LaserJet 4100n hangs after printing 2 pages followed up by a blank page

[Alocer]

Up until recently the LaserJet 4100n we had set up was working just fine. Today we have noticed that every time we try to print something that is longer than 2 pages long, the same behavior occurs.

First, it will print out the first 2 pages of the document correctly. Then it will proceed to spit out a blank page, stop printing, but still have the "Processing Job from Tray 2" message on the screen, as well as the Data LED still blinking and the printer doing the usual printing noises (although nothing comes out). Even if I wait and leave it like that, nothing gets printed.

If I lift the front panel when it hangs, the noise stops and the screen displays a "Close the front cover" message. Upon closing the front cover and waiting a few moments, the print job resumes, and the following 2 pages of the job get printed, along with another blank page, and the printer hangs once again. It is possible to repeat the process until the print job is over, but it's time consuming and tedious considering the print jobs can have quite a lot of pages.

It is also worth mentionning that no error messages show up in the event logs, and that we use this printer as a network printer.

Any ideas?

[davidzuts]

Lets do a test.  Open tray 2 and place 10 sheets of paper on tray 1, manual tray and try the same job but this time sending to tray 1.  Does the same thing happen or does it print the job ok.

[SHThompson]

David has a good suggestion, I'm just following This Thread to see what the fix is

[Alocer]

Hi Davidzuts,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried printing the same document with Tray 1, and it worked.

One thing to note, is that we never used Tray 1 before, and as such it does not seem to be correctly tuned, as it gobbles up a few pages at a time instead of a single page. It still works, but entails a greater risk of paper jam down the road. I'm aware this does not impact the problem at hand, but it also means we cannot simply use Tray 1 whenever we want to print something (as we do not know how to make it so the printer only takes one sheet at a time).

Since the job was able to finish correctly using Tray 1, it seems the problem would reside somewhere with Tray 2, although I'm not quite sure what the problem could be.

[davidzuts · Accepted solution]

You have a stickey solenoid that controls the pickup roller in tray 2.  Suggest you do a google search for the service manual and then look for instructions on breaking down the printer into the 2 halves.  The bottom half will be where the solenoid is located.  You remove all the screws from the top plate and remove the plate the solenoid is in the right side towards the front and has 2 black wires going to it.  Remove the solenoid, remove the spring for the "L" arm and then clean up the glue residue that held the dampening pad in place.  Replace with substitute pad material like a thin furniture pad cut down.  Put the L arm back on put the solenoid back in place and reassemble and it should work just fine.  For tray one you need to order a separation pad for tray 1.  Again just do a google search for the item as it is real cheap and real easy to install.

[Alocer]

Thanks for the tips! For the tray 1 I have found a guide and a video regarding the changing of the separation pad.

As for the Tray 2 issue, I am curious as to how a physical hardware issue can be so consistent (always have the same behavior and never deviate from it).  Is it a normal behavior for a sticky solenoid to prevent the printing on the third sheet of paper? I can understand why the pickup mechanism can interfere with the interruption of the print job, but I'm trying to make sense as to why the third sheet gets picked up and nothing gets printed on it.

Anyhow, thanks a lot, I will give your solutions a try!

[Alocer]

I can confirm the sticky solenoid was the source of the problem.

The separation pad also needed to be changed.

Thanks for the support!

[POTS16]

I am having this exact problem.

I will try the solenoid solution which I am familiar with repairing.

I am just confused as to why the sticky solenoid would consistently function properly for two pages followed by a blank page and then no more feeding.

It has been my experience that the stuck solenoid( caused by the adhesive that bleeds through the foam dampener located below the soleniod arm) causes a blank page to stream feed and then cause a jam at the registration assembly.

This does not seem consistent with the issue I am observing.

I must admit that I did not run paper from tray 1 because it just did not seem like a tray 2 solenoid issue.

I will take your advice and test it out.  I am cautiously optimistic.

I hope you are correct!

Thank you in advance for your information.....

[POTS44]

This may sound completely crazy but change your toner cartridge.

If it is an aftermarket toner, your problem may be coming by "electrical noise" generated by the cartridge.

Tray 1 may operate normally, but tray 2 seems to be affected by it.  Something is creating a logic issue with the DC Controller.

Swap out your cartridge and see what you get.

Good luck

[SHThompson]

The solution to this issue was posted in 2016, you might want to see if a problem was solved before suggesting a fix.