Printer "ate" Avery label; now printer makes thumping sound; prints black horizontal bars on pages

[CluelessInSeatl]

Last night I placed a sheet of Avery 5202 file folder labels in the upper paper feed tray of my HP Laserjet P1006.

But when I clicked "Print" the label sheet jammed in the printer.

I pulled out the toner cartridge, extricated the crumpled label sheet, tossed it into the wasted basket and replaced the toner cartridge.

I then tested the printer by printing the same job onto a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of printer paper from the lower feed tray.

The printer made a series of loud thumping sounds and then produced a page smeared with toner and marked by half-inch high horizontal black black bars spaced at three inch intervals down the page. Here's a photo of a couple such pages:

On a hunch I fished out of the waste basket the crumpled label sheet that had jammed the printer, and sure enough, one of the self-adhesive labels was missing from the sheet.  So presumably that errant sticky label is lodge somewhere in the works of my printer.

What to do now?  I'd be grateful for some advice.   Would it be wise for someone like me, with no technical training or experience, to attempt to dismantle the printer to try to find and remove that label?

Will in Seattle

a.k.a. "Clueless"

[banhien]

Hi,

You need special type of label sheets to print on laser printers because many laser printers generate more heat the inkjet printers which cause many problems with label papers.

Avery 5202 is not suitable for laser printers. Please use the one which is designed for laser printers:

      http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/office-supplies/labels/address-labels/laser-labels

Regards.

[CluelessInSeatl]

Hi banhien,

Thanks for that speedy reply.

I checked the Avery 5202 package label and it has the words "PRINT," "Laser," & "Ink Jet" on it.

I bought the labels from amazon and on their web page they also state: "Compatible with laser and inkjet printers"

http://tinyurl.com/Avery-5202-laser-compatible

Do you think Avery is misrepresenting these labels as being usable with laser printers?

Will in Seattle

a.k.a. "Clueless"

P.S.  Do you have any idea how one would go about trying to clear out a self-adhesive label from inside a printer?

[davidzuts]

Whether the label is compatible with your printer or not is of little importance if you can not fix the printer. Suggest you do a google search for the service manual for your printer and then download the pdf and look for the instructions on cover removals so you can get to the inside of the printer to try and locate the label. Most likely it has adhered to the fuser, but are you sure you replaced the toner cartridge as that black line looks like something being caused by the toner cartridge.

[CluelessInSeatl]

Thanks, davidzuts,

I found a service manual on the web, so this morning I'll see how far I can get before I become hopelessly lost and confused.

In the meantime, I guess the take-away for me from this experience is to never attempt to print on self-adhesive labels sheets unless I'm willing to risk ruining my printer.

[CluelessInSeatl]

I took a stab at opening up my printer to see if I could find that label that's gumming up the works.  I found a youtube video to supplement the manual, but I couldn't even manage step one, the prying off of the cover.

And from the looks of the video I'd end up with a maze of parts scattered all over my desk and would have one heck of a time trying to get all those pieces back together again.

So, it looks like I'm left with two options:

1. Take the printer to a repair shop
2. Buy a new printer

The advice I got from a local repair shop is to just toss the printer and buy a new one.

I hate to toss this complext piece of technology into the electronics recycling bin at the Deseret Thrift Store up the street.   So I thought I'd check in here one more time to see if someone can suggest a better option.

[davidzuts · Accepted solution]

Do you still have the old toner cartridge. Just on a hunch put it back in and see if you get the same defect or something else. If you did not change the toner cartridge and have the same one in the printer when you got the jam odds are the missing label has adhered to the drum of the toner cartridge causing the defect. Use the edges of the drum to turn the drum to see if I am right.

[CluelessInSeatl]

Yes, I still have the toner cartridge and I just lifted the flap that says "do not open door." 

The drum is frozen solid and will not rotate at all.

But your hunch was correct.  The label was stuck to the drum.  I managed to peel some of the label from the drum, but my guess is that that cartridge is now toast.  And I also ended up touching the drum with my fingers before I read the warning "Do not touch drum."

So, I'm guessing that a new toner cartridge may get my printer working again.

What do you think?

[davidzuts]

Very good hunch. If you look at my previous post I said it sure looked like the toner cartridge. 25 years of doing this.

[CluelessInSeatl]

Thanks a million, davidzutts, for sticking with me on this problem.  I finally received a new toner cartridge from amazon.com and installed it in the printer this morning.

And now, thanks to your insight, I've got a working printer again.