when i print my printer takes 4 pages through at the same time.does that mean i put to much paper in it?

The answers above are all great answers that either help to explain or aleve several of the possible causes of the problem you're experiencing.

There are multiple potential causes and fixes for a printer or photocopier to feed multiple sheets of paper at a time.

1) Paper type - like animalz stated, if the paper is too rough or too thin, you can get multiple sheet feeds due to the friction of the paper pulling others in with it.

2) Too much paper - like you stated, if there's too much paper loaded into the paper tray (usually above the load line on the tray) it can be too full for the pickup rollers to work well and will pull in multiple sheets at a time.

3) Worn or dirty separation/retard pads/rollers - Ian explained it very well about how these retention/retard pads or rollers can become dirty or worn. Depending on the printer, most often these can be cleaned or replaced, or even roughened a little with a fine grit (around 200 should work) sandpaper, but some are near impossible to get to.

Last, and very common especially this time of year when the air is drier due to the winter weather, is static buildup and can happen even if the paper is the right type, not loaded too full, and the pads & rollers are in perfect condition:

4) Static buildup - A common problem that happens with paper in both photocopiers and printers is when there is low ambient air humidity which causes the paper to dry out and lowers the paper moisture content. When the paper's moisture content is too low, the paper will begin to store static electrical charges which are created when the sheets of paper are pulled into the printer and slide across the papers that are left in the tray. The friction of the dry paper sliding across the others creates an electrical static charge buildup, that if conditions are just right and the static charge in the stack of papers is great enough, cause the paper to cling together due to the static buildup in what's called static cling and cause multiple papers to be pulled into the printer. Just like when you rub a balloon against a fabric surface to create a static charge in the balloon and stick it against a wall.

To check for that, pull out the top few sheets of paper and see if they cling together. Ideally they should separate and fall away from each other quickly and easily, but if they are holding static they will try to stick together, sometimes with amazing grip.

Ways to correct that problem is to increase the humidity level (to usually around 20 to 40% humidity level is ideal) of the air where the paper is stored and where the equipment is used, and store the paper flat, in a climate (temperature & humidity) controlled environment & in it's original packaging until ready to use to maintain the moisture content the paper had when manufactured. As a temporary option, you can also take out the paper from the paper tray that has the static buildup and fan it a few times (like Eddie mentioned) to help remove or reduce the current static charge buildup in the paper, but the static will return as the printer is used unless the ambient air humidity level and paper moisture content is increased.

No - it means your seperation pad is worn or dirty.

Printers have a pick up roller that pulls the top sheet of paper in and a seperation pad or roller that acts as a brake on the lower sheets so that only 1 sheet should pull in at a time.

On most laserjets these are cheap and usually fairly easy to fit. On ink jets they are usually almost impossible to get and a real sod to fit.

Sometimes you can get by with giving them a clean or roughing them up wit a little bit of sandpaper.

Good Luck

No but flick through the paper before you put it in. You may be able to lift the lid and tweak the gap between the rollers with the adjustment wheel.

Yes it happens a lot to me also, either the paper isn't smooth enough or it's too tightly packed