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I’ve had this error come up on several of the M401 printers we own, and nothing I try does anything to fix it. There’s no actual paper jam to clear, and changing the cartridge doesn’t have any effect. I haven’t had much luck using Google-fu to find an actual solution to this, either. Has anyone else run into this problem and figured out how to fix it?

@priscilla-hp

3 Spice ups
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Can you clear the “jam” at all by removing/opening the printer up or does it come right back?

Have you tired a FW update, compressed air inside to move/remove any debris that might be in it?

Just trying to see where your at, have you tried to Office Space it?

2 Spice ups
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Nope, jam is persistent. I haven’t tried updating the firmware, though I’d be a bit surprised if that actually fixed the problem.

2 Spice ups
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This sounds like you have peanut butter on a sensor. Find and clean the sensors in the paper path.

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It might be that one of the contacts is dirty,

Give them a nice cleaning

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Where would I find the locations of the sensors? I’m looking through the service manual and don’t see anything referencing sensors.

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The service manuals usually don’t have that info so I would google it. Another thing you might check is the rollers. If the rollers are picking the paper up, it can throw up a jam error.

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I just checked the current Control Panel Message Document from HP and the most likely causes are one of the sensor sticking, including the one in the back door at the back of the fuser assembly.

Is this a persistent error? Is it there even if you reboot or does the printer come to ready and then the error shows up after you try to print? An error that is present on reboot indicates a bad sensor or flag. A paperless jam that occurs when you try to print indicates either a bad roller or a broken feed shaft. If it will not print from tray 2 try to print from the MP tray. We have had a couple paper pickup feed shafts fail, major tear down to replace but you will usually have to purchase the whole pickup assembly.

1 Spice up
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I tried all of these suggestions including unplugging the power for 1 minute and nothing worked. After an hour I turned the unit (hp laserjet pro 400 m401dne) upside-down, shook the unit slightly, powered it up with the printer still upside down, and it worked. No more jam

1 Spice up
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Thank you, this worked for me after a week without printing

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Count me as a believer. Nothing worked until I flipped it upside down. We’ll see how long that lasts.

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I can also confirm that turning it upside down for an hour then powering it on worked. Made my day and that of the users I was helping who thought I’d gone insane. Almost as good as the “Final” hard drive solution which fixes (temporarily) drives with worn bearings which also worked for me the one time I tried it.

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Just to clarify…did all you guys / gals removed the toner cartridge beofore you turned it upside down or was it left inside the printer for this ?

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Flipping the printer… WOWWWWWWWWW…

I was stuck with the error and read about the flipping the printer… you wont believe what I saw… I flipped the printer (after removing cartridge off course) and shook it but then I noticed something, there was a small piece of paper stuck in between the shafts at the front end of the printer… removed it and voila…

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i have this issue, HP even replaced my original printer as their technician could not find the fault. The replacement one started doing it but out of warranty, so I took it apart. You won’t need to, it’s the flag at the rear of the printer, a small moving piece. The issue is toner has stuck to the flag and just makes it stick or fail to return to its correct location, the flag is a piece of plastic that moves easily pointed by my ballpoint pen), it’s basically a sensor to tell the printer paper has cleared the printing area. Just clear any toner and make sure it’s moving freely. Be very careful and you will see the flag and just see if it’s sticking or has toner on it. BE VERY CAREFUL, IF U BREAK THE FLAG UR PRINTER WILL BE USELESS.

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Having tried absolutely everything listed above, for me, it was simply a case of installing a new toner cartridge. I was at my wits end by this point. If I didn’t have a spare one lying about, I would probably have given up.

Only adding the info in case this helps someone else.

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Add me to the list of movers and shakers!
Upside down and 5-6 shakes and it has set off as normale.
I left the toner out to do this

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I am shocked…SHOCKED to report that the turn the printer upside down thing totally works. I’m so grateful I created an account here just so I could post this and thank @danmoore5 for this solution.

thank you thank you thank you

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For me it worked with toner cartridge still in the printer. I just flipped it upside down and magic happened. LOL