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General discussion

Laserjet 4 Plus Smell

Jun 25, 2006 1:12PM PDT

I dug my HP Laserjet 4 Plus out of the closet the other day, and hooked it up to see if it would work. After dusting it off, I hit the magic button, and it turned on. It warmed up and went to the "Ready" screen. Then, I noticed a burning smell coming from the fan on top. I immediately turned it off and unplugged it. Is there any idea what this could be caused by?

Discussion is locked

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Some sources, besides "burnt electronics"
Jun 25, 2006 10:32PM PDT

Dust can make a smell provided it gets near any hot surface, open up the printer and "blow it out" well and retry again. Alas, there is also the "ionic" smell from the filter which can if dusty as well produce a smell. Any of the above smells should go away after time, like a day or two due to non-use of the printer. I suggest you plug-in at an outlet away from other conbustables and retry again and just leave it on, using common sense to take any action, but if dust is the problem allow it to be on longer. The last item, if in closet, little critters can make a home of it and/or leave little bits of thier passing, these too can provide a smell.

Check it out and get back to us.

tada -----Willy Happy

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How this one works or it may be just fine.
Jun 25, 2006 11:54PM PDT

This model (and others) laser printer heats up a fuser (bonds the toner to the paper) which could have some dust or other material on it. I agree with the other member that it's likely dust or other.

Just dust it out one more time and don't leave it unattended at first to be safe.

Bob

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OK
Jun 26, 2006 3:17AM PDT

Alright, I'm just going to leave it plugged in and on for a day or 2 and see what happens. FYI, I printed a test page through the menus, and it came up fine. It just smelled even worse because the fan goes into high gear when it is printing. I ran a couple more to be sure, and it prints fine.