Corners on the Top of Page (Leading Edge) are Bent, Wrinkled, Crinkled, or Dog-eared

During printing, media may exit the printer with the corners on the leading edge bent, wrinkled, crinkled, or dog-eared. See Figure 1.

NOTE: Sometimes, this issue does not reoccur on every print job. In the following troubleshooting steps, the PRINT/STOP TEST and regular printing is used to isolate the root cause. If the defect does not reoccur consistently, perform the following troubleshooting steps several times to verify if the issue occurs before or after exiting the fuser.

Figure 1: Dog-eared fold on the leading edge of a Configuration Page

Parts required (part numbers are subject to change)

Image Fuser Kit (110v)*
RG5-6493-080CN or C9660-69009

Paper pickup assembly*
RG5-6468-000CN

Cassette (Tray 2)*
RG5-6476-080CN

Image Transfer Kit (ETB)*
RG5-6484-000CN or C9660-69004

Perform the following steps to isolate the cause. Start by isolating the trays to see what tray(s) are showing the issue, then perform the PRINT/STOP TEST to verify if the fuser is contributing to the issue.

Perform the PRINT/STOP TEST to isolate the fuser as the cause. To perform the test, do the following:

Press (Down arrow) to DIAGNOSTICS then press (Select).

Press (Down arrow) to PRINT/STOP TEST then press (Select).

Enter 2500 for the milliseconds value by using (Up arrow) to increase the value or (Down arrow) to decrease the value.

Press (Select).

Print a one-page test page like the SUPPLIES STATUS PAGE. The page will stop on the Electrostatic Transport Belt (ETB) before entering the fuser. Take note if the page is laying skewed or crooked on the ETB.

Remove the test print and inspect the leading edge of the page for any wrinkling or bent corners. If the page is damaged, consider replacing the applicable tray and Paper Pickup Assembly.

Print again, without using the PRINT/STOP TEST. If the page exits with the page damaged, only replace the fuser. If the leading edge is damaged in both scenarios (before and after entering the fuser), replace fuser, Paper pickup assembly, and the tray.

NOTE: Stand behind the printer when printing and observe the print job exit the fuser into the top output bin. As the page exits the fuser, it will shift to the left. See Figure 2 for direction of the paper's movement.

Figure 2: Possible movement of paper as it exits from the fuser (when standing behind the printer)

Test print a simplex and a duplex sample to isolate the fuser and ETB. If a simplex test print appears normal, but only a duplex print job has bent or wrinkled corners, replace the fuser and ETB.

© 2005 Hewlett-Packard