Scanner error 5

It's a problem with the scanner unable to "see" its home sensor. The home sensor is a black & white film strip stuck onto the flatbed glass, just above where the scanner head homes. The printer needs to "see" the two little black 1mm square bumps in the white area. When the scanner head "homes", as it just disappears under the plastic it should move left and right as it looks at the home strip. If it keeps going and chatters at the right-stop it didn't see the home strip.

This can be caused by dirty mirrors, or lens in the scanner head (clean them);
Low or off color light (replace the bulb or high voltage power board on bottom of scanner head);
Broken, cracked, or loose scanner head ribbon cable (replace or repair);
Dirty or crooked home sensor film strip (I had one of these: the black & white film strip stuck to the flatbed glass was slightly crooked, it doesn't take much!)
Dirty slide bar (clean & oil);
Bad stepper motor, bad scanner PCBA (replace).

I'm on my second printer, and my third scanner 5 error. I had to write to the president of HP to get the replacement printer I'm using now. Agree this is a design error from my own experience with it. HP is sending yet another scanner unit as a replacement, but while waiting, we had some important docs that had to go out today, so I took the entire top off (lift off the ADF and unplug it, then unscrew all visible screws, pry off keypad, two more screws, lift off glass). I 'fiddled" with the scanner on its track while turning the unit off and on, pushing the scanner back and forth against its track. You can hear the gears slipping inside while doing all of this. Even though the scanner 5 error came back each time, when I put everything back together, it worked! Who knows for how long.

The machine has been discontinued, so don't let HP tell you they aren't having trouble with it. It's functionally excellent, but highly unreliable. Ironically I've never been able to install the software right with either the original or the replacement, so the scanner has never worked with my PC - we (HP and Norton) think Norton prevented some of the install, and the problem is so deep in the bios or wherever the hell it conflicted, I gave up trying a year ago. Software installed fine on my laptop, but first I stopped all Symantec services before installing, and that's how I can. The scanning software functionality is also pretty useless compared to other, cheaper products.

Whatever you do, don't pay for a repair. Either fight like hell with HP (multiple calls and letters to Mark Hurd, President), or buy another brand. I spent over a thousand to buy it, over $500 to repair it the first time, and probably more than a thousand in toner and drums.

Still thinking about whether I'll ever buy another HP after 20 years recommending them. Really too bad.

Try this one - it worked for me. None of the on/off business was successful as you know. The rattle seemed mechanical to me like the roller/gear was not engaged. I opened up the scanning lid, used a small allen wrench and pulled the screw at the left side of the frame that holds a 1 inch wide by 12 inch long piece of glass. I stuck my finger inside the housing and began to roll the gear/rubber belt to move the scanner bulb assembly towards the left side as far as you can go. Then, turn the machine off and on. That seemed to reset it.. so far so good. Everything is back to normal. I was ready to junk it... get physical instead! Good luck and let me know if that worked for you.

Regrind

I had the same problem exactly as others have described. scanner errors 5 and 6.
error 5 seems to be something to do with the glass being dirty. on mine, if i take the ADF and glass off I will get error 5. clean it and put it back on and error 5 goes away.
Unfortunately, error 6 came on.
1. i looked at the underside of the scanner mirrors and they had a clearly defined blue and pink lines. as the thing was junk anyway, i tried cleaning these mirrors. the lines came off easily.
2. i turned it off and unpluged it (why not). i moved the scanner to the left as others have described.
3. putting the glass cover back on and turning it back on and the error 6 has now gone away.
good luck.

This error partially because the reflect mirror and glass are not clean enough. As others say, open up and clean it may help. but not always.

Since there is another cause, major one, the light bulb getting old and not bright enough, this is a design flaw of most HP scanner, the light bulb has been turn on for too long, as default, 2840 will let light remain on 12hours(min you can adjust to 4hours, still too long), pretty much if you use the scanner or fax once a day, it'll be turned on whole day, this is for shorten waiting time for each use of scanner/fax. But all CCFL has a life limit(usually 10000hours, that's about year and 2 month). And in scanner, it's need a certain light temp, that means when the light not bright enough, scanner won't work properly, in scanner the ccfl's life will be counted 20%-50% less than LCD back light. At this situation, 2840 will not be able to stablely homing the scanner head--it use reflect light signal(there's a special black area under glass for this purpose) instead a light diode sensor to reduce cost. so the error 5 coming. When you clean the glass, it'll improve the light reflectivity, so may or may not help accroding the light bulb remaining life. Turn off CCFL(shout down 2840) for a while may get a little life back as all CCFL's chemical stuff may tired for long time working, that's the HP solution.

And in more worse situation, the scanner light bulb warming up won't finish as the the light bulb getting pink. in this stage, if you can change the light bulb (24cm long and 2.5/3mm in diameter as I remember), you can fix the problem without change whole Q3948-60191(flatbed unit)/Q3948-60210(SCANNER HEAD UNIT).

For longer time, it'll getting even worser, the light bulb won't be turned on any more, the warming up won't stop, and the scanner head will keep knock the end of scanner body to make clucking noise. That's because 2840 can't get any light signal feedback from scanner head, it'll let motor keep runing. For now, there're two possibles, one you luck, light bulb went away, change it, solve the problem, another just not luck, the some part on scanner head burned off, you have to change the whole scanner head or whole flatbed. that's because 2840 keep trying to warmming up the light bulb which need more current than regular working condition. those parts on scanner head are SMT almost can't fixed without proper tools.

Good luck

I ran into this article and thought I'd post. I have been repairing HP machines for several years and this was a new one for me. It is not a software issue, but it may be related to the cleanliness of the machine internals. The x,y position of the scanner arm is simply out of wack and will not calibrate.

As posted before simply remove the top scanner module, and then on the scanner face plate remove the star screws. Reach in and gently move the scanner arm to the center of the unit. This seems to make it recalibrate. I also blew the interior out with compressed air. What is causing the issue I do not know, but once again it is probably related to age or cleanliness of the internals.

Try this guys

clean under the glass unplug all of the wires and get a can of air spray and spray the leads and the adf plug in too. this worked for me, but I really didn't like paying the money I did for a problem that I believe HP program to help (IMP)

I have found the real problem of this machine, it's an engneer mistake from hp.After you take out the cover where the scanner ***. sits, look underneeth and check for 2 flat cable, take a close look at the widest one, look where the cable make a 90 degree, mine had a little cut, look's like burnt, the first wire in this flat cable was 98 percent cut, I have been able to fix it with tape, but it wont work a long time. The problem is that nothing hold down that wire , when the scanner pass over it over and over hem ake a mark on the side of that wire and after a while it cuts-it.

The cable doen't come alone, you gonna have to change the complete scanner. this only for a little double sided tape forgotten in the production ... when you want to do cheap you cut mon tape ?????

My suggestion if you have a lot of those, open-it up and go put a peace of good tape or a sticker to old the cables downs preventing damage.

Hope it will help you. Alain montreal

Yo resovi el problema.
deben sacar la base blanca donde esta montada la lampara el scanner, quitar la lampra, luego en el hueco donde va la lampara deben blanquear esa parte. yo lo hice utilizando jabon de fregar y brillo. con eso ya he resuelto tres equipo con exito.

My printer have an error scanner error 5. it says turn off then on. i tried many times, but it's still the same.

I had the same problem when I purchased a new laptop with Vista. I downloaded a driver from HP and then started getting the scanner error 5 message. It made those rattling noises. I went back to my old laptop, removed the 2840 program, and re-installed the program. When the printer initialized after this, there was no problem. You might try that.

Bill

Hay que cambiar el cristal del scanner ya que la banda de reconocimiento se movio y ya no se puede ajustar

For HP Scanner Support Call - 877-690-9305
or visit - http://hpsupport.us


Support For Hp Printer Call Toll Free 877 690 9305

You need to consult with the HP Support Just give a call (877-690-9305) to them Support For Hp Printer Call Toll Free 877 690 9305

As with Solution 9# lostman_1, clean thoroughly all areas with a good smear free glass cleaner,including track, then re-assemble. Hey Presto it working again without the error (for how long though!!)
Thanks lostman_1 you have saved me a few quid!!

Cheers
Dave

This worked for me- SAME EXACT PROBLEM BASICALLY
Try this one - it worked for me. None of the on/off business was successful as you know. The rattle seemed mechanical to me like the roller/gear was not engaged. I opened up the scanning lid, used a small allen wrench and pulled the screw at the left side of the frame that holds a 1 inch wide by 12 inch long piece of glass. I stuck my finger inside the housing and began to roll the gear/rubber belt to move the scanner bulb assembly towards the left side as far as you can go. Then, turn the machine off and on. That seemed to reset it.. so far so good. Everything is back to normal. I was ready to junk it... get physical instead! Good luck and let me know if that worked for you.

Had a tech come out to fix the "Scanner Error 5" problem.

He replaced the whole scanner top. Works fine now. (Until the warranty is up;) There is a built-in problem with this printer and the only fix is to pay for a whole new top end.

Buying another printer fixes the problem permanently. Bought a new HP inkjet network all-in-one printer with 2 year no-questions-asked replacement warranty for $200. Alot less money to operate also.

Clean the mirrors on the scanner if that does not work replace scanner assy.

I tried "Regrind"'s solution and it didn't seem to work. In frustration, I tried it again and the problem disappeared!!....at least for now. We'll see how long it lasts. Thanks Regrind, I was about ready to jetison the whole thing.
~Myron