HP printer paper jams

[smathias]

I may be way off base posting this here, but need to figure out how to fix consistent paper jams from 500-sheet tray of HP Laserjet 4M. Paper gets up into main machine, then jams, while paper from original 250-sheet tray feeds fine.

Who can tell me what I need to replace/clean/bend? Most repair shops I know of just keep replacing things until it works again, usually at a large time+dollar cost.

[a Bill]

HP's website has some info on this sort of thing, plus, they have a forum that is monitored by HP techs. Can't hurt to post there and see what happens. Good luck.

[smathias]

Thanks for the URL, but I only got as far as "this flowchart won't help. Click here to see how to contact a repair shop". However, I'll keep this in mind for the future.

Do you have a way to submit a direct request?

[a Bill]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page I supplied the URL for. HP Customer Care Search is already set for searching just your printer, no other items. Type in your query and hit enter. On the next page that displays, scroll down to "troubleshooting" and click on it. This brings up anything that hits on your search.

I typed in, "paper jams on large tray" and got a large number of hits. One that may pertain to you is "error 13 paper jam troubleshooting".

You can also find it via the "Troubleshooting" active link.

I didn't find the forum for your product, but that may be due to its being an "older" item or perhaps they have not had enough requests for such a thing. I own an HP 820Cse and an HP 1100A and both have forums available.

[smathias]

Do you have URLs for either of these sites? I have never found any kind of free support from HP.

[a Bill]

www.hp.com/cposupport/prodhome/lj4m.html (http://www.hp.com/cposupport/prodhome/lj4m.html)

That ought to get you started. HP has a pretty good help system online. They will also answer direct queries.

[JimmyCW]

Smathias, have you got your printer working yet. If not do not over look the obvious....yet very hard to see. If your printer prints fine from the other trays there is a very good chance that you a VERY small peice of paper jammed in the paper path. You may have to remove covers or some other parts to see the jam. You want to use a bright light and a small, flat hook to get the papet out.....with out tearing out some other small part. Be carefull about lacing, etc.

This is from the point of view of 15 years as a service rep with IBM a lot of it on copiers, then 15 years in the Lexington printer plant, and a year teaching warrenty service classes for HP. Hope this helps.....look very closely the jam can be very small.

[smathias]

Thanks for the clue; I'll check it out.

The interesting thing about this problem is that the paper from the large lower tray feeds up through the end of the small upper tray, then into the machine. When I get a jam, the paper is already halfway through the lower tray, way up into the machine. I would expect that if the problem was any kind of blockage, I would get jams from the upper tray as well, as it goes up through the machine following the same path. But, the upper tray works fine. Until I can investigate further, I just pull the lower tray out and everything feeds from the upper tray.