OT laser printer question

Can you be a little more specific? What is the _real_ cause of the problem? Intuitively, if the toner smears when touched, I'd assume it wasn't being fused properly, and would investigate the fuser and its control system first. How does a problem with the HV supply cause this fault? Getting back to the HV system, I know that in my SX (and I think in the CX before it) printer, there's an AC 'ripple' applied to the high voltage on the toner reservoir that causes the toner to come on and off the drum slightly, and thus improve the evenness of distribution. Maybe if that was malfunctioning it would cause this sort of problem. Alas I only have (my own) schematics and notes for the CX and SX engines, nothing later, so I can't really comment. -tony