Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Lexmark Laser Stuck in Boot Loop

Aug 8, 2017 9:09PM PDT

I have a Lexmark C522n printer that's stuck in a reboot cycle. Yes, it's old. I would just junk it and buy a new printer, but I just purchased a few hundred dollars in supplies. So, I figured it was worth a couple of tries to fix it.

Basically, it boots up. I hear a series of clicks and whirs. Then it reboots again. Same thing over and over.

First thing that jumped to mind was the power supply being overwhelmed by the heating element. So, I searched around and purchased a new high voltage power supply board. (Man, I'm in love with whoever designed this printer. It was so simple to swap out. A welcome change after the hassle of cleaning filters in laptops.)

Anyway, after replacing that, at first, I thought it didn't work. The next reboot took forever. But, when I left it plugged in and on for awhile, it finally did boot. Same thing. Endless reboots.

I'm not sure what to try next. Looking for ideas.

One thing I noticed. On the other side from the power supply, there are the ends of some part that rotates. The stickers look scorched. I don't know if that's normal. Picture here. I know that some parts of the printer get pretty hot, so maybe this is normal. But, that seems awfully close to catching that stuff on fire, so it makes me wonder.

Any help appreciated,
Drake Christensen

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Let me nod to printer forums.
Aug 8, 2017 9:59PM PDT

I think these sorts of repairs are better off in those printer repair forums. Google up "fixyourownlaserprinter" or was it "fixyourownprinter"?

- Collapse -
Maybe. But...
Aug 8, 2017 10:15PM PDT

Maybe. But, this is a large and active forum. Likely a lot of people here have experience with laser printers. If this sort of issue is at all common, I expect I'll hear from someone who has some ideas. If it's a particularly obscure problem, then it's probably not worth my time, and I'll just have to eat those supplies.

Think I buttered people up enough? Happy

I asked this on Tom's Hardware, yesterday. Haven't gotten any real traffic on it, yet.

I'm not sure of how best to track down a very niche forum which is also active enough to provide timely help. If I don't hear anything here or there by tomorrow then I'll put some effort into that.

- Collapse -
My usual work on such
Aug 8, 2017 10:48PM PDT

Demands a service manual before I'll dive into gear. I've worked on printers for decades now as I had the factory repair center for a brand or two over the years. That's where I learned the service manual is where you start unless you want to guess and shotgun.

- Collapse -
I understand
Aug 8, 2017 11:29PM PDT

But, can you give me your opinion on those scorched stickers in the picture? Is that normal? Or, is it a sign of an obvious problem, and potentially a hazard?

- Collapse -
Scorched.
Aug 9, 2017 8:09AM PDT

As the product is very old I can't call that bad. If it was good one day and scorched the next I would call the motor or the board that drives that motor suspect.

Motors usually can take a lot of heat. You would have to have a few other same printers to determine if that's normal.

Post was last edited on August 9, 2017 8:10 AM PDT

- Collapse -
That makes sense
Aug 9, 2017 11:35AM PDT

The scorch marks don't look new. They look like they've built up over a long time.

As for the boot loop, I was hoping it was something that was common enough that somebody would recognize it.