Help with ornery HP OfficeJet K80

[Anne53]

My old HP OfficeJet K80--an all-in-one scanner, printer, fax, and copier--is misbehaving. It receives faxes, but I can't send them because I keep getting a message that says "Original loaded" even when nothing's loaded. I've looked online and read that with other similar machines, this message means that the Automatic Document Feeder's paper sensor has been moved out of its usual place and must be clicked back in alignment, but I can't find anything on the K80 that looks as if it could be clicked back anywhere. Incidentally, I use this machine only as a fax and copier. It isn't connected to my computer. Any advice?

[Big Al]

Sometimes I see this problem. Often it is something on the scanner glass or the white plastic strip that sits above the glass. Part of the sequence is to fire all the LED's or turn on the light. If there is something on the glass or the plastic strip then it thinks there is paper in the scanner. Usual culprits are correction fluid or black ink from marking pens. I do not have a K80 in the shop right now so that is the best I can do.

Big Al

[Big Al]

A K80 showed up here. There are two paper sensors on the scanner. Lift up the scanner cover and look from the rear of the machine. One is near the grey friction pad and the other is on the left side of the middle white plastic roller. It is a pretty big job to tear that scanner cover assembly apart. You have to get all the covers off, then disconnect the cables going to the scanner cover, then get the scanner cover disconnected from the frame. Then it looks like 11 screws hold it together. My experience with these is when you tear it down that far it often does not work when you get it back together. Hopefully one of these sensor levers is just stuck. If you could find a T-10 TORX wrench that is bent like an ALLEN wrench you might be able to get enough screws out to get in there and reset the sensor if that is what is wrong.

Big Al