Paper Tray is Stuck in Universal or Another Incorrect Paper Size

For Lexmark Printers:

The printer uses a sensor assembly to measure what size paper is loaded in the paper tray. There is no way to override this auto-size sensing feature on the printer. You can, however, change the paper size setting on the paper tray by moving the green paper stop to the correct position along the back left area of the tray. Follow the instructions below. You should first check all of the tray settings by printing a Print Menus page.

To do so:
Press the left (<) or right (>) arrow Menu button on the operator panel. The printer should cycle through its menus.
Cycle through the printer menus until you find Utilities Menu. (With the Optra S series, look for Tests Menu.)
Press the Select button.
Cycle through the second level of choices until you find Print Menus.
Then press Select. The Print Menus page should print out.
If the display tells you to change paper, press Select or Go to print the Print Menus page.
Look under the first column for PAPER MENU and examine the settings for the tray mentioned in your error message.

If the printer is reading the wrong paper size for a tray, make sure the green paper size guide is in the correct slot (groove). The paper size guide rides along a track with small grooves on it at the bottom of the tray. If you look closely, you will notice that some of the grooves are larger than others. The larger grooves correspond to the STANDARD paper sizes like Legal, Letter, Executive, etc. If the guide is in one of the smaller notches/grooves, the tray will be read as Universal paper size. Make sure that your size guide is in one of the larger grooves, with the arrow on its left end pointing at the paper size you are using.

Examine the diagram below. If the printer is reading the wrong-sized paper, the paper stop (C ) in the tray may need to be moved.
Remove the tray and adjust the paper stop (C) by squeezing the thumb release latch (B) and then sliding the paper stop until the arrow is pointing at the correct paper size (A) along the side of the tray, as shown.
Then re-insert the tray.
Print the Print Menus page again.

If the paper tray is still not showing the correct paper size with the size guide in the correct position, there may be a problem with the paper stop slider on the tray.

The printer uses a sensor assembly to read the paper size through the position of three pegs on the left-hand side of the tray.

Pull out your paper tray and look along the left wall of the tray. You should see these three little pegs. (Their location is circled in red in the picture below.) Depending on the position of your paper guides, the pegs can be in or out.
Note: If your paper tray does not have three individual pegs but has one solid plastic bar/tab instead, it is called a "Universally Adjustable Tray". The paper in this type of tray will be read ONLY as Universal paper size, and there is no printer setting you can adjust to change this.

Now, look into your printer, at the area where the tray goes in. Along the left wall you will see three or four little metal fingers/bands. The size registered on the printer for that tray depends on which fingers are pressed in by the pegs.
Check whether any of the metal fingers look damaged or bent.
To see if the green paper size guide is still working, take out the paper tray and remove the paper.
Hold the tray sideways so that the three pegs on the left side are pointing outwards.
Move the green paper size guide all the way to the front and all the way to the back. If the pegs do not change position at all, the green guide may have become separated from the other guide that controls the position of the pegs (see step 7 below).
Turn the tray over. On the underside of the tray, you should see a green T-shaped piece extending over to the right edge of the tray. This is the paper size guide. Inside the slit on the right edge of the tray, there is a second guide (tan-colored or the same color as the paper tray) that controls the movement of the little pegs - the paper stop slider. This second guide has a notch into which the arm of the green guide fits. The green guide can sometimes snap out of the tan-colored guide that is used to move the pegs.

If the two guides have become separated, use the end of a pen to raise the green guide gently, just enough to allow the slider to pass underneath it, and then let the green piece drop into the notch. Now when you move the paper stop, the paper stop slider should move along with it, enabling your printer to sense the paper size correctly.
Turn the tray right side up (for loading paper) and move the paper stop to the correct location.
Locate the blue thumb piece that is used to lock the green guide into place. Make sure the foot on the bottom of the blue piece goes into the correct(rectangular) hole at the bottom of the tray. (The holes on the bottom of the tray correspond to the defined paper sizes: A4, Letter, Legal.)
When you put paper back into the tray and reinsert the tray into the printer, the correct paper size should be displayed. If not, there may be a problem with the sensor and the printer will need to be serviced.

NOTE: If you have trouble understanding the preceding instructions and you have access to another (working) paper tray, it may be helpful to look at that tray. Remove the paper and look at the tray upside down. Move the green size guide while watching the pegs. You should see how they rise and fall as the guide moves the paper stop slider under them.

If the printer still cannot read the correct size of the paper installed in the tray, it may need to be looked at by a technician. The sensor board that is supposed to read the paper size pegs may not be working.