HP officejet 6700 always checking itself. Why?

[FlaJohn]

The unit works fine with my Win.7, but every time I go to use it....at some time during the session it will start to do a "checking device." It takes quite a few minutes and drives me nuts because it will happen even during a printing session but usually will wait until there's a pause between print demands. Then it will sit and pop, snap, grunt, groan, rattle back and forth...then finally a "ding dong" and it's done. It usually requires me to start over if it happens during a print session.

Also, if I'm printing strictly black/white why does this fool thing not let me start if one of the other cartridges is low. It doesn't need yellow or magenta or whatever to print black/white. Poor engineering design. I should be able to actually remove the other cartridges and still print black/white....which is 98% of my printing.

[GeorgeFN]

This document not only has answers to your questions about what it's doing when it's checking itself and why color cartridges are needed to operate, but also how to set it up to print black only. 

Take a look and see if it answers your questions and if you can use the black only instructions.

Thanks,

[isteinbach]

Hi,

my officejet 6700 exhibits the same behavior as described by the original poster. Quite frequently, it starts checking the device. Apparently, it also consumes a significant amount of ink during this process.

GeorgeFN wrote:

This document not only has answers to your questions about what it's doing when it's checking itself and why color cartridges are needed to operate, but also how to set it up to print black only. 

---

George, I did not find an answer to this problem there: your link points to an explanation what to do when some colors are missing in the print-out; there is neither explanation of what is happening during device check nor why it is performed this often. Also, there seems to be nothing about the problem in the FAQ.

Ingolf

[SuperMario1]

Hello isteinbach. I understand you are experiencing issues where your printer constantly checks itself. This is typically a symptom of a faulty printhead, which is permanently installed in this printer. The troubleshooting in that document is relevant, and you should attempt those steps, if you haven't already. I would also follow these steps to perform a hard reset of the printer:

First, I would like you to perform a hard reset. I will provide instructions on how to perform this task:

1. While the printer is on, unplug the power cord from the printer, and its current electrical outlet.

2. Hold down the power button on the printer for 30 seconds, while it is unplugged. This drains all the electricity out of the machine.

3. Connect the one end of the power cord into the back of the printer.

4. Connect the other end to a direct wall outlet (not a surge protector or power strip). This will ensure the machine can obtain more electricity, since lack of electricity can generate issues like this.

5. Now, try to generate a copy.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, I would install the latest firmware on the printer. I have provided a document on how to update the printer: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02919168

If the issue is not resolved, I would contact HP technical support for further assistance, since you will be experiencing an issue pertaining to faulty hardware. Their options will be based on the warranty status of the computer. If you do not have this information, you can locate it at this website: http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/wc/home?ac.admitted=1384280905804.876444892.199480...

You can utilize this website to learn how to contact HP appropriately, based on your region: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Mario

[thunor]

It is a way of HP making money.  This is totally unsupported but does work, when it does start the testing, open the ink door, when the ink cartridge passes stop it with your hand, take out the full cartridges and replace them with empties.  Let it run its cycle.  When it is done, it will finally tell you the ink cartridges are empty, replace the black ink cartridge then after that cycles, replace the other ink cartridges. 

You will save a lot of money on ink cartridges.  Maybe HP will fix the badly written software that goes in an endless loop on testing and make its consumers happy before they toss their printers and buy something else, like a Canon.

[Roberto11]

---

@FlaJohn wrote:

The unit works fine with my Win.7, but every time I go to use it....at some time during the session it will start to do a "checking device." It takes quite a few minutes and drives me nuts because it will happen even during a printing session but usually will wait until there's a pause between print demands. Then it will sit and pop, snap, grunt, groan, rattle back and forth...then finally a "ding dong" and it's done. It usually requires me to start over if it happens during a print session.

Also, if I'm printing strictly black/white why does this fool thing not let me start if one of the other cartridges is low. It doesn't need yellow or magenta or whatever to print black/white. Poor engineering design. I should be able to actually remove the other cartridges and still print black/white....which is 98% of my printing.

---

[isteinbach]

After convincing HP support that I indeed did enough printing (more than 200 pages per month) and that the unit still frequently performed these (time and ink consuming) checks, I got a replacement. Again the same model -- and after a few weeks: again the same problems as before.

Apparently I am not the only one who sees these frequent device checks, so I don't imagine that I am using the printer in some completely unusual way. Moreover there seems to be do way to determine the cause of these checks (detailed event log, debug mode, ...). So all I can say is that it really seems to be a design weakness. As this weakness significantly increases the ink consumption of the device, one can understand that HP sees no hurry to further analyze and fix the problem.

All in all, I am quite disappointed by this product.

Ingolf

[TAG1]

I have to wholeheartedly agree with you on this point.  I have searched and searched for answers to this frustrating process to no avail.  Tonight it did the "checking device" process twice...back to back!  I wanted to rip it out of the wall and throw it out the window because all I really wanted was a two sided copy of a recipe!  Completely ridiculous and clearly a design flaw.  I have been a completely loyal HP printer person all of my life, but this experience is going to cause me to seriously re-think that in the future when I finally get completely fed up with this *@%$ thing.  I can't believe that HP hasn't stepped to the plate to address this with those that have registered this product with them.

[TimHi]

I have the exact same issue, painful selfcheck everytime I try to print even one page.  Now I'm out of warranty.  As soon as toner is gone, this goes to the curb and I switch brands, just not sure which other brand.  The company should listen to this stuff and make it right.