Before you start
- A lint-free cotton swab, distilled/filtered/bottled water and a flashlight.
Step 1:Check the stack before cleaning
Remove damaged, curled or mixed-size sheets. Load a neat stack of suitable paper and set the width guide against its edge without bending it. Avoid overfilling or pushing paper forcefully into the feed path. The video points out the guide and rear rollers; it does not establish an exact sheet capacity.
Step 2:Turn off and disconnect the printer
If loading checks do not help, turn the printer off and disconnect the power cord and other cables before reaching into the rear tray. Use a flashlight to locate the gray pickup rollers beneath the input-tray shield. Lift and hold the shield; do not remove it.
Step 3:Clean the gray pickup rollers gently
Lightly dampen a cotton swab with distilled, filtered or bottled water, then squeeze out excess liquid. Apply the swab to the gray rollers and rotate them upward gently to remove dust or dirt. Do not pour water into the printer or leave the rollers soaking.
Step 4:Let the rollers dry before reconnecting
Lower the shield and allow the rollers to dry completely, approximately ten minutes. Reconnect the cables and turn the printer on, then retry with correctly loaded paper. This is cleaning followed by drying—not printing while the rollers are wet to “reactivate” them.
Check whether a sheet feeds normally
The expected result is a clean, straight pickup without an Out of Paper error. The recording does not show a completed feed test after cleaning, so it is not a demonstrated successful repair. If the problem remains, use the applicable HP troubleshooting page or contact support.
