Ever since I bought some replacement cartridges for my CLP-300, the same thing seemed to happen.
The printer works fine for a couple of dozen pages. Then all of a sudden the button turns red and there is nothing obviously wrong – no paper jam, plenty of paper, paper tray aligned just the way it was when it was printing, etc.
I figure it must have to do with one of the new cartridges, which were not Samsung but some off-brand (with no name) that comes in a blue box that I bought online. (It says it is made in Korea with Japanese toner powder.)
Today, I figure it out – I think – after weeks of pulling out the cartridges and putting them back in, turning the unit off to cool it down and even taking out the entire toner mechanism. This afternoon, I remove the L-shaped waste toner container and accidentally spill a whole mess of blue powder on the ground. Great. But then I immediately put it back and suddenly – NO MORE RED LIGHT! Hallelujah!
So my question is this: Is my replacement toner crappy and is it gumming up the imaging unit unnecessarily? Or have I been neglecting some part of the maintenance which says this unit needs to be cleaned in some way regularly?
This is a fairly new machine – I bought it at Office Depot as a floor model this summer (you don't want to know the price) and the original black toner is still working. The cyan used one off-brand of replacement toner that seemed to work fine; the magenta and yellow were the replacement toner I described above – and their arrival seemed to precipitate the problem.
I work on office copiers and of the models that use a 'waste toner bottle' they employ a sensor to detect a full bottle and that may be the cause for the red light you described. I have a special vacuum to clean such bottles out but if you don't mind the colored cloud of toner you can shake, tap it empty into a trash can.
I'm glad that you posted this message. I received an error message from my printer saying "Replace Waste Toner Container". I never knew it existed either. The online printer guide says to purchase a new one; however after reading your message I now know that I can empty and reuse it. You saved me both time and money!
I purchased my Samsung CLP-300 from Staples a couple of years ago. It was a steal (back then) because Best Buy was advertising it for $199. They were sold out, but Staples honored their price match guarantee and I got it for $194. At most places it was at least $249.
I don't use the printer all that much, but I have gone through a couple sets of toner cartridges. Anyway, I also have emptied out -- shaken, tapped, wiped, etc. -- the waste toner cartridge at least three times now. I'm unsure if there is any advantage to buying a new one. From what I've seen, they cost around $10-$15, excluding tax and shipping. I have noticed no deterioration in print quality, either black or color, from emptying and reusing the waste container. But I have been advised nonetheless that I should "eventually" get a new waste toner cartridge.
Does anyone know if there actually is a certain "limit" regarding how many times the waste toner cartridge can be emptied and cleaned... before you really do need to buy a new one? Or can you just keep emptying out and reusing the same one indefinitely?
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