Samsung CLX3305 printer not working anymore.

Hello,

In "tech" mode, the sensors are being read correctly by the processor.

To circumvent the firmware failure, I wired a push button to force it to catch a sheet. Despite this workaround, the sheets are not caught with every press of the button. I have to press this button several times before hearing the characteristic "clack" of the mechanism engaging.

I suspect a mechanical failure is causing the "solenoid" to not be 100% effective. It seemed a bit "soft," but since it worked very well on the table, I thought it was fine.

The coil resistance is 120 Ohms, which results in a current of 175 mA at 21V. I just verified that the coil resistance is indeed 120 Ohms, on an Ebay listing.

Therefore, I disassembled the "pickup" mechanism again and managed to replicate the fault on the table. The electromagnet is too slow to respond. It works fine when powered for a few seconds, but not at all with the 200ms pulse. However, once it responds properly once, it works fine the next times.

After complete disassembly, it seems that a noise-damping foam has become sticky over time, like some low-quality plastic objects. This foam was used as a "rest" stop for the electromagnet.

To be activated, the electromagnet first had to detach from the foam, which required some energy and thus a bit of time!

The repair involved removing the sticky foam and replacing it with another suitable material, like this small sheet of self-adhesive stops. Since the stops were too thick, I took a bit of sheet.

Sticking on the electromagnet's palette, but I can't manage to insert an additional image...

So I glued a small piece of soft plastic in place of the foam, and it works like a charm! The electromagnet is no longer "soft," but rather very fast.

This has nothing to do with this failure, but I often received "non-Samsung toner," "install toner," "install the imaging unit" messages. This was due to poor contacts at the front trap for accessing the toners. To fix it, I stretched all the contact springs after disassembling this trap.

After complete reassembly, the printer is working again. It took me many hours of work, but I managed to bring this printer back to life, which otherwise would have been discarded.

Hello,

There are essential components missing from your printer. What year is it from?

Hello,

It was purchased in September 2013.

I made a mistake with the reference. It's a CLX3305W (without fax).

Hello again,

Yesterday I managed to find the service manual for this printer, which is really very interesting.

So I put the printer in "tech" mode and tested pulling a sheet from the tray. It worked. The sheet came out fine, but still with the "paper jam" message. When I lifted the scanner part, there was indeed a sheet stuck. I removed it and started a print job that worked on the first try.

So, maybe that solved the problem? I will confirm if the next prints go well.

Hello,

After a few successful prints, this printer is starting to act up again: false jams, or sometimes a sheet is partially ejected from the tray, ...

Hello,

Following many hours of testing:

Due to the near impossibility of printing, I took out my toolbox. The disassembly procedure is explained in the service manual.

It should be noted that the error messages are diverse and varied: "Install toners", "Paper jam Tray1", "Paper jam in the paper bin", "Jam in Bin", "Jam in the machine", "Empty paper tray", "Jam towards the output", "Install optical unit", ...

It should also be noted that this printer has seen little use:

- 1700 pages printed

- various components are at less than 20% of their lifespan.

- there should be no wear on the various mechanisms.

This 1700 pages, some of which were printed in black only, should have led to the use of 2 sets of toners while I am currently on my 4th or 5th set! The lifespan indications of the toners are thus very optimistic.

Step 1

Almost complete disassembly of the printer, which shows (visually) nothing broken or very dirty. Since there are several optical position sensors, I think that toner dust could be interfering with their operation. So I carefully dust off all the toner deposited inside the printer, empty and clean the used toner reservoir, and reassemble it.

Result: no improvement!

Step 2

Given the diversity of error messages, I think that the firmware may have degraded over time, as Flash-type memories have a retention duration of only a few years.

In fact, there is a firmware update procedure described in the manual. So I will look for the download software and the data file on the Samsung website, and shockingly! No more Samsung printers on the Samsung website! I quickly realize that Samsung seems to have discontinued printer activities and handed over customer service to Hewlett-Packard.

On the HP website, I do find this CLX3305 printer, but no firmware. There are only drivers and utilities. So, a dead end!

Step 3

I take apart the printer again to test the actuators and sensors, as the sheet gripping system in the tray seems to be out of order: the rubber roller never turns. At least, I don't see it turning when I do print tests.

Testing the various motors and solenoids, all of which are electrically okay. The "tech" mode is very useful for that: you can activate almost everything you want.

Testing the two sensors located at the bottom, near the paper tray. Two identical sensors with quite complex linkages that either obstruct or do not obstruct the sensors.

These sensors work correctly.

It is worth noting that one of these sensors has a triple function:

1 Paper detection in the tray

2 Detection of the presence of the optical unit

3 Detection of paper exiting the tray

The fact that there are three functions for this sensor shows that Samsung sabotaged the design of this printer. It is therefore not surprising that the interpretation of the sensor states is often erroneous and leads to nonsensical error messages.

Step 4

Complete reassembly and print tests.

Still no printing.

The symptoms are almost always the same: you can hear the motors running while the sheet hasn’t come out of the tray. The sounds last a few seconds and then stop. There are sometimes one or more other print attempts without taking a sheet, then a first message "jam in the tray", followed by often other nonsensical messages. You then have to turn off and then turn on the printer to clear them.

This message "jam in the tray" is also difficult to clear when manipulating the paper tray, the rear cover, the pressure roller.

However, on rare occasions, the print cycle starts correctly. I managed to print 4 pages correctly, there were 2 times when the sheet got crumpled and stuck (a real jam!), and 1 time when 3 sheets were taken at the same time.

CONCLUSION (provisional): the printer is out of service without a precise cause. I thought, and still think, that it is due to poor design and probably also to gradual planned obsolescence.

It started after the warranty period when the date and time were lost with no possibility of updating them.

It continued when the copy menu no longer allowed selecting the number of copies.

Then, it was the copies becoming increasingly pale

Then the false jams

Then the complete failure

I therefore took out my old Canon BJC250 inkjet printer from 1997, which still works. And I will get rid of this Samsung and the new toners I had bought in advance. Unless I quickly find the cause and remedy for this failure.

Again, another printer brand I put on my blacklist, after Epson and Canon.

I had forgotten;

During the tests, I reset the memory to "factory" settings. From then on, the sleep mode and wake-up process work well. I had forgotten to mention that, for about 1 or 2 years, the sleep mode had become permanent. There was no way to wake the printer up other than by cutting the power (unplugging and plugging back in).

Hello,

Here are the latest updates. I looked for a new monochrome multifunction laser printer and was a bit put off by the current offers. I have already blacklisted H-P, Canon, Epson, and Samsung. I mainly have Brother left. When you print little, the purchase price becomes outrageous (€200 to €250). The Samsung bought for €200 for 1700 pages is not financially amortized at all. So, I am going to try to get this Samsung back in shape.

Some comments regarding the CLX3305W:

- It consumes toner from each cartridge every time it's turned on. The rear pickup roller is marked with a color image, which is a map of Guatemala, and during the few weeks it printed almost nothing, each toner lost 2%, even though I was careful to print only in black on very lightly filled pages. So, each time it powers on, it makes a fictitious print of a page with the map of Guatemala. This map contains a lot of yellow, and it's precisely the yellow cartridge that I replace most frequently!

The wasted toner ends up in the "waste toner container".

- During the numerous tests of the past weeks, the main defect is that the printer does not pick up a sheet from the tray. Using the "tech" menu, I can force it to take a sheet from the tray. This sheet then crumples as it passes over the rear roller. It seems to be due to a lack of pressure since it works fine when I press slightly with my fingers. Yet, everything seems well assembled, nothing is broken. Another point to review later!

Here’s what I tested lately:

1 - Check the "pick-up" mechanism that grabs the sheet from the tray. Everything is fine: 100% working in "tech" mode. After a complete disassembly and test on the table, the mechanism shows no defects. No visible wear. Each pulse on the "solenoid" electromagnet triggers the paper holding mechanism. One pulse = 1 sheet.

2 - Check the power circuit of the "solenoid". The control signal comes from the "ARM" processor, passes through a 2N2222 transistor, and powers the "solenoid" coil. No hardware issues at this level.

3 - Check the power cycle of the solenoid during a real print. That’s where it goes wrong. The printer does not command the solenoid when it should. The normal cycle is to send a pulse to the solenoid and then make the rollers turn. Observation with the oscilloscope shows that the rollers turn without any pulse on the solenoid. Of course, it doesn’t work! When it doesn’t work, the printer makes two new attempts. It’s after the third attempt that I see the pulse on the solenoid. It arrives much too late. Moreover, its duration of 200ms seems too short as well.

4 - As the firmware seems to be faulty, I did an update to version V3.00.01.21. Already, a warning: "this update locks the use of original Samsung cartridges". After the update, no difference in operation.

New conclusion, still provisional: the firmware does not operate the printer correctly for an unknown reason. This reason could be planned obsolescence based on age, as the printer has only printed 1700 pages in 9 years. It could also be for another reason, such as a sensor being detected in an incorrect state, which would explain the "Paper jam in tray" message when that’s not true.

All the paper sensors are working. I have checked them. After that, there could be a disconnected connection to the "ARM" processor. Since it's a BGA, perhaps one or more balls are poorly soldered?

More to come...