5 things to do when your copier jams

When a copier paper jam happens, don’t panic. Fortunately, a copier paper jam is a lot easier to remedy with today’s smart copy machines. A little patience goes a long way to prevent a copier paper jam and to fix paper-clogged equipment.

Let’s take a look at 5 things to do when your copier jams.

Read the display of your copier

It will usually tell you why your machine has stopped working correctly. It may say something like “machine jammed j0501”. Every word and character is very important and has meaning to your service tech. Another example could be something like “paper size mismatch” which leads the end-user to think the machine is jammed somewhere but that’s not actually what has happened. In this case, the paper never left the paper tray but it looks like the machine is jammed. It simply means that the job you requested on letter-sized paper is trying to print from a tray that has a different size of paper in it. When you place your service call with your service company it is very helpful to communicate that information which could lead to getting your copier issue resolved much faster.

Don’t assume it's a copier issue

If you have trouble printing a document from an application like word, excel or your company’s proprietary software, don’t immediately assume it is your copier. Try to print from a different application like your email or any other application to see if things print normally from those apps. If so, you may have a problem with your original software application which may be able to be corrected with a software update or by changing settings in that application or the print driver.

Check your network connection

How many times have you hit the print button and absolutely nothing happens. No error messages, no error lights, and most certainly no print job. Check to see that your network cable is connected to your copier and the network jack in the wall. Sometimes it will appear that the cable is there and is connected, but on closer inspection, the cable is not completely locked into the socket on the copier or the wall jack. Or the cable is damaged and is difficult to see the damage. Disconnect and re-connect your cable at both ends and to be certain, replace the cable and see what kind of results you get. If that didn’t fix anything, you might have a network or server issue preventing you from printing. This might require a phone call to your IT rep to see if this is the case.

Be clear with your service technician

If your machine jams and you attempt to remove the jam on your own, make sure to tell your service tech that you tried to remove the jam but didn’t get the whole piece of paper out. A tiny piece of paper can cover a sensor or block the paper path and can be very frustrating to find without knowledge of its existence.

Know your copier equipment language

Sometimes more serious issues arise with copiers than just a paper jam. This is where reading the language on the screen becomes very important. There are J codes, C codes, E codes, F codes, and a few others that will occasionally show up on your display. Communicating this information to your service tech could make all the difference in how quickly your copier can be back up and running. For example, a “C6000” code is a problem code for the fuser component of the copier and must be replaced to get your copier back up and running. With that information, your service tech would make sure to bring a fuser with him to resolve that issue right away upon arrival.

If  you have a copier issue or breakdown, we fix it in one visit. We have thousands of dollars of parts and equipment in EVERY service technicians vehicle. That allows us to make most repairs in a single visit – getting you back to full productivity ASAP.