I tried everything. Even replaced with a HP Jet Pro 400 - mainly because the Magenta cart fits at the bottom of the 2605 and there is an issue with dust on the mirror, so red print turns out orange, and I need real red, primarily for airfield signage.
Then the release for the cartridges broke - had to replace toner carts by holding the retainer open with a screw driver. There is video on how to take the printer apart and fix both issues, but I don't need to spend a day or two going through THAT, although I have taken HP ink jet printers apart for parts replacement.
I used the 2605 for black-and-white printing of documents. Then one day it would print text and Word but would not print PDFs. Then, slowly, it would print nothing. No 79 error. Never did the firmware update (HP has made that virtually impossible for Mac users).
I have Win 7 installed on a separate, bootable partition. Downloaded the whole package of stuff for the latest firmware update. Difficult to tell, since during the process, the printer kept cycling on and off.
Ready for the trash heap.
Until I ran across the post about the "white strip" and the "door" in the back.
I followed the steps outlined in the post. It worked. In Mac, i re-installed new drivers (fresh copies). It worked.
Rebooted to my main working partition. No good.
Same flashing orange light.
Pulled the white belt connector last night. Left it unplugged. Installed the connector, turned on, and I was able to print a sample page. Connected the ethernet cable. Able to print Excel and text... so far. Have not tried a PDF (which is what I normally print).
We'll see. Won't be back to post. If it works, it works. If not, to the Dade County dump for this type of equipment.
Thanks for what may be a great idea. A couple of years late, but others may still hold out hope.
