7550 Cradle CRASHES!! into side of printer

just clean the encoder strip and the cartridge waste bin under the ink carriage and thats its . maybe it can help you to solve your problem.

Look at the pad on the right side of the printer under where the ink cartridges are loaded. It may have ink deposits built up into lumps which interfere with the movement of the cartidges on the rod. Clean the deposits by scraping the lumps and removing all debris. This worked for me.

print cartrige cradle is stuck clear jam then press ok in hpphotosmart 7550

print cartrigeis cradle is stuck clear jam then press ok in hp photosmart 7550.

Normal 0 I suggest you get a sheet of Card Stock (Heavy paper) and place it in the feed way. Then press the print button applying a slight amount of pressure on the Card Stock so it will feed through the printer. The reason for this, is in some cases I have been able to clear the paper track of debris that was deposited there over time.
Worth a try, as I have fixed a number of printers this way, saving costly repairs.
Hope this helps. Bud

This is the encoder strip please get it fixed in service center or if the printer is in warranty get it replaced.

My first guess is that it is a cartridge issue, due to these printers having the print head as part of the cartridge, there is nothing else, it makes the whole cartridge the only printing item. Ensure the carts are not old (exp date) and that they are HP, With that all understood as I now see that you must due to owning it for 6 years, then you could try to clean the contacts on machine's "cartridge holder" and give that a clean too while your at it cause it may be the problem here (see below)

If a inkjet printer lasts 3 years you would be doing well, and you've had 6. Exceptional!

HP Photosmart printers may print images with white lines or single color streaks. This issue can be caused by ink that has dried in the ink nozzles or by debris that is blocking the ink nozzles. The ink cartridges and the and printer cradle should be cleaned. Clean the ink cartridges with the ink cartridge cleaning utility in the HP Printer Toolbox. Also, clean the ink cartridges and the print cradle manually.
Cleaning the ink cartridge cradle

1. Assume an eye level position with the HP Photosmart printer.
2. Locate the ink cartridge cradle.
3. Using clean, moistened swabs, wipe the underside of each wall of the carriage where fibers may collect and come in contact with the paper. Repeat until no ink residue is seen on a clean swab.
4. Reconnect power cord when finished cleaning.

Manually cleaning the ink cartridges

1. Turn the printer on and lift the top cover.
2. After the ink cartridges have moved to the center of the printer, unplug the power cord from the back of the printer.
3. Remove the ink cartridges and place them wide side down on a piece of paper.
4. Prepare a clean, foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth slightly dampened with water.
5. Locate the copper-colored circuitry strip on the back of each cartridge.
6. Clean the copper-colored strip with the dampened swab or cloth. Do not wipe the nozzle end of the cartridge or touch the nozzle plate.
7. Clean the carriage contacts on the back wall of the ink cartridge carriage with a damp foam-rubber swab or lint-free cloth. Use a dry foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth to remove moisture from the contacts.

Cleaning the ink cartridges with the HP Printer Toolbox

1. Click Start .
2. Click Settings .
3. Click Printers .
4. Right-click the icon of the printer in use.
5. Click Properties .
6. Click the Services tab.
7. Click Open the HP Photosmart Toolbox or Service this device.
8. Click the Device Services tab. This tab does not display in Windows XP; proceed to the next step.
9. Click Clean the Print Cartridges .
10. Follow the onscreen prompts.

If you've got this far then I should tell you that these days, Printers aren't worth fixing, one just replaces them with new

I have had this problem with my 7550 for a while now and I finally found this on the HP website and it seems to have fixed my problem, I also replaced all of the cartridges:

Issue While printing from an HP Photosmart printer, the printer screen displays Print cartridge cradle is stuck / clear jam and then press OK . The printer may also make grinding sounds. This can occur after a paper jam when another printer part blocks the cradle. Solution Follow these instructions to adjust the clutch on the printer.

1. Disconnect the USB cable.
2. Press the printer power button to turn off the printer.
3. Disconnect the power cord from the back of the printer.
4. Open the top cover of the printer.
5. Remove the print cartridges from the printer.
6. Slide the cradle to the right side of the printer.
7. Locate the clutch on the left side of the printer.
   NOTE: The clutch is a flat, white, plastic component that rests just above the white roller gear wheel. In the HP Photosmart P1000 and P1100 printers, the clutch is black metal. Figure 1: Printer clutch
8. Remove the rear access door from the back of the printer.
9. Press the clutch firmly towards the back of the printer, while rolling the wheels in the back of the printer upward two full rotations.
10. Release the clutch and roll the wheels up two more rotations.
11. Reinstall the rear access door.
12. Reinstall the print cartridges and secure the latches in place.
13. Close the top cover and reconnect the power cord.
14. Turn on the printer.
15. Print a test page.

I had the same problem with my 7550. I followed this shortcut and so far so good. Be real careful with the strip cleaning and don't use anything but a damp cloth. No solvents.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bpd50646

There is a thin, clear plastic strip that guides the carriage & stops it from slamming like that. it is broken sadly. try getting one from ebay and switching it out. We got ours for like $13 shipped