My theory was that, since the exended-life cost more, the turnover may not be as frequent, so I went back to the regular-life version. After finally determining I had a bad cartridge I went back to Office Depot for a replacement. As an added note, when I experienced the first problem with an OEM HP cartridge I had switched from the regular-life Q26131A use to the extended-life one. My questions are: (1.) Is it unusual to have this type of problem with cartridges? (2.) If it is, where can I purchase cartridges that I can depend on? I'm fairly new to using a LaserJet printer so any help would be appreciated. It's clear that the quality of the cartridge had been the problem.ДЄt this point I know that the cartridge is the problem. Also, I put the old cartridge back in (the one with a scratched drum) and printed the same documents. I ran a test page, which showed most of the shading was gone. In any case, I used it, accepting the faded printing, until tonight when I printed some shading and realized it the shading was both faded and in streaks. I worked with HP to find out if the problem involved the density settings, but could never get their 'toolkit' to work. (Believe it or not, a black binder clip apparently got flipped into the printer and ultimately jammed and ended up scratching the drum.) The new cartridge I bought to replace it again appeared faded. That new cartridge was fine, but I had to replace it prematurely due to damaging the drum. (I only use the HP paper specified for LaserJet printers.) Ultimately, I replaced the cartridge.

I called HP, and they considered various things including the paper. The first few cartridges seemed OK, then I seemed to have one where the printing was fainter.

I have been having a problem with the quality of the LaserJet 1300 cartridges I get from Office Depot and wondered if it was unusual to have this type of problem with cartridges.

Hp laserjet 1300 cartridge replacement