Loud clicking noise when starting HP all in one

[Jeff17866]

I have an Office Jet 4500 Wireless g510n-z all in one.

Within the past day or so it's making a loud clicking sound during part of the start up.

I opened the front to watch the ink carriage and try to see what's causing the noise while it's starting.

I think I found the issue but am not completely sure.

Any ideas to be certain?

Any help is very much appreciated.

[Chimney_83]

Greetings @Jeff17866,

Thanks for the post.

I understand that you are facing an issue with the printer making a loud clicking noise when you power it on, it that right?

Not to worry, I will be glad to help. 

Are you using genuine HP ink?

Did you check for any jammed paper or debris inside the printer?

Printer making some noise is normal during the startup process. 

Recommend you check for any debris or jammed paper inside. 

Try to power On the printer without the cartridges and check if the printer makes the same noise. 

Connect the printer to your computer using a USB cable and update the firmware on the printer by downloading it from www.hp.com/drivers

Do you get any error message on the printer screen?

Keep me posted. 

[Jeff17866]

Yes but only during a short part of start up.

Yes I am using genuine HP ink cartidges.

I opened both the front and back panels and looked in with a flash light and didn't see anything obvious.

I powered it on without either cartridge installed and it still makes the same noise.

I went to the page that you have a link to, but didn't see any firmware update.

At one point I got a message that there was a paper jam but as I said, I looked in both sides and saw nothing.

I looked in the area where the cartridges sit while it's powered on, and it looks like one of the white plastic type gears is hitting the corner of where the one cartridge sits.

I'm not sure how to get in to that, if that's the problem.

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply and trying the suggested steps. The issue you are facing seems to be a hardware issue. As you mentioned that you get a message related to paper jam earlier. 

Request you to refer to this HP Article and try the suggested steps. If the issue persists, please contact our phone support for any trade-in or service options available. 

Keep me posted. 

[Jeff17866]

Thank you. The one thing I noticed is there seems to be a good bit of ink down below the cartridge carriage and am wondering if ink build up might be an issue?

Is there a way to clean all that old ink out fairly easily?

I was thinking maybe the ink build up is keeping something from moving back to it's correct location?

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply, you can try cleaning it with a cotton swap and let me know if it helped. I don't think it is going to help in reducing the noise, but if it obstructing the path of the carriage, it might help.

Keep me posted. 

[Jeff17866]

It's not a apaer jam and the carriage rides freely on the metal rod.

I can see something near the plastic gear that's hitting on the carriage but I have no idea how to access it.

I will probably try to clean out all the ink build up and see if that helps, otherwise I'm going to take it apart just to see how it works.

I can't afford to have it serviced nor can I afford to buy another printer.

Thanks anyway.

[Jeff17866]

It's not a paper jam

[Rainbow23]

Hi @Jeff17866,

Thank you for your reply, I'll be more than glad to help you.

I understand that there is a plastic gear that's hitting on the carriage and making that loud noise.

It looks like you were interacting with @Chimney_83, but he is out of the office today so I'll take over from here.

This could be a hardware issue with the unit.

Hence, please contact HP Phone Support for further assistance at the link: www.hp.com/contacthp

You have a good day ahead.