Hi

Please forgive me if this question has been raised and solved before.
I am a newbie of coffee making,i brought a NEW LP Romantica last week from internet
i am not sure if it is working correctly.
Coffee grind: Extra Fine
Tamp: Try my best to make it even with 30lb force
Machine Status: 1bar (after release false pressure)
I lift the grouphead handle, a force pushing the lever back down.
When the lever is at the very top the back pressure stops.
About five seconds, coffee starts drizzling into my cup.
When I pull down the handle, there's no any against force that i expect, it's even drop down itself when if i release the handle.
Coffee without crema and I get a lot of bubbles.
Does anyone know if this is normal operation?

Thanks ALL

Firstly, what grinder are you using?
If you are buying ground beans its not really gonna happen with the LP. It takes a while to get the grind and tamp right with these levers.

Yes, I brought ground beans at coffee shop. Do you mean the grind or tamp not right will make this situation happen? I know this machine need a little practise and i enjoy of it, just wanna sure that nothing need to fine tune with the machine beside my skill.

you really need to grind fresh for each extraction or your never going to have any luck with a La Pavoni.
The grind needs to be adjusted constantly to keep you in "the zone". Using ground beans means you can't adjust and fine tune the ground to suit the machine, but it also means your coffee is oxidising (getting stale) quickly and will not produce any crema (even if the grind size happened to be spot on)
Maybe try picking up a Hario hand grinder, they are cheap (around $50) and will be able to grind fine enough for the Pavoni.
From your description of the extraction I would say the coffee is not ground fine enough to create resistance to the water moving through the puck.

A Hario hand grinder will also give limited results for a La Pavoni. See the Buying Advice and Grinder forum FAQs and threads for entry level grinders. A La Pavoni can make espresso as good as in the best cafes if you pair it with a good enough grinder. You're doing a chemical extraction of the flavors and the mouthfeel in the coffee. The coffee cake created by the grinder is your accelerator and brakes. You also need properly roasted and fresh beans to get everything out of a capable machine like that. See this area if you are interested.

Espresso 101: Newbie Introduction to Espresso [videos]

I have a friend that insists on buying pre ground for his Elektra leva and getting a decent pull out of it is nearly impossible. You just never know what you are going to get except for whatever it is, its not going to be right unless he just gets lucky.
These high end machines require a little fiddling and tuning to get right.

Sadly your preground coffee is stale before you even purchase it. I am all about levers and although in some ways they are more forgiving (shots dont blow out as much like a pump and its constant pressure)...you need to start with a good foundation of beans that are about 3-10 days old; and a proper grinder. Too early and it will taste off.

Do you have access to a blade grinder? As a test, just to see if all the seals are OK, you can try using it to make finer grinds and see if the force is much higher.

I don't recommend a whirlyblade. It's too uncontrolled to give a useful test.

No, this is not normal operation. There should be noticable resistence when you pull the handle. As others have observed, if you use freshly roasted coffee (which has rested for at least three days) and you grind the beans just before making the shot, in an espresso-capable grinder, you will not get much if any dripping during preinfusion and the result will be a rich, full flavour with plenty of crema. The tamp does not need to be 30 lbs. a light levelling will do. All of this information is in the archives here in Home-Barista. That's how I learned to get excellent results from my La Pavoni.