paper jam error message - HP Officejet 8500 pro - please help, deployed no return option

[JWTaxman]

Officejet 8500 has to be a piece of junk.

Do not buy one.

I have three of them for office.  Now, two of them have PAPER JAM error. Which means either pay $150 for repair or junk. Who knows how long the repair will last. HP does not warranty parts.

Get another brand of printer/ all-in-one.

www.MetroAccounting.com

[RoliG]

To all the poor that are experiencing the same problem. I would like to hear HP say that it's their poorly designed black clutch at the left side of the printer (paper feed). There is a white wheel with a hole that is taking up the fixation screw. At this position the wheel is extremely thin and usually brakes exactly there! My printer is only 15 months old and there is no more warranty on it so I was curious enough to check out what happened. I'm afraid, that I only have one solution to this problem: buy another printer but sure no more HP!

[DanHouts]

I have an Officejet 6500 wireless.  I am getting the same paper jam without a paper jam.  I have tried the online solution to avail.  what can I do now.  the unit is not that old.

[chase96]

How to correct the error message "paper jam".  There is no paper jam.

[M_Anhalt]

I just went through this.

Printer was over loaded with paper. A sheet jammed in the rollers. Cleared out the jam but the printer was convinced it was still there.

The fix was this.

On the left side of the printer under the dual ink packs there is a BLACK roller with a white cylinder gear inside it. I watched the printer try to reset it self about 10 times before I realized that the white inner gear was hanging up on the black outer gear. Blew out printer with compressed air. No change. Added a few drops of 3N1 oil on the white/black gear combo, printer went right in to reset mode and after about 5 min I was printing again. This was after being on the phone with HP service for 27 min, and having to REPEAT my information to the guy in India at least 6 times! I was told the printer is "unfixable and would have to buy a new one but they would give me $30 off the price of a new one". So I did what everyone else does and shelled out the CC# for a new printer.

Never did get a confirmation Email or an order number from HP on the new printer.

[JLWojo]

Thank you so much!  That resolved my issue.  All of a sudden, the printer would no longer pull in the paper and indicated there was a jam and there wasn't one. 

I powered off the printer (properly using shutdown by pressing power button) but keep it plugged in.

I removed the paper tray cover and paper. 

I lifted the cover and slid the print head cartridge all the way to the right. (manually pushed it)

I then saw the black gear (near the top of even with the bar with all the little rubber rollers on it) and white gear below it a little to the left (1/8 inch) (as indicated in prior post).

Using my finger, I manually rolled the gears (sometimes black sometime white)

As I did this, I could see the lifter inside the paper tray openning move up and down.

I didn't have 3n1 oil, so I gave a quick spray of WD40 to the right of the black gear.

I then kept manually spinning the gear back and forth (a lot). (sometimes the white one as well)

I ended by spinning the black gear (top towards me) and I heard some little clicks.

I kept doing this until I saw the lifter inside the paper tray drop all the way down and I could see the white gears on it move.

I closed the lid.

I powered the unit on.

It went into normal startup and checking out the printer mode (I didn't touch a thing during this process)

I no longer received the Paper Jam error.

I performed an Alignment test via the TOOLS option and it successfully fed a piece a paper into the printer and worked.

I hope these steps help to find it the gears a little easier. 

Based on what was stated by M_Anhalt, the printer needs to Reset and by loosening and rolling the gears, it appears to make it think it has.

Good luck!

Aside from this unexpected issue, the printer has run fine for almost a year and I have used it a lot. 

HP, I think you should add some kind of printer Reset option to clear any prior stuck conditions.

[davids1951]

Yes!!! Thanks

[Chiu]

I read with interest the posts as a 2 previous 8500 failed and was returned to Costco.  The store guy asked me if I didn't want to try a different printer, but since Costco has no limited time frame on returns of printers, I decided (stupidly perhaps) to stay with the HP since it had the most features.  

The current model for sale is a little different from the one available just 5 months ago.  There is no key board so I can't hit # & 3 simultaneously to reset.  In fact there are no instructions whatsoever about resetting.

I was printing holiday envelopes and as often happens one of them gets jammed.  After the 3 or 4th jam the unit decided that it was still jammed even after the envelopes were removed.  I tried to follow the directions above about rotating the white and black cog wheels to the left of the printer.  I even sprayed in WD 40 as the two previous posts suggested.  I had a hard time moving the wheels and used a screw driver.  I did not get any clicks and did not see any guides move up or down.  Basically it didn't work for me.  I wonder if the current unit is not the same one that is being referred to by the last few posts.  My current unit is HP Officejet Pro 8500 A910.

My advice is if you get one of these get it from Costco and take it back if it fails.  Otherwise I would ask HP to man up and advise us what the simple fix is as the unit is clearly not bad it's just thinking there is a jam after a previous jam and needs some sort of reset (and turning it on and off doesn't do it).

[tomehak]

Holy smoke!! The fix re white-black gear on my HP Pro 8500 absolutely worked. It took about 2 minutes to fix it. [text removed] The white gear was cocked on the shaft suggesting a lub problem. The 3-in-one did the trick. Thanks for the tip

[DLCheesehead]

I have the same issue as RoliG and probably others.

On the left side of the printer under the dual printhead packs there is a

black  clutch with a white cylinder type gear inside it.

There is a hole with a set screw.

This cylinder type gear is split and does not function as it should.  

If anyone knows how to get or fix that part I would like to know. Not sure if you can even buy it from HP.