An employee at a marketing firm reports that their laser printer is producing documents with a faint double image, resembling an echo of the original print across the page. What would likely resolve this issue?
'Echo' or ghost images occur when residual toner from a previous rotation of the photoconductor drum is not fully cleaned off, so it re-transfers to the paper on the next rotation. A worn or contaminated drum/imaging unit is the most common cause. Replacing (or in some models, cleaning and then replacing) the drum/imaging unit therefore corrects the problem.
Replacing the toner cartridge sometimes helps, but toner alone does not remove latent images if the drum surface is damaged.
The transfer belt in color laser printers aggregates toner from individual drums and passes it to the paper; problems with the belt more often cause color-registration or missing-color issues, not faint repeats.
Cleaning print heads applies to inkjet printers, not lasers, and will not affect drum ghosting.
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