This printer has been working well but recently it stopped and gave the "Waste Toner Bottle full or not installed" message. This was NOT the case, it has hardly been used and the WTB is NOT full. I bought a new one and installed it and the Printer went throught its initialisation routine but then when I tried to print it again stopped with the same message. Again I removed the new WTB, re-installed but same thing happened.
I assume a fault with the WTB sensor. Now is there a way I can fool the sensor into thinking the bottle is installed and empty, which in fact it is. On the old Kyocera FS1500 Monochrome Laser printers the WTB had a foil window which became obscured as it filled. If one glued a piece of kitchen foil over this the sensor was fooled into reading it as empty. One could also send a string from the Command Line to the Printer which re-set the internal counter from 3000 copies to 10000 or whatever one wanted so the WTB Full meassage and shutdown did not occur too soon. Is there any similar Commands one can send to a Samsung CLP-500?
The printer is driven by a Pentium 4 , 2.6GHz with 1GB of RAM running WinXP Pro and using Word XP. It is connected via the USB port but I could change it over to the Centronics Parallel if needed.
Kiss-components . com 31 May 2005 13:36:33 [ permanent link ]
Hi there, Youve probably already sorted this out, but it appears to be a common problem, its an easy fix, all you need to do is find the black lever on the right hand side, there is a little arm that swings. gets some Air spray duster and spray this area. replace the waste cartridge and away you go. This also means that you should be able to bypass having to buy the toner waste cartridge completly by emptying the waste out into a suitable container, ensuring the edge that sits against the sensor is clear. Hope this helps www.kiss-components.com
I have found the solution to the "Waste Toner Bottle Full or not installed" message. When you open the panel and remove the waste toner bottle - look to the right side of the printer and there is a sensor (black area) just below the round piece - which "looks" through a section of the bottle. When you empty the bottle of toner - make sure that you clean the section that the sensor looks through - use a Q-Tip or something similar. The sensor will then believe that the waste toner bottle is empty.
Great! I have clp-550 - same problem, but waste tank was really full - I just emptied it (lot of dust , be careful! , then it was not working complaining about full/not installed tank - i cleaned area where censor is looking throw (it's inside of tank, but possible to clean ) - then it working again! Thanks for the tip! German
I must say it wasn't clear on what to do from the above (spraying compressed air into the sensor made no difference) and so given that I did fix it then here goes. I think it's a matter of luck as to how much of a layer of toner remains when you empty the tank. I wasn't inclined to bash mine on the bin as it would have created a toner dust storm! There is a protruded part of the waste toner tank that goes into the recess where the black lever is. I had to clean out the waste toner sticking to the INSIDE of the protruded bit by sticking a bit of tissue through the waste hole above it and poking it down with my finger. This cleared enough toner to convince the printer it was a new tank.
Thanks for all the scoop! I finally got the error message to go away after about 45 minutes of cleaning. I've found that the CLP500 eats toner. Per Samsung you get 5,000 sheets per black toner, I'm finding that I get less than 1,000. How is the toner usage working for others?
The above tips worked for awhile but the message reappearred despite cleaning. I resolved it by taping back the black plastic swing piece on the left side of the sensor area of the printer. It may be OK to break off but since taping worked, I wasn't brave enough to try.
I HAVE THE FIX. I got the error message and bought a new tank. Shortly later I got the error message again. I tried cleaning it and it worked for a while. I got the error message again and cleaning it didn't work. I tried blowing out the sensor, no luck. I think the plastic gets discolored and doesn't allow light through. I cleaned the sensor with air and a Q tip, no luck. I HAVE THE SOLUTION!!! On the waster toner tank on the left side under the fill hole, there is a bump out. This is what the sensor looks through to determine if it is full. Its right below the filler and it gets dirty right away. I took a jig saw (a roto zip would work nice but I didn't have it handy) and cut the bump out off. BE CAREFUL NOT TO CUT OFF THAT TINY SQUARE PIECE, IT KICKS OPEN THAT BLACK LEVER TO LET LIGHT THROUGH. I covered the hole with duct tape (can fix race cars, can fix printers) and reinstalled it. NO MORE ERROR MESSAGE! I put a label on the printer to check the tank the first of the month so it doesn't overflow.
AHHH! After and new tank and multiple cleanings the sensor would never allow the printer to stay on-line for more that about 5 minutes. I removed the black lever and roto zipped the clear plastic protrusion on the waste toner tank out of existince (per Robert Voorhis)! Everything is fine and dandy now. I was tempted to roto zip the sensor out of existence while I was at it, but I thought better of that after counting to ten and breathing deeply. Thanks for all the comments!
Why would Samsung produce such a sensor with no bypass function? in my case, replacing the filter had no effect, so I guess the only thing left is to go find an air spray and just spray as hard as I can in there to see if I can dislodge something.... but what if the light has burnt out? then what?
hi there, you saved {censored}. I just had to print a presentation and the "waste-toner-is-full-and-will-not-go-away" text appears on my printer. I carefully cleaned the part that protudes tha basket. IT WORKS. kind regards wundabua
Thank you VERY MUCH! I aked our support, they couldn't help. I cleaned that area and got no success. Then I just followed your advise and cut that bump, and it works!!!
if you're ever in a jam and need to print real quick during this error, you can lift up the black lever until it sticks and it will print. HOWEVER don't do this for long because if you do, you'll build up a lot of waste toner and your motor will jam, requiring a service call to clean it out. But it's safe enough to print out about 10 or so pages while you're busy cleaning your toner tank.
Toner is NOT water soluble.. alcohol works best for cleaning it out. Just empty out as much powder as possible, then put in some rubbing alcohol, cap the holes, and shake shake shake! Like everyone has said, that little protruding plastic piece is the key.. if it gets too clouded or dirty it will think it's full.
I may have to try that roto-tool fix. Although I think it's about time for a new waste cartridge.. ours is tinged green and is over 3 years old!
It looks like hum....this is becoming a standard problem for most of the SAMSUNG products that utilizes some sort of "WASTE CONTAINER".
Have said that; there seems to be an issue with the IFs sensors incorporated into products designed to identify when "WASTE TONER CONTAINERS" are full.
Here is how exactly works!
I'm going to use as an example: SAMSUNG Model: CLP 500
When you open the front cover to replace the "WASTE TONER CONTAINER", if you look very carefull to the the right there is a small trigger that when a WTC is present, it actually pushes this trigger inward to open a pathway, sending an infrared light to the receiver accross.
Below is an image of the WTC indicating with red the location of the piece sticking out that pushes the trigger inward to open pathway for infrared light to be receive accross, sort of like the TV and REMOTE CONTROL. There is also a bump sticking out on the WTC, which I have mark with yellow, that when it is full or reaches a stage where this area is obscured it blocks the pathway for the infrared light to shine through the layers making it impossible to shine through. And that's how the printer prompts user that is time to change the WTC. There must be a clear pathway betwixt both sensonrs in order for the printer to enter in ready mode.
Solution:
As mention above by others is to clean very thoroughly the inside of the WTC, in specific the protrusion sticking out; Although, sensors may be very well overlayered with toner residue with time. Dust off with compressed air.
Second Option: completely removing the protrusion that sits betwixt the sensors. This will permanently solve the "waste toner container full" message, but not the "waste toner installed" message. In order to get rid off this completely you would need to remove the black trigger or "trigger".
Observation:
WTCs are not being totally clean when going through the recyle process, the inside layers of the WTCs should be much clearer than SAMSUNG is shipping them out to comsumers. Perhaps is just a way to make business, or should I say money!
I'm sure this has work for others so keep up the good work guys.
