HP printer lights: what each blinking pattern means
HP's cheaper DeskJet inkjets have no text screen: the Power button light, a Resume light and one Ink Alert light per cartridge do the talking, and HP's user guides list each combination. Newer DeskJets add a tiny icon display that blinks the letter E and a number next to the lights. HP's guides do not give the lights' colours, so neither do we.
Which HP printer do you have?
The series name (for example “DeskJet 2130” or “DeskJet 2700”) is printed on the printer itself. HP writes one user guide per series, and the light table belongs to that series; if your model is not one of the two below, its own HP guide is the authority.
HP DeskJet 2130 All-in-One series: every pattern
| You see | What HP says it means |
|---|---|
| Power light on | The printer is on. |
| Power light dimmed | The printer is in Sleep mode. |
| Power light blinking | The printer is processing a job. |
| Power light blinking fast | The cartridge access door is open, or, if it is closed, the printer is in an error state. |
| Resume light blinking | There is no paper in the input tray. |
| Resume light off, one Ink Alert light on | That cartridge is missing, is installed wrongly or still has its plastic tape on, or is low on ink. |
| Resume light off, both Ink Alert lights on | Both cartridges are low on ink. |
| Resume light off, one Ink Alert light blinking | That cartridge is incompatible, damaged, or incorrectly installed. |
| Resume light off, both Ink Alert lights blinking | Both cartridges are missing, installed wrongly or still taped, or incompatible or damaged. |
| Resume light blinking, one Ink Alert light on | That cartridge is counterfeit or previously used, or it is very low on ink. |
| Resume light blinking, both Ink Alert lights on | Both cartridges are counterfeit or previously used, or both are very low on ink. |
| Resume blinking, Power on, both Ink Alert lights blinking | There is a paper jam, or the cartridge carriage inside the printer has stalled. |
| Resume, Power and both Ink Alert lights blinking | The scanner is not working, or the printer is in an error state. |
Fixes, drawings and the source: HP DeskJet 2130 All-in-One series lights.
HP DeskJet 2700 All-in-One series: every pattern
| You see | What HP says it means |
|---|---|
| Power light dimmed | The printer is in Sleep mode. |
| Power light blinking | The printer is processing a job. |
| Power light blinking fast | The cartridge access door is open, or, if it is closed, the printer is in an error state. |
| Wireless light blinking blue, signal bars cycling | The printer is in Auto Wireless Connect setup mode. |
| Wireless light blinks fast three times | The printer's wireless capability is disabled. |
| Wireless Attention icon blinking with the Wireless light | The printer has a problem connecting to the wireless network. |
| E0 blinking with Ink Alert light blinking | (E0) There is a problem with the cartridges whose Ink Level icons are blinking. |
| E1 blinking with Resume light blinking | (E1) The print job's paper is wider than the paper loaded in the tray. |
| E2 blinking with Resume light blinking | (E2) On a multipage job the paper length does not match the loaded paper; the first page has printed with errors. |
| E3 blinking with Resume and Ink Alert lights blinking | (E3) The carriage inside the printer has stalled. |
| E4 blinking with Resume light blinking | (E4) There is a paper jam. |
| E5 blinking with all lights blinking | (E5) The scanner is not working. |
| E6 blinking | (E6) The printer is in an error state. |
| One Ink Level icon and Error icon blinking, Ink Alert light on | That cartridge is missing, or is installed wrongly or still has its plastic tape on. |
| Both Ink Level icons, Error icon and Ink Alert light blinking | Both cartridges are missing, installed wrongly or still taped, or incompatible or damaged. |
| One Ink Level icon, Error icon and Resume light blinking, Ink Alert light on | That cartridge is counterfeit or previously used, or it is very low on ink. |
| Error icon, Paper Error icon and Resume light blinking | The printer received a job and there is no paper in the input tray. |
Fixes, drawings and the source: HP DeskJet 2700 All-in-One series lights.
What is not here
- HP Support “Blinking lights” articles — HP's support site did not answer our fetches (the connection timed out, twice, on the DeskJet 2130/2300 and 3630 articles), so the HP pages here are built from HP's own user-guide PDFs on hp.com instead. support.hp.com Checked 2026-09-29.
- HP LaserJet Pro M14–M17 (M15w, M17w and others) — The User Guide's “Interpret control-panel light patterns” table shows most light states as pictures, not words. Only two rows are written out, the Attention and Ready lights both on (a fatal error: turn off, wait 30 seconds, turn on) and both blinking (initializing, cleaning or cooling down), which is under our floor of 6 for a page. kaas.hpcloud.hp.com Checked 2026-09-29.
Sources
HP’s own pages only, read on the date shown.
- HP: HP DeskJet 2130 All-in-One series User Guide — Status lights (pages 6 to 9) — HP DeskJet 2130 All-in-One series. h10032.www1.hp.com Checked 2026-09-29.
- HP: User Guide HP DeskJet 2700 All-in-One series — Control panel lights and display icons status (pages 7 and 8) and Control panel error codes and status (pages 91 to 95) — HP DeskJet 2700 All-in-One series. h10032.www1.hp.com Checked 2026-09-29.
Find a pattern by which light and how it blinks, on any brand →