Carrier stall

The encoder strip is most likely the problem. Unplug the power from the printer. Open the front cover and move the cartridge carrier to the center. You should see a white ribbon cable, a thin plastic strip and a black belt with teeth.

The thin plastic strip is the encoder strip. It rides in a sensor on the back of the cartridge carrier that you will not be able to see. Reach in with the first finger of either hand and carefully strum the strip as if playing a guitar.

The strip will need to be lowered slightly and brought towards you slightly. Please be careful not to break the strip or your printer will not function. Once you believe the strip is set correctly, plug the power back and try printing the self test.

To self-test the printer, please follow the steps given below:

1. Press the "Menu" button 10 times. It should then read "Maintenance" on the printer's display screen.
2. Press the "Select" button once. You should then see "Cartridges" displayed on the printer screen.
3. Press the "Right Arrow" button 3 times, which then brings you to the "Self-Test" option.
4. Press the "Select" button once. It should print out a sheet of paper with horizontal color and black lines and smaller vertical lines.

The self-test should at least print out a set of either black or color bars, if not both (if you have a printer with both color and black installed simultaneously). Should this test fail, try it again without cartridges installed. If the self-test still fails to take paper in and make sounds like the carrier is moving across the paper, this is a hardware issue, and the printer will require service. If the self-test completes without any cartridges installed, run the self-test again with the color cartridge installed. (If you have both black and color cartridges, after this test, run the test again with just the black cartridge installed.) If you find that either cartridge causes the self-test to fail, please let us know.

If the self-test prints, but has lines or smudges or other print quality issues, please let us know. This includes any print quality issues and we need to know if the problems you have with your black or color are based in the printer, or communications with your computer, or the computer's software.  
If the self-test prints your test bar(s) clearly, the printer hardware is not at fault.