Vertical streaks and lines on laser prints

Lines down the page point to the drum, the toner or the fuser. The line's colour tells you which.

1. 1

   Identify the line type

   Black lines repeat down the page: drum. Faded bands: low toner. Smudged lines that rub off: fuser.

2. 2

   Clean the corona wire

   On Brother and similar engines, slide the green tab on the drum unit back and forth several times.

3. 3

   Inspect the drum surface

   Remove the drum and look for scratches or toner build-up. A scratched drum must be replaced.

4. 4

   Try a new toner cartridge

   A leaking or refilled cartridge causes repeating marks. Swap in a genuine cartridge to test.

5. 5

   Run the printer's cleaning page

   Most lasers have a cleaning cycle in the maintenance menu that clears loose toner from the path.

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