HP Officejet Pro 9025e Photo Paper pickup issue solved

[MikeyMJT]

Over the past 8 months (just shortly after the warranty expired) my HP Officejet Pro 9025e  has experienced what many other users have experienced.. The upper tray with 4x6 photo paper is misfeeding the photo paper and causing partial prints and also gunking up the interior of the printer cause its spraying ink as it thinks the photo paper is under it. Which for a period of time it is not. After multiple roller cleanings and videoing it with my Phone. I believe I have discovered what the problem. The "fix" I applied was 2 months ago and it has not failed since. I print photos for my wife at her daycare. So it was getting very expensive wasting ink and photo paper during that 8 months costing me several hundred dollars in ink and photo paper. while troubleshooting the issue.   The issue was not the Tray 2 Paper pickup rollers. Instead it was the removable paper guide. I noticed as the photo paper was fed in to the printer it would make a noise as though shortly after the paper was being pulled in to the paper guide. I also noticed in the video that after that noise the paper seemed to stop progress moving inside but the paper was still being pulled in by the paper pickup rollers. I believe this caused paper to back up "so to speak" create enough pressure and eventual push past what ever was keeping the photo paper to smoothly enter the printer via the paper guide. The excess ink inside the printer was causing the prints and documents to have ink streaks on the back of the documents and photos. Mind you, this paper pickup issue never occurred when printing letter size documents from Tray 1 or Tray 2. After removing and inspecting the paper guide, I did not see anything obvious. So I took a damp paper towel and fit it in the opening and moved it back and forth to clean the paper guides paper channel. I could not feel any rough edges as such when moving the paper towel. But some dirt did come out of it. I also cleaned the large gray rollers inside under the paper guide specifically where the 4x6 photo paper would be pulled in. (I had done this many times before with no change to my issue) It is important to ensure you have inserted the paper guide properly in the printer. So, I hope this helps some of you, I know its frustrating. As an ex HP Employee I decided to let you know of my experience trying to resolve the issue and I hope it helps you as well. Take care.