from the scanner, two at the top and one at the bottom, and lift the scanner assembly out of the printer (2605 - bottom screw has a metal spring plate covering it)

 With the scanner on the bench in front of you, you can now dismantle it ready for cleaning.

Remove one screw and a spring from the front of the scanner and lift off the cover. Remove the long plastic arm which will fall out if you turn the scanner over. Remember how this arm fits.

You will see four 6 cm long red / purple coloured mirrors inside the scanner. Inspect the bottom one. Initially it will look the same as the others. Carefully wipe a small part of it with a cotton wool bud and you will see the difference it makes. It is this thin coating on the mirror that causes the fault.

Carefully blow away the dust from inside the scanner. Use the cotton wool buds to clean all the mirrors and lenses. Blow again to remove any fluff left behind by the cotton wool buds. It's now ready for reassembling.

When you fit the scanner back into the printer, make sure it's seated correctly. It hooks in at the top first and there are two locating lugs on the right hand side, one at the top and one at the bottom.

Be careful not to pull the two flat cables out of the scanner. When you fit the plate and logic boards back into the printer, be careful not to trap the purple wires from the top of the scanner behind the metal plate.

It's probably best to leave the side covers and back cover off until you're sure it's working. Power the printer on. If you get any error messages, check all the cables are connected. Any scanner related errors are usually caused by the flat cables from the scanner coming out or the purple wires from the scanner trapped behind the metal plate.

 Do a test print. It should be looking good now. If the color alignment isn't spot on, run the calibration routine which is desribed in this post:

HP Color LaserJet 2605 - Colours Out Of Alignment 

One final note. I once had one of these printers where someone had attempted to clean the outside of the lense from inside of the printer. Whatever they had used to clean it with had scratched the surface leaving it opaque instead of transparent. This required replacing the whole laser / scanner assembly to cure it.

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13 thoughts on “HP Color LaserJet 2600 2605 – Faint Red Or No Red”

David

Many thanks.
Have had this problem for a long time and it persisted despite use of HP cartridges and regular calibration.
Your instructions were relatively easy to follow, and the improvement in quality is amazing.

AJ

Great article and corrected my problem with faint printing in “red”. Thank you!!

David (another one!)

Brilliant! I had three printers with this problem, and was contemplating replacing them. Using your excellent and accurate instructions I now have three quality printers once again. Thank you!!

Tony G

Many, many thanks. We run a small business and need this printer every day especially for the reds! Everything was as described and all problems are now cleared.

Stephen B

WOrked fantastic. Saved us a few quid!

Hiten Shah

I am stuck trying to unscrew the three screws from the scanner, please can someone advice which screwdriver is best for this?

Amy

I’m back, trying to do this fix to correct faint magenta and colors still out of alignment. I have the 2605dn, and yes there is a metal plate covering the bottom screw on the scanner. How do you suggest I get at that screw?

Thanks.

admin

Hi Amy,
Lay the printer on its front and look at the bottom. You will see two shiny metal spring plates. There will be a screw behind one of them. The metal plates are springy and will bend so you can either flip them out with a screwdriver or flip them up with your finger nail.

Itay

Hello.. im trying to dissamble the parts of the tuner, im currently stuck at part 4 : “Remove the cables connected to the two logic boards except for the flat cable connecting the two boards together and the yellow cables at the bottom of the right hand board”

Some of the cables seems not removeable.. the Purple ones, i cant seem to unplug them.. seems like i need to put too much force on them to get them out… but im afraid they will cut. Am i doing the right thing..? please answer… How to get the purple cables out.. thanks…

Betty Paysur

I have followed these instructions and everything worked fine. Thanks for a great job helping out. My red is now printing an even red across the page. I have one problem, though… ALL of my colors now appear “faded.” They aren’t as brilliant and bold as they were before cleaning the mirrors and lenses. I used a dry cotton ball to clean the mirrors and I rubbed them several times each.

Could it have created a slight abrasion on the mirror surfaces that would result in “faded” colors, or is it more likely something else is going on?

I also have a cleaning kit to clean the photo sensor of a DSLR camera. The kit includes a high-grade “cloth” and a cleaning liquid that evaporates without leaving residue or spots. Would it be advisable to use that on the printer mirrors?

thanks for your help!

admin

I usually use a cotton ball or soft cloth without any problems. I wouldn’t use any solvents. You might find that the scanner isn’t seated properly in the printer. Unscrew it, lift it out slightly and try to reseat it. Make sure it’s lying flat in the printer before you put the screws in. It hooks in at the top first and there’s a round plastic lug that goes through the chassis. Sometimes the lug doesn’t go through the hole in the printer.

Marcus Soyke-Matthews

MIRROR CLEANING PHOTOGRAPHS. Having just done the 2 hour process of getting inside at the mirrors I found it easier using a sequence kindly put together with photos here:

http://www.reeves-hall.net/tech-gadgets/fixing-washed-out-colour-on-hp-color-laserjet-2605/

TIP: It also answers the question above about the purple wires (there are TWO parts to the black socket – only the INNER part comes out eg with a small partial pull at each end with a thin nosed pair of pliers)
TIP: when putting the metal plate back, make sure ALL the 4 white flat cables bottom right are out to the right side! I missed two and had to re-unscrew the whole thing again!

Gyorgy Zolnay

Excellent article! Many thanks for it. I have a new printer now again.