Officejet Pro 8500 printhead won't align

[xcitymgr]

I have pretty much the same story. However, I am only on my 3rd Offcejet 8500 printer from HP, although I am on my 4th Black/Yellow printhead! It's hard to believe that HP has not already exceeded the dollar amount that I paid for this expensive paper-weight in shipping, restocking, and printhead costs, but I am sure glad that I don't own stock in HP! At what point do they stop sending replacement printers and simply issue a refund?!

The amazing thing is that I have never been able to print more than 2 pages on my original printer without seeing a PRINTHEAD ERROR message.

[2t]

I got the same problem but i opened the printer and push in the soft mat that's in it and it worked. Here is a picture where the mat is located. On mediafire.com but i don't know if it is clear enough or not... http://www.mediafire.com/?w59681zgbtcr2lw http://www.mediafire.com/?w59681zgbtcr2lw http://www.mediafire.com/?w59681zgbtcr2lw

[rlc230]

printhead will not return for replacement after pressing ok for five seconds.

[keithramsdell]

    Alignment problem fixed , I removed and put back the paper draw then removed the print head for the color Cyan

  made sure the receptacle of the print stems were aligned and reinstalled it , ran another alignment and it passed ??

Hope this helps some one.  

[JTM]

I am on my third HP 8500 Wireless and it does not work, just like the original and just like the replacement they sent to me under warranty.  I get the fake paper jam message.  I also can not allign printheads.  I can not make copies.  I can not print.  I get false
messages that the print cartridges are empty, though they were just bought brand new and have not yet sprayed a drop of ink.

Do they not test their printers before sending them to me? 

This printer is a piece of garbage.  A $400 piece of garbage.  If I ever get this fixed it will be a miracle.  It will also be the last HP I will ever purchase and use. 

[howarddrips]

This is a ridiculous forum. All your complaints are wasted because it's INSIDE HP. If you want to really make it know how awful HP is (and it is absolutely the worst company EVER) go outside their site and post on some tech blogs. 

[jimc104]

My officejet pro 8500-a909g prints perfectly, clear and sharp, but does a printer alignment after every print job and then issues the "Alignment failed..." message above.

Things I have tried:

Manual alignment from tool box in HP software [system is Windows7 Home Ultimate].

Print Quality Diagnostics Page [perfect, also reports both printheads' health = GOOD]

Print self  Diagnostic page [perfect]

Reseat the black and yellow ink cartridges [problem started after replacement of them].

Remove / reinsert printhead for black/yellow

Search on-line HP Help.

Search this forum.

Printer warranty is expired

Firmware version is DLM1FN1006BR

Aditional information:

Copy 1 or many copies works fine, no alignment afterward[!?].

Print job still prints perfectly every time but Alignment follows and fails after every print job.

This is my 3rd Officejet Pro.

My first was a 3-function [no fax] and cost $800 and lasted 8 hard-use trouble-free years.

My 2nd was 4 function single-side printer and cost $400 [but ink carts were 2X price], and lasted over 3 years.

I got the 8500 almost 2 years ago for $200 and it will print duplex but it has been much noisier and I need to

keep it on all the time because start-up at power on takes about 5 minutes. 

Ah, what to do, what to do.....???

[LarryCragun]

Well well well, our replacement of the replacement of the replacement printer now has this problem. Note that Warranties don't start over with the replacement, they expire from the beginning. Pay $575.00 for your printer and write it off in one year as it probably will barely last that long.

[Roxrin]

Try going to the control panel  and xlick on printers and faxes and aligning from there.

I hope this works for you.

[bogart99]

They are an damned annoying printer.  If I do print job it immediately after does an alignment and fails it.  If I do an 

alignment from the diagnostics toolbox it passes!  Also the tool box says the black/yellow printhead is okay when it patently is  not.  And  don't you worry all you folks in the USA moaning about your HP customer support it's just as crap here in the UK.