My dell printer 5100cn , print quality very light, replaced inks drum and still having problem with black

No, but you can find a replacement chip for the unit online, and replace if the image quality was not too bad before it locked you out. The chip is on the side of the drum unit and is easy to replace. It looks like a 1-inch diameter brown circle.

chean the black cartridege with a cleanex and tap it to see if ink will come outm if it does bor then it has dried out and needs replacement.

Is this an original DEll toner, or a remanufactured one?
Sometimes a remanufactured cartridge can need a few pages printed before the new toner 'works ' through the internal mechanisms. Not all remaufacturers actually test (all) of their cartridges. The better ones test 100%, to ensure a quality product.

It could be that the wrong toner has been used in the cartridge (not all toner is the same - by a long way).

It could be that the drum has NOT been replaced. These can be light damaged and result in a poor print quality. An original drum is purple in colour. Aftermarket drums are blue/green.

I had the same problem on an HP, and the only thing that solved it was replacing the drum. Not sure if that will help, not even sure if that printer has a drum, but maybe swap out the ink or toner or drum and see if that helps. If it doesn't, at least the money you spent on those options goes towards something you can use...

When you print something and the window pops up, go to preferences and youll be able to specify "black" as the output color.

This sounds like a typical Developer Drive failure. The Developer Drive for color is different that the black developer drive. This is why black can print fine, but colors are faint or non existant. see below,a recent bullitin about this exact issue from Dell. ( the ROS, is the printhead, and is located behind the 4 developers.

5100cn Printer
Print Quality Issue
1. Problem: - Color images are extremely faint or not produced, but black images are produced without any problem.
Resolution: - Replace Developer drive assembly (H6702) and clean ROS Window/Glass.
If you chose to persue this repair, you can probably find a replacement developer drive by doing either a google search for the part number listed ( H6702 ) or an ebay search for the same. We can also provide you with removal and replacement instructions.

Good Luck

Good Evening Robert,

The setting for non dell toner only controls the fuser temperature, and will not cause you any print quality issues. Toner is actually made up of ink and plastic. The fuser melts the plastic to "fuse" the image to the paper. Dell toner is set to "fuse" at a specific temperature. when you use non Dell toners, the temperature required to fuse may be different, and when set to non dell toner setting, the fuser temperature is raised to the maximum to ensure the other toner fuses properly. The down side to this is that you will wear out the fuser sooner then it should.

As far as the print quality issue you are having, it is most likey caused by the imaging drum.

Regardless of the estimated life for the imaging drum as stated by the printer, this is just an estimate. Many things can and will cause the imaging drum need replacing. ( Just yesterday I replaced a black toner in a 3115 that was less then a month old... genuine Dell... with more then 75% expected usage left because it was defective).

On this printer, each of the 3 colors and the black are all independent of each other with the exception of the imaging drum. Even within the imaging drum, cyan and black are independent of magenta and yellow on the first stage of transfer. When you have deteriorated print quality that effects more then one color, the first step is to replace the imaging drum.

The Primary transfer, secondary transfer, and tertiary transfer of the image are ALL contained within the imaging drum.

The chances of having 3 or 4 bad Developers is very very slim. If your print quality issue was related to only ONE color, then I would say you had a bad developer unit ( the 4 items located behind the imaging drum when removed). These are far more difficult and expensive to change.

The BTR ( bios transfer roller ) is the only other item that "could" effect your print quality, however, based on the symptoms you discribed, I doubt it. Besides, if i am not mistaken, the imaging drum kit comes with a new btr anyway.

Although I am sure you may be disappointed with the fact the drum unit is failing while showing it still has life remaining, the solution to replace it should restore your unit to full operation. The unit is light sensative, and effected by physical age as well as the number of prints it has supplied.

Please evaluate the solution i have provided and, rate the solution appropriately to show your support.

Thanks,
Cory

The only effect that the "non Dell toner" setting has is to raise the fuser temperature to the maximum. Since all toners are made up of ink and plastic, the fuser is what melts the fine plastic to the paper.

Dell toner is designed to melt at a lower temperature, however, since the non dell toners temperature value is unknow, this setting allows for that unknown.

In any case, neither of these things will cause lite, or faded print. In Fact, the toner cartridge for this model is actually nothing more then a toner storage device. Some cartridges contain the toner, the developer, and the drum. On the 5100 and the 5110 this is not the case.

The photo developers are located behind the imaging drum. you can see the 4 seperate developers, in the developer frame, when you remove the drum unit.

More then likely, if only the black is printing poorly, and the colors are printing ok, then the black photo developer is defective. This is a very messy job if you do not know what you are doing, and very involved.

You need to remove the top cover, the left side cover, the high voltage power supply, the supply tubes ( where the toner travels from the actual toner cartridges down to the developers ). Then once the tubes are removed, you have to remove the developer frame from the printer. Then you can get to the actual photo developer.

Good luck.

As you have just replaced the drum you may have a faulty drum unit put old one back in a test if lines go way then return drum to store and get a replacement. If they do not go the check the toners and the fuser unit.

Thanks J