My hp office jet keeps telling carriage jam, what will i do? can it still be fixed?

SOURCE: error - carriage jam message

My Photosmart 2610 just started having this same problem today. As many of you have done, I also went to the hp support website and tried just about everything. Finally I discovered the answer to my problem on my own. Here's what I did (you might want to have a wet rag handy to wipe the ink off your fingers):

1) With the printer on, I pressed "okay" to clear the error message. You should immediately hear the sound of the carriage (the contraption that holds the cartridges) moving inside.

2) Open the print cartridge access door (the main access point for the cartridges) and confirm that the carriage is indeed moving.
If the carriage won't move at all, I'm not sure that this solution will help you. However, if the carriage moves from side to side after you press "okay", please read on.

3) This is unorthodox, so bear with me: when the carriage moves away from it's "resting place" (in my printer it's on the right hand side) and is near the center of the printer, unplug the power cord from the printer. The purpose of this is to free up the undercarriage (which was the part that actually was jammed on my printer).

4) Ensure that the carriage moves freely from left to right and right to left by pushing gently on its sides.

5) Move the carriage to left side of the printer so you have room to access the undercarriage.

6) It might be helpful to have a flashlight or some other light targeting the undercarriage for this next part. If you look directly underneath the undercarriage, you should see a foam/spongy product resting in the base of the printer. The purpose of the sponge is to absorb any ink that escapes from the cartridges. Herein lies the problem: over time, as the undercarriage adjusts to enable the carriage and its cartridges to do their work, the undercarriage gets caught on the inky sponge. Note that the undercarriage is fragile, but is moveable by gently pushing it toward the front or back of the printer.

7) Adjust the undercarriage so you can see the sponge and the "axel" (for lack of a better term) that turns to move the undercarriage forward and back. It may take some detective work, but you should be able to determine where the sponge is supposed to lie. Your goal here is to push the sponge down as far as it will go so that it won't obstruct the movements of the undercarriage.

8) On my printer, there was also a small amount of sponge wrapped around the "axel" that prevented it from moving smoothly. I unwrapped it and double-checked that nothing else was obstructing movement.

9) Final step: leave everything where you moved it, shut the lid, and plug it back in. A little prayer never hurts either. Good luck! AIM ID if you need more help: GnarlyVeaux

SOURCE: How do I get fix a "carriage jam"?

I was able to run run a piece of photo paper through a couple of times and printer now seems to be working again. The theory was that running a heavy piece of paper through might help clear little piece of paper that was not visible. The photo paper is less likely to tear if it gets jammed too.

SOURCE: Carriage Jam

Make sure you can move the print cartridge holder freely and that it isn't being blocked by anything inside the printer, also check if the cleaning station is in the right position, maybe it is locking the cartridges.

SOURCE: Paper jam in HP 4255 office jet all in one printer

Clearing paper jams
Paper jams can be real or false. The unit may report a paper jam even when there is no jammed paper. The solution to a real paper jam or a false paper jam is the same.
CAUTION:
Jammed paper must be removed using the rear access door with the power cord disconnected to avoid mechanical damage. Do not remove jammed paper from the front of the unit.

1. Turn off the HP product and turn it around so the back of the unit faces you.
2. Disconnect the power cord from the back of the all-in-one. The power cord must be disconnected to allow the paper feed rollers to turn freely.
3. Locate and open the rear access door by pressing in on the left side tab and then pulling the door toward you.

1. Inspect the pressure rollers on the rear access door and verify that they are clean and turn freely. Clean the rollers if needed with a soft towel lightly moistened with water. If the rollers do not turn freely, replace the rear access door. Click How to Buy on this page to order replacement parts.
2. From the rear access door opening, remove the jammed paper.
3. Remove the remaining paper from the paper supply tray. Discard any paper that is damaged or crumpled and then re-stack and reload the paper into the paper supply tray.
4. Reinstall the rear access door.
5. Reconnect the power cord to the unit and turn the unit on.

• Never use paper that is torn or wrinkled.
• If you are having problems using paper that has already been printed on once (recycling), replace it with new paper.
• Remove and then reinstall the rear access door. Verify that the access door is fully locked in place. The paper can skew if the rear access door is not locked.
• Every six months to one year, clean the paper feed rollers with a rag lightly moistened with water. Over time the paper feed rollers accumulate dust and do not function as well as they once did.
• When printing envelopes, tuck the flap into the envelope and crease the folds before printing.

SOURCE: HP Photosmart c5280

Make sure to check all the way to the right and left inside. I ussually find paper loose in either of those ends. Then check your encoder strip which is the plastic strip that the carriage slides on. This may be dirty causing this issue. Use a soft paper towel and alcohol. Windex is okay to but may leave streaks on it and give same issue.