Carriage jam, but move freely and also no paper stuck

anko46 · ‎04-18-2025

HP officejet 6950 printer
Paper jammed during printing. I pulled out the crumpled paper completely through the output tray. There was not any jammed piece of paper left in the printer, I checked everything thoroughly, the ink carriage moves easily, nothing prevents it from moving, it also moves freely when the printer is turned off by hand. Since then, after properly turning off the printer with the power switch and turning it on, it still gives me an error message that it was not turned off properly and I should use the power switch to turn it off. Whether I acknowledge this error message or not, another carriage jam warning appears - even though everything is fine, no paper left, nothing obstructing the tray carriage - I open the printer so the carriage is in the far left position and not on the right, at the same time does not move to the middle part (e.g. as when changing cartridges) but goes from left to right three times and parks again on the far left. Then the carriage jam error message appears again and every time I confirm it, the carriage again goes from left to right three times and stays on the left. I can't run print diagnostics and print nothing. I also tried a factory reset, selected and checked the cartridges, etc. but nothing helped. Does anyone know the solution?

VikramTheGreat · ‎04-19-2025

Hi @anko46,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

I can sense the frustration here, especially when you’ve done everything by the book: cleared the jam, double-checked for obstructions, reset the device, and still get stuck in this loop.

That loop you’re seeing — carriage moves left to right a few times and parks — is the printer trying to recalibrate and failing the internal check.

1. Hard Reset (Physical Discharge)

A factory reset often clears settings, but not hardware state.
Let’s try this:

Turn the printer off with the power button.
Unplug it from the wall and disconnect the USB/Ethernet cable.
Press and hold the power button for 60 seconds (while unplugged) — this drains any residual current and resets sensors.
Plug it back in directly to a wall socket (no surge protector)
Power it on.

See if it still reports the same errors.

2. Check for Stuck Sensor Flag

There’s a tiny plastic paper sensor flag near the rear rollers (sometimes inside the duplexer path). If that’s out of position, the printer might still “think” there’s paper inside.

Open the rear access panel or duplexer
Look for a small black or clear plastic flag that moves when paper passes
Make sure it moves freely and isn’t stuck or jammed with dust or misaligned.

3. Carriage Track + Encoder Strip Cleaning

There’s a clear plastic strip running behind the ink carriage (called the encoder strip) that helps the printer track carriage position. If it’s dirty or has ink smudges, the printer can misread the carriage position.

Turn off and unplug the printer
Use a lint-free cloth slightly dampened with distilled water
Gently wipe the clear strip behind the ink carriage
(Be very careful — don’t pull or tug on it)

Let it dry, then restart the printer.

4. Service Mode Reset (Hidden Reset)

If none of that works, there is a semi-hidden reset:

Turn the printer on
On the printer’s touchscreen, go to Home > Settings > Printer Maintenance > Restore
Choose Restore Factory Defaults (if you haven’t already)
On some models:
Press and hold the Back button (⟵) + Cancel button together until the screen goes blank or a reset menu appears.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have a good day.

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VikramTheGreat

HP Support

VikramTheGreat · ‎04-19-2025