hp 4100 has problems with labels

[irv6744]

my 4100mfp printed labels fine until a few weeks ago.
i use avery 2" x 4" - two on a small sheet labels and load them on tray 1.
the label starts ok, prints and stops right under the toner cartridge.
i pull the toner cartridge and the labels are right there but they have not gone through the fuser so the ink smudges.
envelopes print fine from an envelope feeder as does letter paper.
what do i need to change to get my label printing back.
thanks

[Big Al]

I print a lot of labels both here and work and at home. If the tray one feed roller gets dusty or worn it will not feed the label stock. We use OOPS, an alcohol based solvent with some petroleum distilates and a little oil. It is designed to remove water based paint. Get it at anywhere that sells paint. It does refresh the rubber roller but will not make it like new. Should be easy to replace this roller once you get one.

There are some settings in the printer menu that may help too. We have a lady here that prints postcards and we experimented with the Paper Menu until we found a combination that worked. Any chance someone recently did a Cold Reset and these settings got changed?

Please let us know what you find.

Al

[irv6744]

i think the tray 1 pickup roller is ok since it does pick up the label and also picks up the envelope out of the envelope feeder as well as ltr size paper sometimes.

i am intrigued by your comments involving the paper menu.
i have never touched it but what are your suggestions in changing the paper menu settings to see if i can get the label through the printer.

where the label stops moving, underneath, there is a belt over two white rollers and one of the white rollers has rubber at either end.
i can't see how to remove the white rollers but could that belt have stretched out on me.

[cs_steve]

The belt you are seeing is called the small media belt; it keeps smaller paper sizes (like postcards, etc.) moving forward.

My first guess for this paper jam would be the fuser ... if you have a spare 4100 series printer around you can swap the fusers between these machines and see if the jamming goes away. Potentially a toner could also cause this, so if you have a spare toner I would swap that in.

[irv6744]

i tried changing the toner with no change.

if it is the fuser, why is it having problems only with the labels and not envelopes or ltr paper.
i don't have a fuser to swap out for a test so i would have to buy one.

in the meantime, i am noticing that the media belt under the toner cartridge in my lj 4050 is much wider than the one in my lj 4100 mfp.
i don't see any rubber garbage so i don't know if the belt in the lj 4100 has 'shrunk' or is the correct size.

if the media belt is my problem not getting my labels through the fuser, where do i get one.

[Big Al]

I do not have a 4100 here to look at. The paper size settings in the printing menu may have changed somehow and the printer is not seeing media at a sensor when it wants to. I know that when we print postcards we have to tell the printer what size media we are going to use. If this is the case then the envelopes and letter paper will not have a problem since they are longer. Have there been any changes made just before the problem started? I think, IMHO, that your issue is in the computer, not the printer. Is there another similar printer available that you can try this label job on? All the labels I print are on full size sheets so I am poking about in the dark on this one. Usually when some part of a printer gets worn or dirty it will be a gradual process of failures. When you put the maintenance kit in was the transfer roller changed? Has the brand of the labels been changed?

Al

[irv6744]

i am using an avery template to print the 2" x 4" label and never had a problem until one day, the labels just stopped going through the printer and stopping before they got to the fuser.
i followed your suggestion and checked the properties in my pcl 6 driver and the label printing was set to ltr paper.
so i defined a new paper size as label and entered the dimensions and tried it out but no joy.
like you i have no problem printing full sheets of labels but the mini-size labels just don't work anymore.
any other ideas that i can try.
is there a way to 'roughen up' the small media belt to see if that helps at all.
my logic tells me it has something to do with that belt since the label always stops right over the belt.
but then my logic has no experience so what do i know. :-)

[Big Al]

You do indeed have an interesting problem. There are two things that will cause this kind of jam: the media stops moving, possibly because the friction surfaces cannot move it properly; or the sensor is not seeing what it wants to see and shuts down the transport motors. If I had this problem I would clean the printer well with compressed air/gas then clean the media belt with OOPS or another rubber restorer, then if that did not help, change the media belt. Strange that the problem started suddenly. Get beyond this and I guess you would have to go looking for an electronic problem. Another thing might be to take all the paper out of the printer, load some labels in tray one and try an engine test. Sorry, I'm not sure where the engine test switch is on the 4100.

Al

[cs_steve]

Didn't realize you were using small labels rather a 8x1/2" by 11" sheet of labels. . . that probably is related to the small media belt. You can clean it or change it (big job to change it; you might want to have a tech do it).

[irv6744]

i checked and the belt is moving.

my next thing will be to change label brands.

if that doesn't work, i will figure out a work-a-around since i am not anxious to take the whole thing apart to change the belt.

[irv6744]

problem turned out to be the label brand itself.

i was using staples brand labels and they were hanging up in the printer.

i just tried an avery label and it went through the printer with no problem.

thanks for all the help.