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Officejet 4500 wireless suddenly started making a terrible noise when the print heads move all the way to the right.  I've already tried the cleaning advised for printing noise and it made no difference.  Also, the ! shows up with green light.  No recent modifications, not even changing ink before this happened.  Printer is 1 year 4 months old, and it does get a lot of use.  Previously, cleaning did take care of a noise situation some months ago.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

The fix for mine was to clean the carrier ribbon.

Just behind the silver carriage bar that the ink cartridges travel on you'll see a clear plastic strip that extends from one side to the other of the printer.

Very gently, after turning off and unplugging the printer, use a lint free cotton cloth dampened with some isopropyl  alcohol clean the face of the ribbon, being carefull not to remove either end from the pin anchors that support it.

Move the ink carriage  as needed  but focus mainly on the right side as this seems to be where the carriage gets it's indexing marks from.

Worked for me..... no more grinding sounds like plastic gears were about to tear themselves apart.  Hope it works for you.

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12 REPLIES 12
HP Recommended

Hi,

 

Please perform the steps below:-

 

Step 1) Perform a Power Drain.

  • Press the Power button ( ) to turn off the product.

     

    NOTE: The product might not turn off after pressing the Power button. Continue to the next step regardless.

     

     

  • Disconnect the power cord from the rear of the product.

  • Disconnect the power cord from the electrical outlet.

  • Wait 30 seconds.

  • Reconnect the power cord to the electrical outlet.

  • Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the product.

  • Press the Power button ( ) to turn on the product.

 

Step 2) Connect the unit directly to a wall outlet.

 

Step 3) Make sure there is no jam or broken parts in the carriage area or elsewhere on the printer.

 

Step 4) Make sure the carriage moves freely.

 

  1. Press the Power button ( ) to turn on the product.

  2. Open the front access door. The carriage might try to move into the access area. If so, allow it to move to that position.

  3. Without turning off the product, disconnect the power cord from the back of the product.

     

    CAUTION: You must disconnect the power cord to move parts by hand without the risk of an electrical shock.

     

     

  4. Disconnect the power cord from the wall outlet.

  5. Look inside the product to see where the carriage is stuck, and then check for any torn paper or objects that might be restricting the carriage.

     

    NOTE: You might need a flashlight to illuminate areas for proper viewing.

     

     

  6. Reach inside the product through the front access door, and then manually move the carriage.

    • If the carriage is stuck on the right side of the product , move the carriage to the left side of the product.

    • If the carriage is stuck on the left side of the product , move the carriage to the right side of the product.

    • If the carriage is stuck in the middle of the product , move the carriage to the right side of the product.

     

     

  7. Remove any loose paper or obstructions found.

  8. Make sure that the carriage can move freely across the width of the product by gently pushing the carriage to the left and then to the right.

  9. Close the front access door.

  10. Reconnect the power cord to the back of the product.

  11. Reconnect the power cord to the wall outlet.

  12. Press the Power button ( ) to turn on the product.

Try to print or copy.

 

I hope this resolves the issue. If however the issue persists please get back to us with the results of the steps performed.

 

 

I´m an HP employee
HP Recommended
My printer is doing the same exact thing. I followed the above procedure and it's still making a loud ratcheting noise when the ink cartridges move all the way to the right.
HP Recommended

I have the terrible sounds too. The 4500 printer has been doing this now for ages and I can find no help on the subject online.

 

I discovered that the terrible noise is probably due to the gears not moving the cleaning shuttle that passes backwards and forwards beneath the printing cartridger docking bay. As far as I can see, the shuttle has rubber blades that are intended for the cleaning of the cartridge heads through 'wiping' them frequently. The shuttle gets stuck halfway either going back or coming forward. 

I have tried with some success to push the shuttle either fully back or bring it fully forward, thus allowing the gears to pick up the blank paper.

I need to know if there is any fix for this, and if this design problem can be worked around without expense for me.

I thought I was buying a useful, reliable and reasonably-priced piece of home office equipment. I expected that the product would do what it promised on the box!

HP Recommended

The fix for mine was to clean the carrier ribbon.

Just behind the silver carriage bar that the ink cartridges travel on you'll see a clear plastic strip that extends from one side to the other of the printer.

Very gently, after turning off and unplugging the printer, use a lint free cotton cloth dampened with some isopropyl  alcohol clean the face of the ribbon, being carefull not to remove either end from the pin anchors that support it.

Move the ink carriage  as needed  but focus mainly on the right side as this seems to be where the carriage gets it's indexing marks from.

Worked for me..... no more grinding sounds like plastic gears were about to tear themselves apart.  Hope it works for you.

HP Recommended

Guess what happened to me this week!

The same problem described as before: the printer cartridges reach the rightmost side of the printer and an extremely loud and rapid banging noise begins.  The printer was still able to print, but who would want to try with that noise?

I've had this printer for about two years (give or take a couple of months).  

I attempted fixing the problem myself before calling HP customer service.  I was on the phone for over an hour and the problem was not resolved.  During this time, I had to listen to that awful noise over and over again.

My biggest complaint, aside from having to buy a new printer (THIS time with a four-year warranty), was the sales aspect of the customer service call:

You see, first I was told that to attempt to fix the problem over the phone, I would have to pay $24.99.  If the tech was able to assist me in fixing my printer, I could use the $24.99 towards a service plan.  I was already annoyed and this annoyed me even more...however, it was worth a try.  $24.99 is better than $99.99 for a new printer, right?

As you already know, the tech didn't solve the problem.  He cheerily told me that the $24.99 was refunded back to me.  This isn't how the system really works.  The $24.99 was placed as a hold on my debit card.  He released the hold on his end.  However, it can take up to thirty days (depending on your bank) for your bank to release the funds back to you.  On top of this, he did not tell me that there would also be a $1 authorization hold.  As of right now, I have $25.99 in limbo until my bank decides to release the hold (about a week with my bank).

Since he was unable to fix it, he was able to provide me with "special" offers on other HP printers.  He failed to mention that all of the printers he had to offer were all last year's models and were refurbished.  I learned this much later after I directly asked.  What made the printers seem like a good deal was that they all included a 2-year service plan.  The catch was that I had to agree to buy a printer right then and now.  I couldn't call back after doing any research.  I also would have to send my broken printer back to HP (my assumption was so that they could fix it and sell it to someone else).  I -almost- fell for this gimmick.  The tech needed to reach out to his manager in order to sell me a printer.  His manager wasn't going to be available for an hour.  He said he would call me back so I would be able to buy a printer.

Well, I didn't wait for him to call.  I immediately went to Best Buy and found the same printers he was offering me for nearly $75 less and a 4-year service plan for half the price.  I want to point out that the printer was not even on sale at Best Buy.  I ended up buying a 4600 series in the end for $99 with a 4-year service plan.  In the end I spent about $150.

 

Remember when I said that my printer, although noisy, still printed?  Not now!  Thanks to Mr. HP Tech my printer is totally done.  Maybe I'm being unfair; my printer may have died completely anyway.  I do think, however, his helpfulness caused the inevitable to happen much sooner.  I attempted to print something this morning in a last-ditch effort to not buy a new printer (even thought I already did, I could have still returned it).

Tonight I set up my new printer and, being economical, listed what remaining unused printer cartridges for sale online.  I wanted to check if there was any way I could sell the 4500 for parts.  That's how I found this forum.

Trouble24_7's suggestion to clean the carrier ribbon worked for me!  No more knocking!  There are the "new" grinding noises that were acquired with the help of the HP Tech.  There's also the fact that, as of right now, I can't print anything at all: every time I try, the document fails to print.  Maybe I can fix this.  Probably not.  I think my best bet it to keep my new printer.

My advice to anyone with this problem: DON'T CALL HP TECH SUPPORT!   Try cleaning the carrier ribbon as Trouble24_7 did! 






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Hi trouble24-7
Thanks for the tip, glad to hear it fixed the problem
I am speaking for myself and not for HP. Twitter: @Ciara_B_27
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Hi Ciara_B,  Love to get you input on my problem...which I have had on all  my past HP printers...essential it is just the way they die for me.     When the printer goes thru it's boot up cycle from being turned on, it moves the ink carrier left and right, spins all the wheels and does the under ink wiping....all fine and then does a repetitive clicking noise which is in the back upper corner  behind and above the ink area and under the control panel.    My model is the HP PSC 2410.   First time this happened unplugged the unit and when it turned back on it booted fully. this got worse and worse so I just never turned off my printer and just left it on 24/7...all is well but then it is time to put new ink in...and I do ..prints fine, does a test page...prints for a week and then and I start getting repeat messages to put remove cartridge and check... which I do.. . cartdige is full and fine...  i decide to unplug and fully clean the area with alcohol...get it all clean, plug it back in ...more clicking...unplug...try again...un plug...back to check ink...finally gets through the boot up and than right back to "remove cartridge and check" message,   So I unplug to take a deeper look...       EVERYTIME I plug it in not, it goes right to the clicking before doing the boot up.    If I move the ink carrier to the left manually out of it's cavity and  unplug it, then when I return the power on, it does the left ight check, rollers roll, returns unit to ink cavity and then clicking resumes.         This is the way all my HP printers die.       I checked all wheels move and I see that the ink whiping things works, I did you other suggestion on this thread of cleaning the clear ribbon behind the silver bar with alcohol...it's spotless now...    I JUST both color and b/w ink for it and had to have to start over with a new printer that will end the  same way.   Any suggestions would be much appreiated!  thank you!!!

 

****it just occured to me that could be the scanner part ...so I plugged  back in again and watched what happen with the scanner lid up...   did the full boot up...left right, spin, wipe ink...then the scanner lit up and move like 1/2" in just visable under glass and thne back in and clicking started again.

HP Recommended

I did all the things suggested in this thread, but no joy. In my case the nasty rasping noise (like machine-gun fire) again occurred when the cartridge carrier reached the rightmost end of its travel, but I think it was actually caused by some gear skipping when the printer moved the head cleaning shuttle back and forth (same issue as MichaelLovelock above).

 

Here's what worked for me:

  • I tipped the printer on its side and let it stand vertical, on what would normally be its left side panel when viewed from the front.
  • I turned the printer on, and then opened and closed the print cartridge access door in order to make the cartridges move (what is now) up and down. I repeated this a few times, and although the cartridge carrier did hit the endstops, there were no more grinding noises when it reached the (now uppermost) end of its travel.
  • I then noticed that a small broken piece of black plastic had come loose, and was now sat on one of the cartridges. I presume it is this very piece of plastic which was causing all the problems.
  • Having removed and discarded this little piece of plastic (who knows what it was supposed to do!), the printer now works fine.

I hope someone finds this useful! The 4500 is a great little machine, I'd be very sad to have to replace it.

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thanks for the suggestion. I did give it s try on both sides...no luck. My noise is in the scanner part....i've it slammed it, hit it,knocked it, stood it on both ends...no luck...its trash now
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