Paper creases

[Patmaniac]

After a paper jam, I now have a shallow crease which shows up on every page I print

[Repairatrooper]

There is either an obstruction caused by leftover paper or you dislodged a roller or guide when removing the jam. Take the creased paper and line up with normal travel path and look for something out of place that aligns with the crease. 

[Patmaniac]

Thanks for that suggestion and I am sure you are right but I didn't want too go to far down the track of needing to get to the inner workings. Do you think I can access the dislodged guide easily? Remove the paper tray and try from there? 

[Repairatrooper]

Normally you would need to take nothing apart. Open the top and remove the cartridge. remove the paper tray. Take the folder paper and put it in the slot that the paper follows, as you are doing this, open the jam flap inside the cartridge so that you can see the paper coming up and pull it through. Repeat until you have pushed the paper through the entire width of the slot.

[Patmaniac]

I am in Australia and I am over 60 in age. I am usually pretty good at sorting out my own issues and I have always been a supporter of HP products and find myself in a dilemma now. 

Your suggestions are all helpful I'm sure but my printer here seems to be an all in one unit with the only available openings being for toner and paper. My printer is a Color Laser Jet Pro MFP M281 fdw if that helps. 

I was hoping there was an easier way than needing to take out screws etc.

For example, my toner is loaded from the front and does not come all the way out, just allowing the foot-sized cartridges to be loaded horizontally into slots and then slid back in like a drawer.

The paper tray is also at the front and bottom of the printer, and also slides out like a drawer. This unit does come all the way out to enable easier paper loading. 

So, I cannot access or even see what you are calling the 'jam flap', at least in my opinion. 

[ALS-77]

I think Repairatrooper was thinking of a different printer model. Your printer is different than he was explaining. On your printer, the entire paper path is really at the back of the printer. Open the back door of your printer and look inside. The paper feeds up from the paper tray at the bottom of the rear side, up past the transfer belt, into the fuser at the top, then out the top into the output tray, a very short distance overall. Look around for any pieces of paper or other obstructions there in the back. It is very hard to see into the fuser on this model without taking it out of the printer, so if something is stuck in there, it would be near impossible to see and get to. Typically something is in the paper path that is pushing the paper ever so slightly to cause it to crease. Often times when the fuser begins to go bad, it will crease the paper, but you said it happened right after you removed a jam, so hopefully it's just a small piece in the way.

Good luck.

[Patmaniac]

Hi there. Thanks for your wisdom as well but it seems beyond me, or my eyes, to see if anything is there. I may have to just 'bite the bullet' and put the printer in for a service etc at a nearby dealer. Do you recommend a HP specific one or do you think generic will do?

[ALS-77]

I would check around for recommendations for a decent printer repair shop/person that would be reasonable in price to have a look at it that you would trust. It's always a gamble.