On Jun 29, 5:00*pm, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:08:16 -0700 (PDT), whit3rd
wrote:

It might be a
faulty corona discharge wire/connection...

Slight correction. *The HP LaserJet 5L does NOT use a corona wire. *It
has a "charge roller" inside the toner cart which does the same thing
as a corona wire (apply a charge onto the drum, and later switch to AC
to remove any residual charge). *

A picture is worth 1000 Google searches:
http://www.google.com/search?q=charge+roller&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
#http://802.11junk.com* * * * * * *
#http://www.LearnByDestroying.com* * * * * * * AE6KS

Jeff et al,

Thank you for your excellent replies. Google had not provided access
to the usenet groups, for some unknown reason, until now.

Arfa Daily had kindly forwarded the frist responses that got me
started.

Again, the symptom: The streaks were only on the print side, well
sometimes backside too. Thought cartridge was going low and this was
a symptom so just put up with the streaking. Cartridge went so low
that white regions started to appear, so put in another cartridge and
the FIRST page was as good as ever [terrible, with low contrast, but
readable] Then it started streaking on the print side also. The
treaks appeared to be from a fairly small diameter roller. Dark bars,
not necessarily a repeated pattern, but at least every 3/8 to 1/2
inch.

So based upon excellent suggestion, I wiped everything I could get at
from the opening of cartridge access with water. Tremendous amount of
black toner came out. Took 4-5 paper towel sheets before started
being less. Never touched the cartridge. Should I? After reassembly:
put back in cartridge and shut door, nothing worked for a while, made
horrible grinding noises even. Thought wet so waited when kept doing
that, reseated cartridge, closed door, and now, the printer works and
the print appears to be better, less streaking. But still there.

Will keep trying since I've learned I don't damage it much.