Samsung CLP-300 Streaks and Faint Text

I just wanted to breifly share how to repair streaks, faint text, etc on your Samsung CLP-300 printer. After about 2000 prints on my printer I began to see faded text on the left-hand side of all my prints. I noticed, however, that pictures printed normally, but text documents printed poorly.

My first notion was that I had low black toner. We replaced the toner, and same results.

My next thought was maybe my print drum was bad. The print drums come with the imaging units, and they run $120+ from Samsung. This was a poor option for me due to the fact that I got my printer on a Black-Friday special for $100.

I called Samsung and was on the phone with a rep within 3 minutes. He had me run a page of XXXXXXXXX's test, and as the paper sucked into the printer I was told to open the imaging unit door. This stopped the printer, and revealed light XXXX's on the left-hand side of my drum. He said it was probably a bad imaging unit, and he directed me to update my firmware (didn't work). Unfortunately the printer was out of warranty, even though I only used appx 3000 of my printers expected 20,000 available pages! And it STILL didn't make sense that Black was the only color that was effected!

So doing a little research on Google, I found the solution and it was a cleaning problem, and it was fairly easy to repair.

note: preform this procedure AT YOUR OWN RISK.

1) Do a test print to determine which colors are streaking. My black was the only color that had
a problem so I only had to clean my Black.

Create a document that has 4 rows of 72 point BOLD X's.
Change the font color of each row to Black, Magenta, Cyan, Yellow
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx

2) Lay out a couple sheets of newspaper on your floor or desk (or endure the wrath of your spouse when she catches you with toner all over the place).

3) Pull out your imaging unit and set it on the floor.

4) Remove the waste tray and set it somewhere out of the way.

5) Flip the unit so that the toner cartridges are face down on the floor with the green drum facing you.

note: avoid touching the green drum! and definately don't nick it with your screwdriver.

6) Remove 2 silver screws. One is on the right, pointing toward the ground. The other is on the waste chute on the left hand sight of the unit pointing toward the right.

note: at this stage when I pulled out the drum, a spring appeared from the area of the silver screw that you remove from the right. Pay careful attention to where this goes, because mine was a leftover part. : And please post me a comment and let me know where it should go! :)

7) Pry the chute to the left so that it's free from the nub where you removed the screw. Also, pry the arm where the other screw was attached so that it pops upward. note: on these two brackets I had to bend and flex the plastic. It didn't appear to be able to nicely slide right out of place. So give it a little force to get it loose.

8) Slide the drum assembly to the left & right while gently pulling toward yourself so that it unlatches from the toner assembly. When it's free twist it and set it out of your way with the wires still attached.

9) Pull out all the toner banks starting with the yellow.

10) Set the toner banks that you wish to clean facing you with the silver side up.

for your info: Turn the roller by hand and you should be able to see the uneven streaks that are collected on the roller. This is what's causing your poor print issues.

11) There are 5 screws that hold down the silver plate on the toner tray. Set the toner tray assembly so that the three bottom screws are nearest to you. Remove the 5 screws that hold the silver plate down.

note: the roller side of the plate is extremely sharp. Be careful. I drew blood when running my finger along mine. from this point on I will indicate interior (the toner side of the plate) and exterior (the side of the plate that faces you when the plate is screwed down.

note: do not nick, bend, curve, etc. the roller edge of this plate! It's pretty sturdy, so don't be alarmed -- but I'm just saying, if you bend it... this whole part will be irreparable.

12) With a damp cloth wipe the toner off of the interior edge of plate. Don't soak the toner or this may give you more problems in the future.

13) Run your finger along the interior edge (the bottom of the plate where the edge makes contact with the roller) to make sure that it's as smooth as butter all the way along the edge.

note: REMEMBER the exterior of this edge is very sharp. Don't run your finger along the exterior edge.

note: on mine, the edge looked absolutely clean, but when I ran my finger along it it felt rough on the left-most 4 inches of the edge. I took my finger nail and lightly scraped off what appeared to be fine plastic or white buildup of some type and re-ran my finger along this edge. Smooth all the way down.

14) Put the plate back on the the toner tray. Lightly screw in the bottom three screws.

15) Important: Hold down the plate with your fingers and take a knife and carefuly pull back the rectangle foam edge scrubber so that it is not caught under the blade. When you have the foam squeeges fully surfaced, install your top 2 screws (and Z plates if applicable) and tighten all your screws.

for your info: I neglected to do this at first, and when I did my first test print there were black smudges on the margins of each print because toner escaped out both sides of the toner tray assembly.

note: do not overtighten your screws or you will strip the threads.

16) Turn the roller so it rolls away from yourself. Notice any streaks? If you do you missed some gunk on the inside (most likely) or you nicked/damaged the edge of the silver plate.

17) Reinstall the toner banks.

18) Carefully remount the drum with the silver screws. Begin with the plastic hooks on the drum assembly that attach to the toner assembly. Then with a little force get the screw holes on your toner waste chute (left) and the righthand bracket aligned with the holes on the toner assembly. Reinstall your two screws.

19) Reinstall your waste tray. And put the imaging unit back into your printer.

20) Run a couple more of your pages of XXXXX's and see how they turn out.

Desktop & Iphone Sync

Sync & Share Your iPhone Contacts, Calendars without iTunes or your USB cable.

I love tech stuff, and I love it when I can find a savvy way to perform a task simpler. After weeks of scouring the Internet, I feel like I owe a contribution to all those who helped me get my data organized. I've tested and played around with a ton of different ways to sync, push, import, export my data so every database that I manage is identical.

HERE ARE MY FINAL RESULTS!

SYNC DESKTOP CONTACTS WITH IPHONE

Thunderbird (with Lightning) with Zindus <-CLICK SYNC->
Gmail <-PUSH-> Nuevasync <-PUSH-> iPhone

SYNC DESKTOP CALENDAR WITH IPHONE

Thunderbird (with Lightning) with Gcaldameon <-SCHEDULED SYNC>
Gmail <-PUSH-> Nuevasync <-PUSH->iPhone

DESKTOP EMAIL SYNC WITH IPHONE

Thunderbird (with Lightning) <-IMAP-> Gmail <-IMAP-> iPhone

SHARING CALENDAR AND CONTACTS

Gmail

Below is a review of my hours of research to get everything working properly.

:: Gmail ::

All I can say is get an account. Google is one of the top technology & software companies on the internet. They're constantly making their online E-mail, Calendaring & Contact easier to use and compatible with the desktop/phone client software that you run. I hesitated for a LONG time to get a g-mail account because of my ingrained dial-up mindset. I'm better now, and I just want to say that G-mail is fer-rizzle.

Setup: Main thing that I did was create an account, set up several calendars, turned on IMAP under settings, and everything else was pretty basic.

Pros: Your data is accessable everywhere you have internet. Easy to use. Accounts are free. Everyone has one. Lot's of plug-in-ability. It's just pretty. Google probably won't crash like your ancient computer will - probably.

Cons: You have to have internet to access Gmail. Calendar opens in a new window. (I'm used to Outlook, what can I say). I sent out 1000 e-mails to friends to get them in my "Suggested" list. Apparently, it won't add them to the list if you BCC them.

Phone Backup: N/A (Plug-In ability through 3rd party software)
Desktop/Laptop Sync: N/A (Plug-in ability through 3rd party software)

Website: 5 of 5 (It's my home page!)

Sharing: 5 of 5

Results: I use it, and have my desktop and iPhone connected to it.

:: Mozilla Thunderbird / Lightning ::

I've been a Microsoft junky since Windows 3.1 and din't want to explore the learning curve of a new software. But now I'm a believer. Mozilla's best feature is that it's Open Source. People are constantly building free plug-ins to make their Browser, eMail clients, Calendars & contact lists do what they want to do. I'll post a few comments about a few of their products & plugins and how I set things up.

pros: Plug-in-ability is top notch. fast & clean. does what it should simply & efficiently.

cons: Addressbook opens in a new window. can't directly add a new contact while typing an e-mail address. Search only searches name or e-mail address. What't the differience btw lightning & sunbird again?

Plugins:

Zimbra is a great plugin for Mozilla Thunderbird. It syncs your contacts directly to Gmail. It doesn't offer Gmail push contacts or calendar, but its pretty easy to double-click the sync link. The one negative feature: you can't upload ADDRESSES to Gmail cleanly.

Gcaldaemon is serious. It works awesome but is complicated to set up. I have 3 differient calendars that sync between my Gmail account and Lightning Client. Although it does not offer push, you can set the program to regularly sync with Gmail calendars (default is 15 min).

Cons: You cannot sync your contacts with this program. There is a very involved process to get this working. The writers of the tutorials are under the impression that you know how to edit bat & cfg files manually. If you understand and follow all of the directions Gcaldaemon will work amazingly for you, but good luck, and don't miss a step. I especially got stuck when I attempted to import multiple calendars. Here's how you do it.

After you get Gcaldaemon COMPLETELY installed as described on the website.

1) Go to Gcaldaemon config (Start>Programs>Gcaldaemon> Config Editor

2) Click File Editor > NEW >

3) Type in these settings

Google Calendar:

iCal File: C:/Program Files/GCALDaemon/.ics

4) Click "Copy to clipboard"

4a) Run C:\program files\gcaldaemon\bin\standalone-start.bat

5) Open Thunderbird >Calendar> New Calendar (under Calendar right-click) >On the network>iCal (and paste your link).

6) Click next, finsh, whatever, and you're good to go. Manually sync your calendars or let it auto sync at your scheduled interval.

:: mail2web (free, ey!)::

Microsoft Exchange for FREE. What an awesome idea! Mail2web offers a free service for synching your iPhone's data with their server. This is a convenient back-up. Plus, you can use their online mail2web live to send e-mails using your contact data, but unfortunately that's where the free version stops. You don't have the ability sync that data with Outlook without paying the $4.95 per month subscription charge. AND if you have precious contacts stored on your iPhone say Bye-Bye. Setting up a Microsoft Exchange e-mail account takes over and wipes your current contact list and calendar. Tech-support confirmed that there is no way import your contacts using the free service.

So just a note... BACKUP YOUR IPHONE'S CONTACTS BEFORE TESTING THIS FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE. (I also made the mistake of deleting the exchange account and attempting to sync iTunes to restore my Outlook contacts back to my phone. If you attempt to restore using iTunes. Click your device>info>advanced. Check "replace information on this phone", or iTunes will then wipe all your contacts out of Outlook.

pros: free exchange account on your iPhone. Easy to setup. Mail2web actually sends you phone an e-mail link so your iPhone automatically sets up the new Exchange account. Slick! Tech support was speedy. It only took me a couple minutes to get on the phone with Tech support, and they were helpful. (But I had to look up their number on the internet whitepages).

cons: Free version doesn't sync with Outlook. Once I paid for a subscription I had incredible difficulty uploading my contacts. Finally, I gave up. Website was difficult to navigate. To get to the control panel is not available on the home page, and you have multiple logins to navigate the site. HELP tab is labled 'SUPPORT' on internal pages which speaks that company isn't may not be paying attention to the little details. Once I had a free account, it was a maze to attempt to upgrade to a paid subscription account. There is no tech-support phone number listed on the website (I'm impatient, I know.), but you can get their number from Google here. Phone Backup: 5 of 5 Desktop/Laptop Computer Sync: 0 of 5 Website: 3 of 5 Sharing: 0 of 5

Results: Canceled my subscription and didn't end up using it after all.