Horrible screeching and pop sound in Photosmart C8180

[sergeantBrown]

I have two HP Photosmart printers that I have been very happy with. But within the last week both of them have crashed.

I'll start with my C8180.

One fine day it was preparing to print and then a loud spring-like popping sound came from the right side of the printer. This has since happened a few times, and the error message is always either a paper jam or a carriage jam. There is no paper stuck inside that I can see, either looking from the rear, from the top with the lid open, or from the front.

After a few times, the noise changed to a horrible screech, followed by a "carriage jam" notification on the display. It looks like the print head assembly is blocked by the two vertical tabs of the ink cleaning try on the far right. Apparently the tray is supposed to move all the way back, but the tray tabs stick out about 5mm  in the path of the moving print head assembly.

I can still use the printer for all other functions - negative film scanning, DVD player, card reader, document scanning. But printing is crucial because the photo quality is very good, and I have a lot of  Vivera ink cartridges waiting to be used.

I have tried the following:

1. hard reset - (unplugging both ends of power adapter, waiting 60 seconds.

2. Hidden menu reset - The choices were "partial reset" and "semi-full" reset. I have tried "semi-full" reset two times. There is no option for "full reset".

3. I have checked that the print head assembly is able to move freely left and right along the rail (except those times it is blocked by the vertical ink cleaning tray tabs on the right, see #4 below).

4. While the printer is off, I have reached in the pushed the ink cleaning tray back, so that its tabs do not block the print head assembly. Then I moved the print head assembly all the way right. Then I turned the printer on again and same result, either phantom paper jam or carriage jam.

Any advice would be appreciated. I would very much like to get my printers working, as I am very familiar with them and have several spare Vivera 363 inks waiting for this purpose.

[sergeantBrown]

Will someone help me?

[Kumar0307]

@sergeantBrown, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

I appreciate your efforts in trying to resolve this issue by performing the necessary troubleshooting steps. I see that you have performed all the possible troubleshooting steps. As the issue persists, I'm afraid this could be a hardware failure. For printing, the carriage should move freely.

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

If the printer is out of warranty, I suggest you upgrade the printer. You may visit Hp Store to check the available printers.

More info on resolving this issue, refer to - A 'Paper Jam' Message Displays for HP Photosmart C8150, C8180, C8183, and C8188 All-in-Ones

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

Please click “Accept as 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!

Have a great day! 

[sergeantBrown]

Thank you Kumar0307 for your reply.

I am saddened that HP seems to be suggesting that I abandon this printer.

As you have said this seems to be a hardware issue, would you say more specifically what I can check? At this point I am willing to take apart my C6280 to use a part from that if necessary. I could use a part from my C6280 to replace a defective hardware part in my C8180. Could it be a broken gear?

If I try a semi-full reset again, should I clear the errors from the hidden menu first? In what position should the ink head carriage be if/when I power up the printer from a semi-full reset?

I really hope to get this resolved, as all other features on the printer are still functional.

[sergeantBrown]

Just to clarify, after I push the cleaning tray tabs back and position the cartridge head all the way right and start it up, the startup routines run for a while, and then the vertical cleaning tray tabs again block the cartridge head which seems to be trying to go all the way to the right (resulting in screech noise and carriage jam error). During the startup routine, the cleaning tray does seem to freely move all the way backward and forward, with the vertical tabs moving well out of the way of the cartridge head path, so there does not seem to be anything hindering the cleaning tray's back-forth movement. There is just something awry about the position of the cleaning tray just when the cartridge head tries to move all the way right after about a minute or so of the startup routine. The tray position is off by just a few millimetres, enough to black the cartridge head. By the way, the cartridge head does move all the way to the right and back at least once during the startup routine before the error occurs. It's movement is not hindered except by the cleaning tray tabs after about a minute of the startup routine.