HP Deskjet F4480 Troubleshooting

The printed text or image is skewed.

Make sure to stack all inserted blank pages in a uniform and straight order.

Paper should be pushed carefully into feed until it reaches the stopping point.

Make sure there is only one type and size of paper loaded.

To check that there is only one type and size, take out the paper and stack it so see if any pieces are sticking out.

Turn off the printer.

When the printer is turned back on, the realignment page will print.

Follow the printer’s instructions for aligning the printer.

If this does not work, print an extended self-test report to check that the HP All-in One is within skew tolerance.

For clear instructions and a video on how to print an extended self-test report and to check that it is within skew tolerance, click here.

Remove all paper from the paper tray assembly.

Open the rear access door.

Use a clean moist cloth to clean the paper feed rollers.

*Warning* If available, use distilled water. Tap water will work if you do not have distilled water. Do not use alcohol or cleaning agents containing alcohol.

*Note* You can press the green “Resume” button to rotate the rollers.

Close the back door and load the printer.

If all these steps do not work, you may need to replace the motor for your paper rollers. See here for the paper roller motor Installation Guide.

Every time you try to print or copy, the paper becomes jammed

Make sure to stack all inserted blank pages in a uniform and straight order.

Paper should be pushed carefully into feed until it reaches the stopping point.

You may have inserted too many blank pages in your printer feed.

Remove pages and try printing with just a few pages inserted.

Do not place any torn or folded pages into the feed.

Do not place any pages through the feed that have staples or paper clips attached.

Check your HP documents to ensure the paper type you are using is correct for the printer.

Carefully clean out any loose pieces of paper or objects that are stuck in your printer.

For clear instructions on how to remove scraps, click here

You may need to replace the motor for your paper rollers. For clear instructions on how to replace your paper rollers, click here.

Pressing “Scan” or “Copy” on the printer produces no results, or the printer does not produce acceptable prints and scans.

It is possible that the printer is not plugged in or turned on.

Plug printer into an appropriate wall outlet using the included cable.

Press power button until front panel is lit.

Before the printer can make a copy or a scan, it must be in the appropriate mode.

Power the printer off, then back on.

Select the “copy” or “scan” mode by pressing the appropriate button on the front panel.

In order to scan an image, the printer must be connected to a computer.

Connect printer to computer using a USB cable.

In order to copy an image, the printer must have paper in the paper tray.

If printer is out of paper, place a small stack of sheets in the empty paper tray and adjust tabs to keep paper properly aligned.

A quality print or scan requires a clean and unobscured scanning tray.

Open the top lid of the printer and make sure that the glass screen is clean. Also ensure that there are no foreign objects or extra papers on the screen.

Replace item to be scanned or copied and press “scan” or “print.”

If it is impossible to clean the glass, or if the glass is cracked or scratched, it will need to be replaced.

A guide for replacing this part can be found here

It is possible that the light used to scan the item is broken.

A guide for replacing this part can be found here.

The print is streaked, smeared, faded, missing colors, or otherwise unacceptable.

If you are using photo paper, ensure that the print side (often glossy or smoother) is faced down in the print tray.

*Note* Ensure that the paper is not wrinkled and does not have contaminates.

Smearing can be caused by paper that is not as absorbent as necessary.

The printer supports paper sizes that are from 3 to 8.5 inches wide and from 4 to 30 inches long.

Try testing a different paper type.

*Note* For text documents, the manufacturer recommends "plain paper with ColorLok technology." For photos they recommend their own "Advanced Photo Paper".

On your computer, go to the "printer properties" tab in the program you are using to print from. Ensure that the paper size and type match your paper as closely as possible, and try increasing the print quality settings.

The manufacturer recommends leaving the printer turned on, but inactive, for approximately 40 minutes to "rest”. This may give better quality prints.

Smears or "track marks" in text can be caused by dirty cartridges.

Use the printer's automatic clean cartridges function in the HP Solution Center. For step-by-step instructions on finding this function see: Clean Cartridge Tool.

If the automated cleaning did not fix the problem, manually clean the area around the ink nozzles, as explained here.

Low ink can cause faded results.

You may also have a damaged or defected ink cartridge.

To check and replace ink cartridges, see the Ink Cartridge Installation Guide.

The Printer will not connect to the computer.

It is possible that the printer is not plugged in or turned on.

Plug printer into an appropriate wall outlet using the included cable.

Press power button until front panel is lit.

The data cable from the printer to the computer could be disconnected or faulty.

Ensure the USB data cable is correctly connected into the back of the printer and a working USB port on your computer. If both ends of the cable are plugged in correctly, but the printer is still not connected, find a similar USB Standard A to USB Standard B cable and retest.

The computer could be not properly set up to send or receive data from the printer. The printer driver is a piece of software that allows the computer and the printer to communicate.

Under normal operation, the driver will install automatically. However, to install a fresh version of the driver, Visit HP’s website and download the driver for your HP Deskjet f4480.

You may have to replace your printer's motherboard or check if the wires connected to it are correctly plugged in. To do that, see our motherboard installation guide.