How to Solve the Issue of Constantly Recurring Paper Jams When Using Remanufactured Toner Cartridges

What brand was the original? I work in a government building, and the remanufactured ones are the ones we always buy, because they are cheaper and the government is cheap. Every printer we have in my work area is an HP. I don't have problems with jams, on either the ancient crusty 300 dpi black'n'white one at my desk or the brand new muliplexing color laserjet across the room.

Also, when I plug in cartridges in the new one, it reports "Genuine HP Toner Installed" which says to me exactly what I expected - the cartridge is a used HP one, with the stickers removed, and new toner dropped in. Some brands the chips break if they are refilled, and it registers as non-genuine. Apparently the HP ones for this specific model don't do that.

There are gears in the toner cartridge. One of the gears is probably broken.

It's a Canon X25. All the gears appear to be intact, as well!

Not all remanufactured cartridges are made equal, at least in my limited experience with the things. There are decent-enough remanufacturers, and there are shady fly-by-night ones. I'd send back the ones you bought, if you can, and try another producer. In general the better ones tend to cost a bit more and have warranties, but are still a lot cheaper than OEM. For instance, for my laser printer, I can get OEM cartridges for $250 (yes, two hundred and fifty dollars), very shady "remanufactured" carts for around $30, or ones with a good warranty and return policy from anywhere from $50-80. If you are buying the very cheap ones you might just want to upgrade to the middle-of-the-road and see if they work better. My theory is that the very cheap ones aren't actually "remanufactured" at all. They're just refilled and resealed with toner out of a barrel. The better ones actually get inspected and the worn gears and stuff are replaced. I think you probably have one with worn mechanical parts, and that's the source of your issues. I doubt there is much you can do with that cartridge in particular. I guess you could see if the company you bought it from will take it back and send you a replacement; maybe you'll get one that's a bit less worn out on the second try and it'll last a bit longer. But I'd still move up in the market with your next purchase.

I actually purchased it from SuppliesOutlet.com and they warranty their cartridges for one full year, but I was still curious about what might be causing the issue before I contact them for a replacement. http://www.suppliesoutlet.com/Canon_X25_Compatible_Black_Laser_Toner_Cartridge_p/ccx25.htm As an aside, I was also wondering if there was a safe way to transfer the toner from the remanufactured toner cartridge to the original stock OEM toner cartridge. Obviously that would break the SuppliesOutlet.com warranty though! There is a warranty security seal on there. ;)

That would probably be the best way to ensure my cartridge was in the best shape though, since it was the original, and still works good. The mechanical wear does seem to make sense, after all.

I, ahem, work for a company that makes laser printers. You don't mention the location of the jams so I'm going to assume they're in the area where the paper hits the imaging drum. If that's the case it's very likely this is a refilled cartridge and the refiller did not actually remanufacture the cartridge or do much beyond the toner fill. The cartridge is actually part of the paper's path through the machine and even a fraction of a millimeter can cause the leading edge of the paper to stub and a jam to occur. A single worn bearing for the drum can easily do this. There's probably not much you can do to make it work other than looking to see if there's anything sticking up or otherwise impeding the path of the paper. Not all refillers are the same, try to look for one that does more than just refill the toner. It'll be more expensive than the one you have now but should still be less than new.

Thanks tommasz, you'd be correct... it's got to be hitting the cartridge somewhere. I had tried removing the flap that covers the drum, thinking that it might be the cause, but the paper still got jammed. So I figure it's probably not the flap that's causing the issue.