paper jam underneath cartridges

[mwgreen99]

Help please..i have an officejet 3830 jamming constantly. Paper feeds almost all through but jams right in the middle . When I remove the jammed paper you can see its crumbles in the lower middle  of the page, like when a car hits a tree head on and the middle of the front is buckled. When i open front panel to get to the ink i see a beige plastic flap which pictures the cartridges. It clips onto a long silver metal strip which goes from left to right. that is where it's obstructed. I felt around with a tiny screwdriver and found a black flat piece of plastic which rotates under that metal. When I rotated it and swung it around towards the left the jam resolved.  

So..what is that flat piece of plastic ?  I can't see but a small corner of it when i moved it because it sits under and is attached to that metal bar/strip. What does it do and why was it in the way of the paper flow ?  Do I just leave it alone now ??  TY

[TEJ1602]

@mwgreen99, Welcome to HP Support Community!

If you have already performed the steps from the document Paper Jam Error and the issue persists, it could be a hardware failure.

Please reach out to the HP Support in your region regarding the service options for your printer.

Hope this helps!

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[mwgreen99]

Your reply didn't help at all. Its like you didn't even read or understand what I wrote.  I explained how I resolved the jam by swiveling that small flat piece of plastic away from the paper route and the jam is resolved. What I DID ask was what that piece of plastic is and what should I do with it ????   You never addressed my question. 

[TEJ1602]

@mwgreen99

Unless we see the part we cannot exactly describe what it is. You can take the printer to a nearby service center to get it checked.

Thanks for understanding!