My trusty old Laserjet 5P has let me down?

Question

This printer has been a real workhorse. Then one day it got a (genuine) paper jam - the paper jam light came on and it ground to a halt. I cleared the jam, which was straight forward, but the jam light stayed lit and it stubbornly refuses to respond to all my attempts to persuade it to resume its role in my life. I've cleaned it, cuddled it and cursed it, all to no avail. Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

13 year printer tech chimming in -

1. Remove the cartridge and look for a little finger sticking upo about an inch past the foam roller. Make sure that it moves freely when pushed back and insn't broken off. It should move freely in the direction the paper moves and return to the up position when not held.

2. Look down inside the printer for a silver screw holding down a black plastic area in the front left corner inside the printer. It's right next to a clear plastic peice. Remove this screw. Locate two friction clips holding the black plastic peice the screw was holding. They are along the front edge. Press them and remove the peice. There is another papaer sensor flag/finger under it. Make sure it moves freely also. Re-assemble.

3. Open the rear door. Firmly until it is parallel to the counter. It will first open to a 45 but with a little more pressure it will open parallel. Look next to the right hand white roller. There is another paper sensor there. Make sure it moves freely also and is intact. It should move towards you when flipped with a pencil tip or similar. (Caution - dont puncture the fuser film of damage the lower fuser roller by poking around.)

Those are all of the sensor that tell the printer there is a jam.

If all else fails, I have provided below a link for a free service manual in PDF for your printer below. (2/3 down page)

Good luck.

Answer 2

Deep inside your printer there is probably a tiny scrap of paper still left there. Piece together the paper you removed from the printer to see how much is still left inside.

Even if the small bit of paper left in there isn't really causing a jam, it's probably covering a sensor that senses jams.

Answer 3

There may be a tiny bit of paper covering the sensor that detects papaer jam. This required an engineer to remove it when it happened to a 5p at my work.

Answer 4

If it's only a monochrome laserjet, you might consider just buying a new one. The newer HP 1018 is a low-cost monochrome laserjet that has won several awards for it's reliablilty. In most places it will come with a 2500 pages cartridge with it. It costs around $149.