A printer paper jam on a laser printer almost always comes from one of five things: paper that is damp, curled or the wrong weight; a badly loaded tray; dirty or worn pickup rollers; a torn scrap left behind by an earlier jam; or a worn part such as the fuser. Clear the sheet in the direction it travels, then fix the cause for that jam location.
Start with the location your printer reports: where the sheet stops tells you why it stopped.
How to fix a paper jam in a printer safely
These steps apply to HP, Brother, Canon and Xerox desktop lasers; follow your control panel's animation for the exact door.
- Read the message first. Note the location the printer reports (tray, inside, rear, duplex/2-sided, output). Do not open every door at once; you can pull a sheet the wrong way.
- Let the fuser cool. The fuser sits behind the rear door and runs hot enough to burn skin. HP and Brother both warn to let it cool before reaching in; give it 10 minutes after a long print run.
- Open the reported door. For a jam inside the printer, remove the toner cartridge (HP) or the toner and drum assembly (Brother "Jam Inside"), and set it on a sheet of scrap paper away from bright light.
- Pull slowly, with both hands, in the direction of paper travel. Pulling backward against the rollers tears the sheet and can bend sensor flags. Never use tweezers, pliers or a knife in the paper path.
- Find every fragment. Shine a flashlight along the paper path, especially at the fuser entrance and around the black transfer roller under the cartridge. A scrap the size of a postage stamp will cause the next jam.
- Reinstall and close everything. Push the cartridge or drum in until it seats, close all doors fully and reinsert trays firmly. Some models ask you to press Start, Retry or OK to clear the message.
- Print a test page from the same tray that jammed, so you know the fix held.
What the jam message is telling you
Printers name the jam by the sensor that stopped seeing the sheet on time. Brother's messages are typical: on the HL-L2350DW-class mono lasers, "Jam Tray" means the paper is jammed in the indicated tray, "Jam Inside" means it is jammed inside the machine, "Jam Rear" means it is in the back of the machine, and "Jam 2-sided" means it is in the 2-sided (duplex) paper tray (see Brother's error message list). HP LaserJets name the door or tray on screen, and LaserJet Pro and Enterprise models add a jam event code that starts with 13 (for example 13.B9 codes for the rear door and fuser area on the LaserJet Pro M501).
| Jam location | Typical message | Most likely cause | First fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper tray / pickup | Jam Tray, Jam in Tray 2, misfeed | Overfilled tray, loose guides, damp or curled paper, glazed pickup roller | Reload a fresh, flexed stack below the fill mark; clean the pickup roller |
| Cartridge area / inside | Jam Inside, cartridge area jam | Torn fragment, cartridge or drum not fully seated, label backing stuck inside | Remove cartridge (and drum), clear scraps, reseat until it clicks |
| Fuser / rear door | Jam Rear, rear door or fuser area jam | Heavy, glossy or coated stock on the plain-paper setting; labels or envelopes; worn fuser | Set the correct paper type; use the rear straight-through output |
| Duplexer | Jam 2-sided, duplex jam | Light or damp paper curling after side one; media not rated for duplex | Use 20 lb / 75 g or heavier dry paper; print envelopes and labels one-sided |
| Output bin | Output or exit jam | Full output tray; sheet lifted before it fully exited | Empty the bin; wait for the page to drop |
Laser printer paper jam causes, by location
At the tray: misfeeds and double feeds
Most laser printer paper jams start at the tray. The pickup roller has to grab exactly one sheet and the separation pad or roller has to hold back the rest. That fails when the stack sits above the fill tabs, when the side and rear guides are loose (the sheet skews) or too tight (it buckles), when two paper sizes or weights share one tray, or when the top sheets have absorbed moisture and curled.
HP's own LaserJet guidance has a detail most jam guides get wrong: do not fan the paper. Fanning creates static that makes sheets stick together. Instead, flex the stack into a U shape in both directions, rotate it 180 degrees and flip it over, then square it on a table. In humid rooms, remove the top 5 to 10 sheets before printing, because they absorb the most moisture. Keep reams sealed until you need them.
If the tray still misfeeds with fresh paper, look at the pickup roller above the tray. A shiny, hard-looking roller has glazed and lost its grip. Wipe it with a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water (never spray liquid into the printer) and let it dry. If it is cracked or still slick, it needs replacing; on office models the pickup and separation rollers are inexpensive maintenance parts.
Inside, at the cartridge
A sheet that stops under the cartridge usually hit an obstacle: a cartridge or drum that is not fully seated, an orange shipping clip or tape left on a new cartridge, a fragment stuck on the transfer roller, or a label that peeled off its backing on an earlier job. Remove the cartridge, check for packaging pieces, clear the path and reseat it. A genuine HP 58A in a LaserJet Pro M404dn slides in and locks with a positive click; on a Brother HL-L2350DW, the TN760 toner must click into the DR730 drum before the assembly goes back in. Do not touch the transfer roller with your fingers; skin oil causes print defects.
At the fuser or rear door
The fuser melts toner into the paper with a heated roller and a pressure roller. Sheets jam or wrap here when the stock is too heavy, glossy or coated for the paper-type setting, when label adhesive softens in the heat, when an envelope flap opens, or when the fuser itself is worn. Set the paper type in both the tray settings and the print driver, use only labels and envelopes made for laser printers, and send heavy stock out through the rear straight-through output when your model has one. If the toner on these pages also smears, see our guide to toner smearing and fusing problems.
In the duplexer
For two-sided printing the sheet goes through the fuser, reverses and travels back for side two. Paper that is light, damp or already curled from the heat of the first pass loses stiffness and jams on the way back. Use dry 20 lb (75 g/m²) or heavier copy paper for duplex jobs, keep envelopes, labels and card stock to one-sided printing, and on Brother models pull out both the paper tray and the 2-sided tray completely when you clear a "Jam 2-sided" message.
At the output
Exit jams are usually a full output bin or a sheet pulled before it finished leaving the printer. Empty the bin and, if your printer has a fold-out paper stop, open it for long paper sizes.
Printer says paper jam but there is no paper
A "phantom" jam means a sensor still thinks paper is present or a door is open. Work through these in order:
- Look again with a flashlight. A thin strip torn off the edge of a sheet often hides under the fuser entrance or in the duplex path.
- Check that every door, the drum assembly and all trays are fully closed and seated.
- Look for a sensor flag (a small plastic lever in the paper path) that is stuck in the "paper present" position. Move it gently with a fingertip only; if it is broken, the printer needs service.
- Turn the printer off for 30 seconds and back on. On many Brother models, the message clears after the jam is removed and you press Start or Retry.
Paper choices that prevent jams
| Paper problem | Why it jams | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Damp or opened reams stored near a wall or floor | Moisture makes sheets curl and stick | Store sealed, off the floor, at room temperature |
| Very light paper (below 20 lb / 75 g/m²) | Too limp for duplex and long paper paths | Use standard 20–24 lb laser or copy paper |
| Inkjet photo or coated paper | Coating reacts to fuser heat | Use paper marked for laser printers |
| Labels with gaps or exposed backing | Labels peel off inside the fuser | Laser-rated labels, full sheets only, one pass |
| Previously printed or recycled-from-printer sheets | Curl from the first pass through the fuser | Use fresh sheets for duplex and important jobs |
| Mixed sizes or weights in one tray | Rollers and guides can only hold one stack | One stock per tray, matched to the tray setting |
Can a toner cartridge or drum cause paper jams?
Rarely on its own, but it can contribute. A cartridge or drum that is not fully seated sits slightly in the paper path. A cartridge that leaks (cracked seal, or an overfilled refill) coats rollers with loose toner so they slip, and toner on the paper can make sheets stick in the fuser. If you find loose toner inside the printer, clean it with a dry cloth or a toner-rated vacuum, never a household vacuum, and replace the leaking cartridge. On printers with a separate drum such as the HP LaserJet Pro M203 and the HP 32A imaging drum, make sure the drum's locking levers are fully engaged after you clear a jam.
When the jam is a hardware problem
If jams keep happening in the same place with fresh paper, clean rollers and correct settings, a part is worn. Common culprits are the pickup and separation rollers, a paper feed kit, the fuser, or a broken sensor flag. Some printers tell you directly: Brother's HL-L3210CW, HL-L3230CDW and HL-L3270CDW color lasers show "Replace PF Kit1" when the tray's paper feeding kit reaches about 50,000 pages, and "Replace Fuser" for the fuser, both handled by Brother customer service or an authorized service center (see Brother's periodic maintenance parts page). On office printers these parts are worth replacing. On small personal printers, compare the repair quote with the cost of a new printer and its cartridges before you decide.
A paper jam is also a good moment for routine care. Our quarterly laser printer maintenance checklist covers roller cleaning and paper storage, and the step-by-step guides for HP LaserJet and Brother printers show how to seat cartridges correctly.
The short version
Clear the jam slowly in the direction of travel, find every scrap, then match the fix to the location: tray jams are paper and rollers, inside jams are seating and scraps, rear jams are media and the fuser, duplex jams are paper weight and moisture. If the same jam returns with fresh, flexed, correctly set paper, a roller or the fuser is worn. And if a cartridge in the jam area turns out to be leaking, a factory-sealed genuine replacement from GS TONER ships free in the US, with same-day dispatch on orders placed before 2 PM ET.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my printer keep saying paper jam when there is no paper?
A sensor still detects paper or a part is not seated. Look for a thin torn strip at the fuser entrance or in the duplex path with a flashlight, make sure every door, tray and the drum assembly is fully closed, check that no sensor flag is stuck, then turn the printer off for 30 seconds and back on.
How do I fix a paper jam in my printer?
Read the jam location on the display, let the fuser cool, open the reported door, and pull the sheet slowly with both hands in the direction the paper travels. Remove every torn fragment, reseat the cartridge or drum, close all doors and print a test page from the same tray.
Should I fan paper before loading it in a laser printer?
HP advises against fanning because it creates static that makes sheets stick together. Flex the stack into a U shape in both directions, rotate it 180 degrees, flip it over and square it on a flat surface before loading it below the fill mark.
Can a toner cartridge cause a paper jam?
Rarely on its own. A cartridge or drum that is not fully seated can obstruct the paper path, and a leaking cartridge can coat rollers with toner so they slip. Reseat the cartridge, clean loose toner with a dry cloth or toner-rated vacuum, and replace a leaking cartridge.
Is it safe to pull jammed paper out of the fuser?
Yes, once it has cooled. The fuser gets hot enough to burn, so wait about 10 minutes, then pull the sheet slowly in the direction of travel. Never use tools inside the fuser area, and if the sheet is wrapped around a roller, call for service rather than forcing it.
