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HP DeskJet / ENVY E0–E9 Error Codes: Every Code Explained

HP Printer display showing GUIDE — FixCode Guide error code graphic

On HP's small DeskJet, ENVY and Smart Tank printers there is no screen big enough for a sentence, so the printer speaks in a blinking letter and a single digit: E0 through E9. This guide decodes every E code exactly as HP's own user guides define it — including the two places where the same digit honestly means different things on cartridge models and tank models — and gives HP's documented remedy for each, in HP's order.

Safety first. LaserJet safety is dominated by two things owners underestimate: mains electricity inside the covers, and the fuser. The fuser runs hot enough to fuse toner to paper and stays hot after the printer stops — HP's own fuser-error procedure builds in a cool-down (power off and wait at least 25 minutes before retrying on a 50.X that persists) — so never reach into the fuser area to pull a jam immediately after printing, pull jammed paper gently and in the direction of travel rather than tearing it backwards, and let a printer that smells of scorching cool, powered off, before investigating. Toner is a fine powder: avoid breathing it, vacuum spills only with a toner-rated vacuum (a household vacuum's filter passes toner and its motor can be damaged by it), and wash spilled toner off skin with cold water — hot water sets it. On all HP printers: unplug before any covers-off work, never defeat cover interlocks to watch the mechanism run, and treat formatter, power-supply and fuser replacement as service work. Ink models add small cautions of their own — do not leave cartridges out of the printer for more than 30 minutes (HP's warning in its contact-cleaning steps), and never press down on a closed printhead latch on ink-tank models (HP flags this in its carriage-jam steps).

How to read an E code (and why the blinking lights are part of it)

On the DeskJet 2700, DeskJet Plus 4100 and their ENVY siblings, the display that normally shows the number of copies becomes the error display: the letter E appears at the left and a digit blinks beside it — if the copies icon changes to a number blinking together with the letter E, the printer is in an error state, and the letter and number together are the error code, in the guides' own framing. But the digit alone is not the whole message: HP's table pairs every E code with a light pattern — which of the Resume and Ink Alert lights is blinking, whether an ink-level icon is blinking, and on Smart Tank models which CMYK icons are lit. The lights are how you tell a cartridge problem (Ink Alert blinking with an ink icon) from a paper problem (Resume blinking). Read all three elements before acting: the letter, the digit, and the lights. One more decoding aid is free: HP's guides direct you to the HP Smart app or the printer software for E0, because the app shows the same fault as a sentence. On any E code, opening HP Smart first is legitimate diagnosis — the app often names the specific cartridge or condition the single digit cannot. Finally, keep the platform split in mind: E0-E6 are defined identically in the DeskJet 2700 and DeskJet Plus 4100 guides, while E7-E9 take their published definitions from the Smart Tank line. Where a meaning is platform-bound, the section says so.

E0 — a problem with the indicated cartridges

HP's table for E0 (E and 0 blinking, one or both ink-level icons blinking, Ink Alert light blinking) reads: 'There is a problem with the indicated cartridges. Check for an error message in the HP Smart app or in the printer software and resolve it by following the on-screen instructions.' HP's community answers for the same DeskJet and ENVY models give the plain-language expansion owners actually need: E0 indicates an unusable cartridge — the condition occurs when at least one ink cartridge needs attention, is faulty, incorrect, missing, damaged, or incompatible. Those two statements together are the complete HP definition, and they shape the fix order. First, identify which cartridge: the blinking ink-level icon is the indicator, and the HP Smart message usually names the fault more precisely (a cartridge that is missing reads differently from one that is incompatible). Second, do the physical basics before buying anything: reseat both cartridges until each clicks, and clean the cartridge contacts (HP's documented care: a lint-free cloth, slightly dampened with distilled water for stubborn cases). Third, restart the printer — HP's E0 answers include a restart after reseating and cleaning — and only then replace the indicated cartridge if the code persists. One E0 pattern deserves specific mention: an E0 arriving right after a cartridge change is a seating or compatibility story until proven otherwise — refit the old cartridges, if you still have them, as a test.

E1 — the paper is narrower than the job expects

E1 is the most misunderstood code in the series because owners meet it with a sheet half-fed and assume a jam. HP's definition (E and 1 blinking, Resume light blinking) is a settings detection, not a mechanical fault: 'The printer receives a printing job, starts feeding paper, and detects that the paper width for the printing job is bigger than the width of the loaded paper.' The printer measured the loaded stock against the job's paper-size setting and stopped because they disagreed. HP's remedy has two halves. To clear the immediate state: press either the Resume button or the Cancel button to cancel the printing job and eject the paper. To prevent recurrence, do one of the following before printing: change the paper size setting for the printing job to match the paper loaded, or remove all paper from the input tray and load paper that matches the paper size setting for the printing job. The guides add that the default paper size the printer auto-detects can be changed in settings. E1's common triggers are an A4 job sent to Letter-loaded paper (or the reverse), a wide photo format over narrow stock, and a driver default that silently differs from the paper in the tray. If E1 repeats on jobs you believe are correctly set, check the application's page setup and the driver's defaults — the printer is reporting a mismatch it genuinely detects.

E2 — the paper is shorter than the job expects

E2 is E1's sibling on the other dimension (E and 2 blinking, Resume light blinking). HP's definition: 'The printer receives a multipage printing job, detects that the paper length for the printing job does not match the length of the loaded paper, and then prints out the first page of the job with errors.' Note the asymmetry with E1: a width mismatch stops the job at feed, while a length mismatch lets the first page print — wrongly — and then reports itself, because the printer only discovers the length disagreement as the page travels. HP gives you a genuine choice at the moment E2 appears: press the Cancel button to cancel the printing job, or press the Resume button to continue printing the remaining pages — with HP's explicit warning that the remaining pages will have the same errors as the first page. Continuing is occasionally the right call (a draft you only need to read), but for anything that matters, cancel and fix the mismatch: as with E1, either change the job's paper size setting to match the loaded paper or load the paper the job expects, and remember the guides' tip that the printer's automatically detected default paper size can be changed in settings. The classic E2 setup is a Legal-length document (or a long form) sent to Letter-loaded paper, or a multipage job whose later pages are a different size in the source application. An E2 on a single-page job is worth a look at the tray guides: skewed or not-fully-home paper can be measured short, and re-squaring the stack is a fair test.

E3 — the carriage has stalled

E3 (E and 3 blinking, Resume and Ink Alert lights blinking) is the series' first mechanical code. HP's DeskJet Plus 4100 table defines it in one sentence: 'The carriage inside the printer has stalled.' HP's support flow for the same code calls it a carriage jam and works it as one. The carriage is the shuttle that carries the cartridges across the page; a stall means it cannot complete its travel, and the causes HP's steps hunt are physical: crumpled paper in the carriage path, a dislodged label or debris, packing material never fully removed on a new machine, or a carriage docked hard at one side that cannot start. Work it in HP's order. Open the cartridge access door and make sure the carriage is not obstructed — look along the whole path with a torch if needed, and remove anything you find, however small. Move the carriage to the right by hand (HP's table instruction), confirming it travels freely to both sides; if your model has a carriage latch, make sure it is closed — with HP's caution for ink-tank models that if the latch is closed you must not press down on it. Close the access door and press the Resume button to continue printing. If the stall persists on a proven-clear path, HP's next step is the family power reset (60 seconds disconnected, direct to a wall outlet), because a carriage error can outlive its cause. A carriage that physically will not move, or an E3 that returns immediately on a clear path with a free-moving carriage, is where HP's flow ends: service.

E4 — a paper jam

E4 (E and 4 blinking, Resume light blinking) is the paper jam code: HP's table says simply 'There is a paper jam. Clear the jam, and then press the Resume button to continue printing.' The brevity hides the real work, which is finding all of the jam. HP's fuller jam guidance for these models sends you through every access point, because a DeskJet's paper path has more hiding places than owners expect: the input tray area, the output area, inside the cartridge access door, under the paper path cover where fitted, and around the duplex rollers on models that have them. Pull jammed paper out gently and in the direction of travel; a sheet torn in half during removal leaves its second half behind as tomorrow's identical E4. The case HP's community answers spend the most time on is 'E4 but I can't find any jam': the jam may be a scrap — a torn corner, a label, a fragment from an earlier jam — rather than a sheet, so inspect with a torch along the whole path; a false jam reading can also be cleared by cancelling (press Cancel and let the printer attempt its automatic clear), and by the family reset (60 seconds disconnected, direct to a wall outlet). HP's E4 answers also include reseating and cleaning the cartridges and checking firmware — a machine that has jammed and been cleared roughly can misread its cartridges and present as a jam. If E4 persists with a provably clear path, clean rollers and reseated cartridges, the remaining suspect is the jam sensor itself — and that is service.

E5 — the scanner is not working (but the printer still prints)

E5 (E and 5 blinking, all lights on the control panel blinking) is defined identically in the DeskJet Plus 4100 guide and the Smart Tank 7000 guide: 'The scanner is not working. Turn off the printer, and then turn it on again. If the problem persists, contact HP. The printer still prints even if the scanner is not working.' That last sentence is the most useful in the whole E-series table, and owners routinely miss it: E5 disables scanning and copying (the copy function needs the scanner), but printing from a computer or phone continues. HP publishes no deeper owner procedure for E5 — no scanner reset sequence, no user part — and this guide says so rather than inventing one. Work the one documented step properly: a full off-and-on, and if you want to be thorough, the family power reset (disconnect with the printer on, 60 seconds, direct to a wall outlet) is consistent with HP's treatment of its sibling codes. Check the obvious physicals while you are there: scanner lid fully closed, nothing wedged in the hinge. Then make the practical decision E5 offers: a household that prints and rarely scans can book the repair at leisure, while a household that copies daily has a service call. What not to do is chase E5 with cartridge changes or jam hunts — the code is specific, the scanner is a separate mechanism from the print engine, and HP's definition leaves no overlap to explore.

E6 — the printer is in an error state (HP's unspecific code)

E6 (E and 6 blinking) is where the E-series runs out of specifics: both the DeskJet guide and the Smart Tank guide define it as 'The printer is in an error state', full stop. E6 is the printer admitting a fault it cannot or does not classify into E0-E5 — which is why the section you are reading cannot give you a part name, and why any website that confidently defines E6 as one specific component is inventing. HP's documented remedy is a restart procedure, printed in full in both guides: 1. Turn off the printer. 2. Unplug the power cord. 3. Wait a minute, and then plug the power cord back in. 4. Turn on the printer. If the problem persists, contact HP. Do that restart exactly as written before anything else; a large share of E6 states are transient firmware or sensor states that a clean power cycle genuinely clears. If E6 returns, gather the evidence the digit cannot give you: what was the printer doing when E6 appeared (starting up, feeding, printing, scanning, updating)? What does HP Smart say — the app frequently carries the sentence-length version of the fault the panel is summarising as E6. And what changed recently — cartridges, a firmware update, a move? An E6 at power-on after a firmware update should be read alongside E9's recovery story on tank models; an E6 that follows a jam is worth one careful pass through the E3/E4 physical checks. Persistent E6 with no app message and no pattern is HP's stated endpoint: contact HP, and hand over your answers to those three questions — they are the diagnosis the code itself withholds.

E7 — an ink tank is out of ink (Smart Tank models only)

E7 changes meaning with the platform, and this is the guide's clearest scope warning: E7 is defined in HP's Smart Tank documentation, for tank machines. The Smart Tank 7000 guide states it in one line — 'E7: One or more ink tanks are out of ink. Refill the indicated ink tank that is out of ink.' The Smart Tank 500 guide (published on hp.com) shows the same state in its light table: the counter icon displays E7, the CMYK icons are lit, and the ink/printhead light, one or more ink icons and the alert icon blink, with the cause 'the ink tank has run out of ink'. The fix is the one the definition hands you: refill the indicated tank, using the tank and colour the icons identify. Two refinements matter in practice. First, E7 indicates a tank the printer believes is empty; a tank that is visibly full but still flagged (owners meet this on individual colours, cyan being a documented example) is a level-sensing or ink-system problem, not a refill problem — note which colour, reset the printer once, and if that colour alone will not clear, take it to HP as a sensing fault rather than topping up a full tank. Second, running a tank truly dry is harder on the printhead than running it low: E7 is a 'refill now' code, not a 'squeeze out a few more pages' code. Cartridge DeskJet and ENVY owners should not go looking for E7 in their own guides — it is not in the 2700/4100 E-table, and a cartridge machine with an ink problem will be speaking E0 instead.

E8 — fatal error

E8 is the last stop in the series. The Smart Tank 7000 guide defines it with two words — 'E8: Fatal error' — and one instruction: turn the printer off, and then on again; if the problem persists, contact HP. HP's DeskJet support answers use E8 the same way, describing it as a fatal printer error and pointing owners to the official 'HP DeskJet 2700, 4100, 4800 printers — Blinking lights and error codes' document for the family. It is important to be precise about what 'fatal' means here: it does not name a dead part, and HP publishes no E8-specific cause, test or component. It means the printer has hit an internal fault it cannot classify or recover from in normal operation — the E-series equivalent of a crash screen. That shapes the honest procedure: perform the restart HP specifies, and make it the thorough version used across this family (printer on, disconnect the cord, unplug from the wall, wait 60 seconds, reconnect directly to a wall outlet, power on). Run it once, cleanly. If E8 clears and does not return, it was a transient state, and the correct response is to note it and carry on. If E8 returns at power-on or repeats within days, stop restarting it — HP's own answers route a persistent E8 to HP support/service, and repeated power cycling adds no information after the second clean attempt. When you call, report what surrounded the code: any recent firmware update, power cut or surge, and whether E8 appears at startup or mid-job.

E9 — a firmware update error (and recovery mode)

E9 closes the table with the only code that is about the printer's software rather than its hardware. The Smart Tank 7000 guide defines it as 'Firmware update error', with the standard instruction: turn the printer off, and then on again; if the problem persists, contact HP. The fuller story comes from HP's support answer for the ENVY 6455e, in an HP employee's words: 'An E9 error occurs when a problem occurs during a printer firmware update' — and the printer is then in recovery mode, needing to download the firmware again. That recovery behaviour is the part owners must understand, because it changes what 'wait' means. HP's documented recovery for the connected models: set up the wireless connection again; then touch the Information button — if the information page prints, the printer is back to its normal state; if the printer fails to print the information page, it is still in recovery mode and needs to download the firmware again. During recovery mode the printer automatically downloads firmware from the cloud, and HP's instruction is to leave the printer for about 2 hours to complete the download and update. Interrupting that — unplugging, resetting, re-attempting — restarts the very process that failed. So the E9 discipline is: restore its connection, give it power and time, test with the Information button, and only conclude failure when a full recovery window has passed with no return to normal. Prevention is the other half: updates fail when power or connection drops mid-update, so keep the printer on a direct wall outlet and a stable network. An E9 that repeats across updates on a stable network is a storage or board problem — a service conversation, with the update history as evidence.

Key takeaways

Read all three elements — letter, digit and which lights blink — before acting: HP's table keys several codes to the light pattern, not the digit alone.
Open HP Smart on any E code: the app states most of these faults as a sentence, and for E0 HP's own guide sends you there first.
Respect the platform split: E0-E6 are the DeskJet/ENVY cartridge table; E7 (tank empty) and the published E9 recovery flow belong to the Smart Tank/connected world — a code read with the wrong model's table is a wrong diagnosis.
One clean 60-second power reset, done exactly as HP writes it (direct to a wall outlet), is worth more than five quick restarts.

Resetting the HP printer

HP's documented reset for its printers is a power reset, and HP repeats the same procedure in document after document (ink-system errors, blue screens, E6/E8 states, event codes): with the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer; unplug the power cord from the power source; wait at least 60 seconds; reconnect the power cord to a wall outlet and to the printer — HP expressly recommends plugging the printer directly into a wall outlet rather than a surge protector or power strip — then turn the printer on and wait until it is idle and silent. For ink models HP's ink-system flow adds one step before the reset: remove the ink cartridges first, perform the power reset, and only reinsert the cartridges after the printer powers back on, printing a calibration/alignment page if prompted. Two things a power reset is not: it is not a factory restore (on touchscreen models that is a separate, documented action — Setup > Printer Maintenance > Restore > Restore Factory Defaults — which returns settings to defaults and is HP's step for persistent firmware-crash screens, not a first move), and it is not a cure for a standing fault. Any code whose cause is still physically present — a jammed sheet, a stalled carriage, a failed printhead, a transfer belt that cannot move — is re-detected at the next self-check and returns, which is the printer working as designed.

Frequently asked questions

How to clear hp printer error code e4?