hp deskjet 970 jammed

[Paul W.]

My venerable 970 is stuck... the power light and paper feed light are flashing simultaneously and the cartridge carriage is sometimes stuck on the left and sometimes on the right. It's very hard to describe, in a word it's simply erratic. When the carriage is on the left, I power off and power up, and then I get a grinding noise that lasts about a second. I've tried pulling the power cord and USB cable and letting the printer sit overnight but that didn't help. (I did search the forum and I couldn't find this problem experienced by other users.)

I'm running Windows 10 and the driver just simply appeared when I connected the printer. The printer wasn't recognized at all when I had Windows 7 but in Win 10 it was running fine for a while. It would make a rather loud "snap" or "crack" before printing, but then it would print just fine, even in duplex mode (I have the duplex module installed). Then suddenly it began to behave in this erratic mode. There's no paper jammed inside btw.

I tried to reset the printer using a tip I found somewhere: press the X button eight times, then the paper feed button four times, but no luck there.

Any ideas? Or is it time to put it out to pasture?!

 

[PeterBJ]

The HP Deskjet printers of the 900 series are very similar so these service manuals do also apply to your printer. I hope they will help you disassemble the printer to find and correct the error. Here you find a download of one zip archive that contains four manuals after unpacking. It is a bit difficult to find the proper link to click to download the manuals. It is located near the bottom of the page, see this:

The download is slow to start so have patience. Your "reset procedure" is the "TAP 84" test that prints a nozzle check pattern. You find this and other tests in the maintenance manual.

 

[Paul W.]

Thanks very much, Peter, but I think that's over my head... !

Paul

 

[PeterBJ]

Maybe this photo series will make it easier?

 

[Paul W.]

Excellent photos, makes it very clear. Plus, I know some French and it was fun to see the translations. J'ai bien compris les photos sans besoin de la traduction en anglais! (Sorry, just showing off!).

Paul

 

[The Hat]

(Sorry, just showing off!).

Pardon Paul, The instructions are also in English.

Merci....

 

[PeterBJ]

I wish you good luck with the repair.

I also have one of these old HP printers, a DJ930C. It is still going strong, and I have got 2 new OEM black and 2 new OEM colour cartridges for it as spares. Here is the result of the "Tap 84 test":

It is seen the black is not perfect, but you don't notice that in text print. To perform this test: With the printer turned on press and hold the power button. While still holding the power button first press and release the stop button 8 times and while still holding the power button press and release the paper feed button 4 times. Now release the power button and the printing of the nozzle check starts.

 

[Paul W.]

Peter,

Actually I also have a 932. Got it for $12 at a thrift shop and it was mint. The page count was only 188! It's been a real workhouse, but it can't do duplex printing - apparently that feature came in later models.

I also have a 6122, got that one for around $10 at a church rummage sale, in very nice condition. It worked fine in Windows 7, but now I'm in Win 10 and can't find a driver for it. (Sorry, I should create a new thread on that topic.)

@The Hat: I did see the English translation - but I was being a smart alec. Sorry, I don't know what got into me!

Thanks to both of you,

Paul

 

[Paul W.]

Well, fate intervened... I found another 970 in the garage and it looks like this one will work out for me. So, I think I'll put this thread to rest - and I do thank you all for helping me. I learned a lot, that's always a plus in these threads.

Best regards,

Paul