Lexmark Z51 cartridge carrier jam

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dudley Brooks
  • Start date Start date
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Dudley Brooks

Four seconds after I turn on my Lexmark Z51 the cartridge carrier slams
hard up against the opposite (left) side and makes a terrible grinding
noise for five seconds. Then the Power On/Off light flashes twice every
four seconds ("carrier jam", of course).

The manual says to turn the printer off and wait. However, I *can't*
turn it off -- pressing the Power On/Off button turns both lights on and
starts the whole process over again. The only way to turn it off is to
unplug it. But then plugging it in again also automatically turns both
lights on and starts the process over.

This happens whether the cartridges are installed or not, whether the
printer cable (parallel) is connected or not, and whether the computer
is on or not.
 
Dudley Brooks said:
Four seconds after I turn on my Lexmark Z51 the cartridge carrier slams hard
up against the opposite (left) side and makes a terrible grinding noise for
five seconds. Then the Power On/Off light flashes twice every four seconds
("carrier jam", of course).
Click to expand...

I am not familiar with the Z51, but generally the carriage position is guided
by a thin mostly clear encoder strip. If this becomes dislodged it could cause
the issue you describe. See the following for the general idea of what you are
looking for:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bpd50646
Ignore the part about cleaning, make sure the strip has not become dislodged.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Bob said:
I am not familiar with the Z51, but generally the carriage position is guided
by a thin mostly clear encoder strip. If this becomes dislodged it could cause
the issue you describe. See the following for the general idea of what you are
looking for:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bpd50646
Ignore the part about cleaning, make sure the strip has not become dislodged.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. It doesn't appear to be dislodged, in that it goes
straight across from a contact on one side of the inside of the case to
the corresponding contact on the other side. Can it be dislodged from
the back of the cartridge carrier? I can't see behind it very well, but
a protruding contact on the back of the carrier does seem to be pushing
it back slightly (which I assume *is* the correct behavior) and sliding
along it.

I tried cleaning it anyway, since the page you sited lists slamming to
the left side of the printer as one of the symptoms requiring cleaning.

The problem persists.
 
Dudley said:
Thanks for the info. It doesn't appear to be dislodged, in that it goes
straight across from a contact on one side of the inside of the case to
the corresponding contact on the other side. Can it be dislodged from
the back of the cartridge carrier? I can't see behind it very well, but
a protruding contact on the back of the carrier does seem to be pushing
it back slightly (which I assume *is* the correct behavior) and sliding
along it.
Click to expand...

Another source told me to pull the encoder strip slightly forward and
down, to re-seat it. This worked!
I tried cleaning it anyway, since the page you sited lists slamming to
the left side of the printer as one of the symptoms requiring cleaning.

The problem persists.
Click to expand...

Now it's fixed. Possibly the cleaning helped too, who knows. Thanks
for referring me to that site.
 
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