HP Photosmart c3180 Troubleshooting

Chronic feeding problems or jams

There is a simple 13 minute video giving the steps to fix a paper jam that can be found here. HP also has a step by step guide here.

Damaged or dirty feed rollers can draw paper into the printer unevenly and cause jams. For instructions on cleaning or replacing the feed rollers click here.

Printed images are smeared, lined, or misaligned.

If the printer prints poor quality prints than your ink cartridge track, which holds your ink cartridges as they slide, may be dirty or damaged. There are instructions on cleaning the cartridge rod here. If your still experiencing trouble after you cleaned the track instruction on replacing your ink cartridge track can be found here.

If the printer prints misaligned images or does not print anything, the Encoding Strip could be to blame. For instructions on replacing your encoding strip click here.

Copies and scans look hazy or grainy

Dirty scanner glass or lid backing can cause smudging and spotting.There is a simple 4 step process in cleaning the scanner glass and 6 step process in cleaning the lid backing here.

If your scanner glass is scratched or needs replacing, follow the instructions here.

A broken scanner lamp can either result in an error message on your printer or a scan of nothing. You should be able to see light when when you scan or copy a page. For instructions on replacing your scanner lamp click here.

A faulty control panel circuit can lead to the printer not responding when the buttons on the top panel are pressed. For instructions on replacing your control panel circuit click here.

If the printer ink cartridges don't move or move to the wrong positions while printing then the driver motor may by damaged. For instructions on replacing you driver motor click here.

A faulty main circuit board can lead to many problems with the printer from being unresponsive to having poor quality prints or scans. This should be the last component to replace. For instructions on replacing you logic board click here.