Notes on Paper Jams
After a printer commands a piece of paper to be sent from the
paper tray it expects the paper to arrive at a sensor within a specific
time. If the paper doesn’t arrive, the printer assumes it
got jammed somewhere along the paper path. But what frequently happens
is that the pickup roller was dirty or worn and didn’t actually
send the paper, even though it turned. So no paper got sent, and
the printer declares a PAPER JAM. Frequent false paper jams is a
sign of a worn or dirty pickup roller. Try cleaning it first, with
a slightly damp cloth, but don’t leave it wet. If that doesn’t
help, replacement pickup rollers are usually easy to install (there
are some exceptions) and are inexpensive from: www.precisionroller.com.
Most HP LaserJets display the error code 13 for paper jams. In
newer printers this is expanded to 13.0 or 13.1 or 13.2. The number
after the decimal point refers to which sensor detected the jam.
It starts with 0 at the paper pickup area, so a 13.0 message means
the paper never arrived at the first sensor. The rest of the numbers
are helpful if you know how many sensors your printer has and where
they are. Printers usually have three or four sensors in their paper
path, with the last one at paper exit, or at the fuser if there’s
a straight path from the fuser to the exit. There’s usually
one at every bend in the paper path.
Sensors are either optical, which means the leading edge of the
paper breaks a light beam, or they are mechanical, which means a
little piece of plastic gets pushed out of the way by the paper
going past.
Mechanical sensors can get stuck in a wrong position, they can
get broken and they can get worn down to the point that they no
longer function.
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Hilton Imaging Solutions, Inc.