Photosmart 325 permanent 'Paper Jam' message

[Stratman]

My HP Photosmart 325 always displays one of two error messages from
switch-on; Carriage Stuck or Paper Jam. The carriage can be freed with a bit
of jiggling but then the Paper Jam message appears, and I've never managed
to get rid of this one. It happens whether or not there is paper inserted.
If there is paper in the In Tray it is taken in by about 1 cm and then spat
back out into the In Tray and the Paper Jam message appears. If there is no
paper it tries to load some and then gives the same message.

I have taken the covers off and had a peer around inside but not noticed
anything obvious. The User Guide mentions an Automatic Paper Sensor that it
implies is light sensitive. Where is this and how do I recognise it?

As yet the printer has never got beyond the paper jam message. Can anyone
give me any pointers as to how to make it work?

All information gratefully received.

Thanks,
DD





Message also on FixYourOwnPrinter forum.

 

[Tony]

Firstly if the carriage error is fixed by "jiggling" then it is worth cleaning
the carriage bar with a dry cloth and putting a little 3-in-1 or light machine
oil on the bar, just a little by wetting a cloth with the oil and wiping it on
the bar. If that does not fix it the problem is going to be hard to diagnose.
Secondly, paper jams are usually identified in printers by timing. The printer
notes when it starts to feed and expects the paper to reach a sensor within a
certain period of time, if that does not happen in time - paper jam. The sensor
is most often a small plastic flag that is operated by the leading edge of the
paper and the other end of the flag moves between a U shaped block which is the
sensor (usually optical). I do not know this printer but often these flags are
hard to see and can be buried in the rollers. After the paper has passed the
sensor the flag will return to the normal position either under spring tension
or simply by gravity. You are probably looking for a small black flag (lever)
which is tucked up or down out of the way of the paper path but should be
intruding into the paper path waiting for a piece of paper to pass by and
operate it, a torch may help.
Because of the way the printer determines a paper jam, it can occur because the
paper feed roller has not started the paper moving early enough so a pick up
roller that is worn can also cause the problem, try cleaning the roller with a
damp cloth or isopropyl alcohol.
Good luck
Tony

 

[Stratman]

| Firstly if the carriage error is fixed by "jiggling" then it is worth
cleaning
| the carriage bar with a dry cloth and putting a little 3-in-1 or light
machine
| oil on the bar, just a little by wetting a cloth with the oil and wiping
it on
| the bar. If that does not fix it the problem is going to be hard to
diagnose.
| Secondly, paper jams are usually identified in printers by timing. The
printer
| notes when it starts to feed and expects the paper to reach a sensor
within a
| certain period of time, if that does not happen in time - paper jam. The
sensor
| is most often a small plastic flag that is operated by the leading edge of
the
| paper and the other end of the flag moves between a U shaped block which
is the
| sensor (usually optical). I do not know this printer but often these flags
are
| hard to see and can be buried in the rollers. After the paper has passed
the
| sensor the flag will return to the normal position either under spring
tension
| or simply by gravity. You are probably looking for a small black flag
(lever)
| which is tucked up or down out of the way of the paper path but should be
| intruding into the paper path waiting for a piece of paper to pass by and
| operate it, a torch may help.
| Because of the way the printer determines a paper jam, it can occur
because the
| paper feed roller has not started the paper moving early enough so a pick
up
| roller that is worn can also cause the problem, try cleaning the roller
with a
| damp cloth or isopropyl alcohol.
| Good luck
| Tony
|

Thanks. Very informative.

Would I be correct in thinking that the fact that it gives a Paper Jam error
without any paper in it could imply that the flag is stuck down or that the
optical sensor has a lump of crud in it?

DD

 

[Lou]

| Firstly if the carriage error is fixed by "jiggling" then it is worth
cleaning
| the carriage bar with a dry cloth and putting a little 3-in-1 or light
machine
| oil on the bar, just a little by wetting a cloth with the oil and wiping
it on
| the bar. If that does not fix it the problem is going to be hard to
diagnose.
| Secondly, paper jams are usually identified in printers by timing. The
printer
| notes when it starts to feed and expects the paper to reach a sensor
within a
| certain period of time, if that does not happen in time - paper jam. The
sensor
| is most often a small plastic flag that is operated by the leading edge of
the
| paper and the other end of the flag moves between a U shaped block which
is the
| sensor (usually optical). I do not know this printer but often these flags
are
| hard to see and can be buried in the rollers. After the paper has passed
the
| sensor the flag will return to the normal position either under spring
tension
| or simply by gravity. You are probably looking for a small black flag
(lever)
| which is tucked up or down out of the way of the paper path but should be
| intruding into the paper path waiting for a piece of paper to pass by and
| operate it, a torch may help.
| Because of the way the printer determines a paper jam, it can occur
because the
| paper feed roller has not started the paper moving early enough so a pick
up
| roller that is worn can also cause the problem, try cleaning the roller
with a
| damp cloth or isopropyl alcohol.
| Good luck
| Tony
|

Thanks. Very informative.

Would I be correct in thinking that the fact that it gives a Paper Jam error
without any paper in it could imply that the flag is stuck down or that the
optical sensor has a lump of crud in it?

DD

yes

 

[Tony]

| Firstly if the carriage error is fixed by "jiggling" then it is worth
cleaning
| the carriage bar with a dry cloth and putting a little 3-in-1 or light
machine
| oil on the bar, just a little by wetting a cloth with the oil and wiping
it on
| the bar. If that does not fix it the problem is going to be hard to
diagnose.
| Secondly, paper jams are usually identified in printers by timing. The
printer
| notes when it starts to feed and expects the paper to reach a sensor
within a
| certain period of time, if that does not happen in time - paper jam. The
sensor
| is most often a small plastic flag that is operated by the leading edge of
the
| paper and the other end of the flag moves between a U shaped block which
is the
| sensor (usually optical). I do not know this printer but often these flags
are
| hard to see and can be buried in the rollers. After the paper has passed
the
| sensor the flag will return to the normal position either under spring
tension
| or simply by gravity. You are probably looking for a small black flag
(lever)
| which is tucked up or down out of the way of the paper path but should be
| intruding into the paper path waiting for a piece of paper to pass by and
| operate it, a torch may help.
| Because of the way the printer determines a paper jam, it can occur
because the
| paper feed roller has not started the paper moving early enough so a pick
up
| roller that is worn can also cause the problem, try cleaning the roller
with a
| damp cloth or isopropyl alcohol.
| Good luck
| Tony
|

Thanks. Very informative.

Would I be correct in thinking that the fact that it gives a Paper Jam error
without any paper in it could imply that the flag is stuck down or that the
optical sensor has a lump of crud in it?

DD

Some printers have a sensor that detects whether paper is in the input tray,
but many inkjets do not.
So it depends on whether yours has this or not. If it has not got a paper
sensor in the input tray then the printer can't differentiate between paper out
and a jam.
I would expect that if it does have that sensor then you would get a paper out
error before anything else therefore my guess is that there is no such sensor
in that printer.
Sorry, long way of saying that probably it is a flag/sensor issue, often caused
by a tiny piece of paper stuck in the vicinity of the flag. Less likely then
that it is a roller problem.
Sensors almost never fail, flags get stuck quite often.
Tony

 

[Stratman]

It's sorted!!!

Having nothing to lose, I took it apart as far as I could and checked to
optical sensor, which was clear. The 'paper inserted' flag also seemed OK.
With the printer disassembled (and the control panel not connected) it still
behaved exactly the same, so I sort of ruled out software problems and any
of the sensors that were connected to the control panel.
What looked wrong was that the 'gates' in the paper input path did not drop
as it tried to load the paper. I played around with turning the gears by
hand and also operating the gate mechanism, again by hand. After a bit of
playing I attempted to load a sheet of paper without the panel connected. Lo
and behold it loaded it. Of course I couldn't see if it was displaying any
message as the panel was on the other side of the desk. I put it all back
together and it worked!!!

I assume that the loading mechanism had got itself out of sync and my
turning by hand resynced it.

Thanks to all that have helped with replies.
DD

 

[Lou]

It's sorted!!!

Having nothing to lose, I took it apart as far as I could and checked to
optical sensor, which was clear. The 'paper inserted' flag also seemed OK.
With the printer disassembled (and the control panel not connected) it still
behaved exactly the same, so I sort of ruled out software problems and any
of the sensors that were connected to the control panel.
What looked wrong was that the 'gates' in the paper input path did not drop
as it tried to load the paper. I played around with turning the gears by
hand and also operating the gate mechanism, again by hand. After a bit of
playing I attempted to load a sheet of paper without the panel connected. Lo
and behold it loaded it. Of course I couldn't see if it was displaying any
message as the panel was on the other side of the desk. I put it all back
together and it worked!!!

I assume that the loading mechanism had got itself out of sync and my
turning by hand resynced it.

Thanks to all that have helped with replies.
DD

And thank you for posting the fix!

Lou

 

[Tony]

It's sorted!!!

Having nothing to lose, I took it apart as far as I could and checked to
optical sensor, which was clear. The 'paper inserted' flag also seemed OK.
With the printer disassembled (and the control panel not connected) it still
behaved exactly the same, so I sort of ruled out software problems and any
of the sensors that were connected to the control panel.
What looked wrong was that the 'gates' in the paper input path did not drop
as it tried to load the paper. I played around with turning the gears by
hand and also operating the gate mechanism, again by hand. After a bit of
playing I attempted to load a sheet of paper without the panel connected. Lo
and behold it loaded it. Of course I couldn't see if it was displaying any
message as the panel was on the other side of the desk. I put it all back
together and it worked!!!

I assume that the loading mechanism had got itself out of sync and my
turning by hand resynced it.

Thanks to all that have helped with replies.
DD

Delighted to hear it, what you describe is something that happens from time to
time with a small number of Epson printers but I have never seen it on an HP,
thanks for the information.
Tony