11 replies to this topic

[Nahumi]

Hey guys, This may seem a bit trivial, but some reason my HP Printer F4280 is acting a bit strange. Every time I try to print something it will print one page, and then pull through a blank, and then print the next page and then another blank and so on and so forth. I've recently changed the cartridge on it and the paper is new. Could it be the thickness of the paper or that the ink cartridge has somehow affected the feed rollers? Thanks in advance Nahumi

[Doug]

Hi Nahumi

No problem is trivial, when it is unexpected, unexplained, and stands in the way between you and your anticipated work flow.

Printers sometimes grab two or more pages to feed through at the same time, resulting in a staggered cascade of partial print on more than one page.
This "most often" happens at the end of the paper tray supply with the last two or three pages feeding together or staggered.
This "can also" happen if the paper has a layer of dust on it. or if the paper-rollers are dirty, or if humidity changes.

From your description the above "is not" what you are experiencing.

_______________

Does the printer "reliably" print :
one page
then
ejects a blank page
then
prints the next page
then
ejects a blank page
_____________________-

If so, then a change in the "Paper Selection" or "Print Options" may have been accidentally entered.

Kinda sounds like the printer may be set to expect 8 1/2 x 14" (legal size) paper, instead of ordinary 8 1/2 x 11:.
Therefore it is spitting out two of the smaller pages to make up for the expected size.
Or the Print Job that you are running may have a configuration setting that needs adjustment.

Please post back when you solve this mystery.
Or also when you have more information/questions.

Best Regards

[8210GUY]

I have heard of such things, but have no idea why they happen, but above is a high possibility, but the simplest suggestion I have is to uninstall the printer and reinstall it again, the hope is that will reset whatever may be behind this.

[paws]

Hi Nahumi I have just repaired a HP Photosmart C4280 for a customer who didn't take up my recommendation to buy a new one.....but wanted the old one repaired. He's very happy to have his old one back, now working beautifully, but I had to bill him for 3.5 hrs labour......more than the discounted cost of the new one! the F 4280 is a similar machine (a bit newer) but there is a facility on both to have a separator page printed after a print has been done...this separator page is usually set to blank but on these machines can be anything...... It may be that your machine has this setting enabled........ anyways it's worth checking.....as it will only take a second or two Start>Control Panel>Printers&Faxes> highlight your F4280 right click select Properties>Advanced and then clear the separator page button Regards paws

[Doug]

hey Thanks, Paws. I did not know that, and have not worked on this HP model or similar. Good to know. Doug

[Nahumi]

Thanks everybody! I didn't know about those settings or how humidity could affect the paper feed. I had to travel to see my parents yesterday which means I'll be away from the printer for a week, but I was able to check any settings regarding the paper size. It was still set to A4, so that hadn't been changed. I also did a test print and this time it printed two pages, then a blank, two pages and then a blank. Each time it pushed through a blank it sounded like it was about to jam, but I can't be sure. When I get back I'll have a look at the settings that Paws has suggested. It most probably is something like that considering I had to mess with the settings to try and print everything at half size so that 2 pages would fit onto 1 A4 sheet of paper. I think if I can't find anything specific in the settings, my next steps are to see if I can "clean" or dust the feed rollers, change the new paper (which feels thicker than previous paper) and then reinstall the drivers. I'll post back with my findings. Thanks again for so much great advice! Nahumi

[Nahumi]

Hey guys, Just a quick update. Since I got back I've installed the printer and it's drivers onto a new PC. I checked the 'separator page' options, and that was fine. All other options were fine too. I did a 16 page test print and the blank pages came out very sporadically, and the first page was a blank. The printer did not skip printing the page that the blanks corresponded to and it made a funny noise before it pushed out the paper. As far as I could see the paper did not have any marks, dust or crumples on it. I'm not too worried about it because I won't be doing any important printing at home, but I was wondering if paper thickness could possibly be to blame? I'm using Xerox Performer paper which has a thickness of 80g/m2. I haven't tried thinner paper yet, but by the looks of it the printer only goes a bit funny every now and again. I guess it's just one of those things.

[paws]

Hi, sorry to hear the problem remains. The paper you are using should be fine....80gm is the normal stuff for general copying and the printer should be able to cope with this with ease. Some further thoughts, the paper should ideally be new and fresh from the wrapper..... I have some customers who reuse old paper, and have left it unwrapped for some time...and that always eventually leads to trouble. Check that the form feed rollers and teeth are uncontaminated, its possible for them to pick up paper detritus or even a small corner of torn off paper to jam up things and cause the machine to grab up spare copies! Some folks have been known (when faced with a paper jam up, just to start pulling on the paper to try to free it, some even just yank it out (or try to) This was fine in the days when it was economic for me to repair printers......... but nowadays all I can really do is send them off to buy a new one! The form feed rollers and teeth are often nowadays mainly plastic, very brittle, and the scantlings would make even an aircraft engineer wonder how they ever hold together long enough to even just print a few sheets of paper! A concentrated "form feeding session" by running 20 or 30 sheets through (without printing) just using the form feed might just do the trick, but only use paper fresh from the wrapper and to help smooth the flow, its best to "fan" the paper before inserting it into the printer as static can sometimes cause sheets to stick together and this confuses the roller sensors! Finally if all else fails its worth making a "cleaning sheet" (you won't find this procedure mentioned in the service manuals (if you can find one!) but it sometimes saves the day. Make sure the machine is set to A4 paper for Europe, or Letter for USA and take a single sheet of the appropriate size paper and crease it horizontally half way down, run the back of a knife along the crease to make it sharp...then open up the sheet and place it in the paper tray unfolded and with the pitch of the crease upper wards. Now run this through the machine using form feed and see if it can catch any detritis and help dislodge it or pull it out... You may need to do this several times. If all this lot fails then I'm afraid its either 1 live with it 2 Do a complete strip down and rebuild...allow at least 3 or 4 hours for this..... 3 Off to the shop and buy a new one! Regards paws

[Nahumi]

Hey paws, The 'concentrated form feeding session' seems to have done the trick. On the first go round it got stuck on a few pages and then just spat them out. On the second run it had no problems, same on the third. I did a 40 page blank print and that went completely fine too. I had a massive paperjam a few weeks ago, so I'm guessing it must have bent something out of place. Thanks very much everyone! WTT saves the day again.

[Doug]

Hi Nahumi I concur with Paws recommendations and his conclusions. Since your are presently dealing with a fresh installation of the printer onto a new/different machine, that would seem to rule out driver/settings problems, presuming that you have checked the settings as per Paws recommendations. The "strange noise" and now intermittent emergence of a blank page suggests mechanical problem with the printer paper feed. I have experienced even the tiniest scrap of paper, if lodged in the gearing or at the edge of the rubberized paper feed roller can cause a page to fail to advance, thus throwing the printer into an automated cycle to advance a fresh page before settling down to print the next page. Paper scraps and even dusty debris in the gearing/belt drive can cause the problem. Any such debris can rapidly accelerate wear-n-tear of gear/belt hardware. Do you see any accumulation of ink drippings, either below the length of print head transit or at the side where the print head "parks"? Ink does occasionally drip, and once resting on the bottom of the case is not generally a problem. But ink dripping can accumulate on the paper advance roller and in the gearing driver or belt at either end of the paper advance roller. I've had people ask type of solution to use for cleaning. Mostly, cleaning with solution is not advised. Especially not with any caustic solution such as alcohol, etc. Remember that printer ink is generally water soluble, and should be able to be cleaned with a dilute soapy water solution using only a damp q-tip. Inspect the rubberized paper advance roller. Accumulation of ink drippings might be noticeable as discoloration or shiny/slick splotches which could cause problem with paper feed. I have also noticed discoloration and problems if/when the user is printing two-sided copy, and feed the page back in before the ink on the first side is properly dry. sorry you are still struggling with this problem. Doug

[Doug]

Looks like my post was both late and unnecessary. Good work Nahumi.... and a big thank-you to Paws. Doug

[paws]

Thanks very much everyone! WTT saves the day again.

That's good to hear, Glad you got it fixed
Well done!

Regards
paws