Orange and green light blinking cartridge does not move

SOURCE: orange cartridge light error keeps on blinking!

it sound like a bad carriage assembly: part # C4713-60039
it lists for around $147.
Hope this helps

SOURCE: blinking lights

This exact thing just happened to me. I tried EVERYTHING in the way of troubleshooting - turned printer off/on, plugged/unplugged, opened/closed top, pressed all the buttons on the front right - FINALLY, I took out and put back in both ink cartridges and the light finally went to just green, as it should be AND it printed! Hope this helps!

SOURCE: flashing green & orange lights and does not print cartridges moved on left hand side

It seems to me that either one or both your cartridges have defective [worn-out] sensors. Please try to replace your cartridges and the problem should resolve.

alexander king

SOURCE: Arrow light and Power light keep blinking

take out all the cartridges and the papers..
unplugg the power cable from the printer..
manually slide the carriage from left to right and vice versa and roll the rollers in upward direction from the back after opening the back door..
if doesnt slide or roll..press & hold the power button for 60 seconds and then try again..
clean the inner area of the cartridge slot and the copper contacts of the cartridge with a soft lint-free cloth..
close the back door...
dont put the cartridges..
connect the power cable and power on the printer...
Lights will blink..
Insert one cartridge in the respective slot and close the cartridge door and check if any light blinks..
then remove the cartridge and insert another one and check the same thing..
If light blinks..it will mean the respective cartridge is not good and replace it--

SOURCE: Cartridges Jammed, Paper Light Keeps Blinking

There are a number of possible causes but none are realistically fixable as your printer is more than ten years old now and has far exceeded it's design life. If you're lucky then it's just a broken microswitch.

If you want to try and see if the fault is a simple one then you'll need to remove the casing and watch the machine as it tries to operate. What follows is based on the very closely related Deskjet 880c, but yours comes apart almost identically.

You'll need a torx driver with small sized torx bits (sorry, I don't recall the exact size) and a small flat-bladed screwdriver. You'll also need paper towels and an anti-static wristband. You may also need a continuity tester to check any suspect microswitches but it's often obvious if they're broken simply be the feel of the operating button when pressed.

Disconnect the machine from the power supply and open the lid. You'll see two torx screws which you need to remove. Turn the machine over and you'll see that at each endthere are plastic tongues which have clipped into the metal chassis. Use your flat-bladed screwdriver to carefully push these inwards and at the same time ease the end cases of the machine away from the main body of the machine. keep a careful eye out for any obstructions and be aware that the right hand end case (as viewed from the front) will have wired connections which you must be careful not to strain. If there are any loose/broken parts then put them to one side.

As the right cover comes off, be prepared for many years of inky goo. If it gets on your hands they'll be stained for a few days, so use the paper towelling. This goo is the residue left from every time the printer has been through a cleaning cycle and when it discharges ink whilst priming new cartridges before first use. If the goo is everywhere, then give up and bin the machine. It won't be worth the mess and effort to clean up all of the delicate working parts which probably won't work afterwards anyway.

If you had any loose parts then now is the time to see where they came from: detective skills are useful! If the broken part held a moving component then assess whether it can be glued or replaced by a bit of lateral thinking.

Now reconnect the power supply (it's a low voltage from a transformer, so is safe) and check the printer operation. Parts which may be causing the problem are normally things like microswitches, dislodged springs, broken spring locating tabs, dislodged/broken drivebands or failed motors.

Personally though, unless you like finding out how stuff works then just bin the printer. I've had dozens of free printers and multifunction devices from Yahoo FreeCycle over the last year and many work perfectly or have a really easy to fix fault (such as Epsons which need the service indicator resetting and maybe ink pads replaced). I take them, repair them and re-offer them on FreeCycle or sell them if i've any money tied up in repairing them. Older HP's are generally extremely reliable (my Deskjet 880c has had thirteen years of fairly heavy use and going strong) but when they fail it's normally for a really good and non fixable problem.