Why Does It Jam?

[Ron]

My refurbished Laserjet 6P was working pretty well until it started to
get a continuous paper jam. Or rather, that's what it thinks. The
printer starts to do a print job then stops with the jam light on, but
there is no real paper jam. The sheet starts to go through the printer,
but doesn't get far and doesn't get jammed, yet the printer thinks
there's a jam. I can't even get the thing to print a test sheet. Does
anyone have any idea what's wrong here?

Ron

 

[Kevin S.]

You still have a jam, you just haven't found it yet. It's probably just
a piece of the original paper that jammed in the first place. Did the
first paper you removed tear at all when you pulled it out?

 

[Smitty Two]

My refurbished Laserjet 6P was working pretty well until it started to
get a continuous paper jam. Or rather, that's what it thinks. The
printer starts to do a print job then stops with the jam light on, but
there is no real paper jam. The sheet starts to go through the printer,
but doesn't get far and doesn't get jammed, yet the printer thinks
there's a jam. I can't even get the thing to print a test sheet. Does
anyone have any idea what's wrong here?

Ron

I'm going to go way out on a limb here and assume that this is not an
April Fools gag.

As a wild ass guess, I'd say the first problem is that you and the
printer have a different concept of the word "jam." If the sheet starts
to go through the printer but doesn't get far, personally, I'd call that
a jam. Not every jam entails multiple sheets, or crumpling and tearing
and smoke and horrible noises. Try some new paper first.

 

[inty's world]

uhm... the rubber things that feed the paper...
try to scour them with glass paper

 

[I.F.]

uhm... the rubber things that feed the paper...
try to scour them with glass paper

................................and then throw it in the bin.

Use washing up detergent in warm water and never anything more abrasive
than one of those green plastic scouring pads.

 

[Simon Scott]

uhm... the rubber things that feed the paper...
try to scour them with glass paper

yeh, what he said.

 

[inty's world]

ehm.... i've tried this with some inkjets and worked at 100%
....
...

 

[Ron]

Hardly a joke. I just paid a lot of money for this printer and within
two months it's not working right. At this point I'll try anything, so
I'll get some new paper as soon as I can tomorrow. But, the current
paper hadn't been a problem, well, up to now it hasn't-- why would that
change suddenly?

 

[Ron]

Nope, I checked for little pieces of torn paper and other usual
suspects but no joy; it just says there's a paper jam.

Ron

 

[Smitty Two]

Hardly a joke. I just paid a lot of money for this printer and within
two months it's not working right. At this point I'll try anything, so
I'll get some new paper as soon as I can tomorrow. But, the current
paper hadn't been a problem, well, up to now it hasn't-- why would that
change suddenly?

I'm not laughing at your predicament at all. I was just amused that you
think the printer is mistaken when it says there's a paper jam. I mean,
if the paper starts to feed and then aborts, that's pretty much the
definition of a jam!

Sometimes paper can get difficult to feed just because it's been sitting
around for a while, collecting moisture from the air or grease from the
frying pan. Some printers also have a paper thickness adjustment; maybe
that got bumped inadvertently. Other than that, check the feed rollers
as others have suggested. If they're glazed, they may need to be
replaced.

I never buy reconditioned anything. I don't mind buying used stuff at
all, but if it's "reconditioned,", *someone* had a problem with it, and
the chances that whoever polished it up and wrapped it in a pretty new
box actually found and actually fixed the problem are miniscule.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

ehm.... i've tried this with some inkjets and worked at 100%

Won't work well with all printers. The idea is to make the surface
sticky. What abrasive attack does it put gouges into the surface,
which effectively reduces the contact area, and causes feed failures.
There are smelly chemicals that will soften the rubber sufficiently to
recover functionality, but they don't last very long.
http://store.simplybargains.com/80008.html

On some rubber feed rollers, I can flip over the rubber band and use
the other side. However, that won't work on the HP 6P.

I suggest the OP purchase a rebuild kit:
http://www.printerworks.com/Catalogs/RollerKits/VX-RK_RollerKit.html
or purchase the necessary parts individually.

 

[Ron]

Yes, I agree with you about buying refurbished products, but I liked
the older HP printers-- usually they are highly reliable; my old HP
Laserjet 4L lasted eight years under heavy usage. But the HP laserjet
6P had been discontinued about a year ago and finding one new nowadays
is a lot like finding hen's teeth.

But not all refurbished units had problems: some units are considered
refurbished after just being repackaged display models that had never
been used before. Or models returned because some git couldn't figure
out the difference between the serial port and the parallel ports and
wanted an "easier" printer, or for some other lame reason that didn't
involve any real operational problems such as minor cosmetic blemishes.
Unfortunately, there are indeed printerss that did have real problems
previously, and this one maight have been one of them; I dunno. But I
like this printer and I'm hoping that this isn't something major.
Repackaging and sending a printer back can be a major hassle and if the
waranty is still good, the only thing I would get back is another
refurbished printer. And so it goes...

Ron

 

[inty's world]

uhm..... another idea!
maybe the paper is too humid.....
it's not a joke...

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

ehm.... i've tried this with some inkjets and worked at 100

Won't work well with all printers. The idea is to make the surfac
sticky. What abrasive attack does it put gouges into the surface
which effectively reduces the contact area, and causes feed failures
There are smelly chemicals that will soften the rubber sufficiently t
recover functionality, but they don't last very long.
http://store.simplybargains.com/80008.htm

On some rubber feed rollers, I can flip over the rubber band and us
the other side. However, that won't work on the HP 6P

I suggest the OP purchase a rebuild kit
http://www.printerworks.com/Catalogs/RollerKits/VX-RK_RollerKit.htm
or purchase the necessary parts individually

 

[Mr Fixit]

My refurbished Laserjet 6P was working pretty well until it started to
get a continuous paper jam. Or rather, that's what it thinks. The
printer starts to do a print job then stops with the jam light on, but
there is no real paper jam. The sheet starts to go through the printer,
but doesn't get far and doesn't get jammed, yet the printer thinks
there's a jam. I can't even get the thing to print a test sheet. Does
anyone have any idea what's wrong here?

Ron

there are a multitude of paper sensors all the way through the paper path,
it only needs one to either be jammed or a small piece of paper stuck in it
for the printer to assume its a full blown paper jam, some sensors need to
open and close after a set time , its not uncommon for a user to remove a
jam and dislodge a sensor in the process
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/reference/guides/sensors/vx

 

[[email protected]]

My refurbished Laserjet 6P was working pretty well until it started to
get a continuous paper jam. Or rather, that's what it thinks.

If there was a tiny sliver of paper in there before it was refurbished,
it may have worked its way out of whatever crack it was hiding in, and
lodged in a photogate sensor. This can also happen as little wads of
lint migrate around inside the printer.

The printer also has several levers that are held in the paper path by
gravity and pushed up as the paper goes through. They can be easily
broken or wedged into one position if you have to forcibly extract a
crumpled sheet of paper.

 

[b]

Mr Fixit ha escrito:

there are a multitude of paper sensors all the way through the paper path,
it only needs one to either be jammed or a small piece of paper stuck in it
for the printer to assume its a full blown paper jam, some sensors need to
open and close after a set time , its not uncommon for a user to remove a
jam and dislodge a sensor in the process
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/reference/guides/sensors/vx

maybe try opeing the unit up and using a compressed air spray to 'dust
it out'??
-b.

 

[Ron]

Thanks for the link; I didn't know there *were* such sensors. But I
can't tell from the picture, where the beasties are located.

Ron

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

I never buy reconditioned anything. I don't mind buying used stuff at
all, but if it's "reconditioned,", *someone* had a problem with it, and
the chances that whoever polished it up and wrapped it in a pretty new
box actually found and actually fixed the problem are miniscule.

Hmmm...I think that I'd differ with you on that. I've purchased a few HP
products of a "reconditioned" or "refurbished" nature over the years and
never had a problem with any of them.

(I've also purchased many other refurb/reconditioned products and had good
luck with those as well.)

To the original poster--I'd definitely check over the printer rollers,
especially the paper "pick" roller that pulls paper into the printer. If for
some reason the printer can't load paper, it will consider that to be a
"jam".

Also, if the sheet goes so far into the printer and stops, turn the printer
off (or unplug it) at that point and see if there's anything that might be
obvious only when a piece of jammed paper is there to point it out. With
some care you might be able to run the paper through the print engine by
hand (be careful -- do NOT force anything) and see if it will go through.
Sometimes that is all it takes to put things right.

William

 

[Ron]

Thanks, William; I'll try that.

Ron