Hewlett Packard Laserjet P3005 Printer: Performance Review

The purpose of this review is not to give you the specifications but to give consumers and owners real life information and expectations of the machine. This will let you know what to expect in the service life of the printer and hopefully save you time, money and aggravation. If you need specifications you can easily google that information.

The P3005 is relatively a new machine with the production release date of October 2006. The engine design is also slightly different from previous models. As you will see the P3005 is Hewlett Packard's big mistake. This unit is riddled with issues, problems and updates. You may want to think twice before getting involved with this printer. If you already own one and haven't had any trouble yet, consider yourself lucky. I think with a little thought, money and Do-It-Yourself attitude you can make this machine perform well.

Known Issues:

Problem: Grinding; loud grinding and gear noise from fuser / exit area.

Solution: Replace the Fuser Drive Gears (Gear Kit) and replace the Fuser Assembly. The lower roller bushing in the fuser wears which causes the drive gears to not mesh. Then the gears that drive the fuser get worn and stripped, causing severe gear noise.

Note: There is a gear kit you can purchase that has new lower bushings and all of the gears in one kit for a reasonable price. This kit will save you big bucks because the fuser assembly is very expensive!

Problem: Error 13.01, Jamming tray 2

Solution: Several possible solutions

a.) Clean or replace the Pick-Up Roller and Separation Pad.

Note: The roller builds up with paper dust making it very slick causing Jamming.

b.) Replace broken paper tray.

Note: The paper tray length guide brakes and the printer thinks it has a different size causing jamming.

c.) Configure correct paper size in paper handling menu.

Problem: Error 49.xx / RFU LOAD ERROR/ Blank display/ unresponsive display / printer locks up / loosing network connection errors, can't ping.

Solution: Update Firmware / Replace Formatter.

Closing Remarks: The P3005 was a disaster for Hewlett Packard. Many loyal HP customers were lost because of the issues surrounding this printer. Hewlett Packard needs to step up to the plate. They had a reputation as the work horse of the printer industry but have failed to maintain that reputation with this model.

The P3005 really works well when it's operating as intended, though it rarely does. If they would have done more pre-release testing and fixed the flaws before they stuck it out to market this damage to their reputation would not have happened. I have read many threads and reviews on this model from end-users that were very unhappy. If you are a Do-It-Yourselfer and have had any of these issues on the P3005 printer let us know. I mean it when I say "Give us your Experience and Expertise. We can all Gain from it!