Missing or Failed Print Head - HP Officejet Pro 8600

[cece0608]

Exact same thing just happened to me tonight.  17 months after purchase.  Imagine that!

[Letsduet]

I guess I just joined the "Missing or Failed Print Head" club.  It's sad that after reading 2 years of posts, HP is still having the same problem.  It's even sadder, that in todays social media that HP would not even try and support it customers.  And yes, I did go through all the steps recommended by the HP representitive in this post.

I agree with one post, go to the websites that have this product and post what failure the HP 8600 pro has been.  Social media is the way to go.  

There doesn't seem to be any fix for this error, nor does HP seem to be willing to spend the time to correct the problem.

HP - this is the second major problem I've had with this printer and I'm no longer purchasing any HP printers/scaners in the future.

Sam - July 19, 2014

[Garydean]

I'm a Realtor in FL and hopefully the other 100,000 Realtors in the USA will read this. If you have an 8600, get rid of it now and buy something else. It's ony a matter of time and you will be stuck!! If you are considering this product Do Not buy it. Learn from my misfortune. I attempted to print MLS  pages for 8 showings tomorrow and now I have nothing to give to my customers. Same problem with my 8600 just happened today just like all the other people writing the same complaint. 18 months old. I use only HP ink and replaced it 30 days ago. I use  the 8600 regularly without fail until today. "Printhead appears to be missing". I've researched google for a fix and it seems everyone who owns an 8600 officejet plus has had the same problem and it can not be fixed. I'll keep this machine in hopes that someday there will be a fix because I have invested a lot of money in backup ink. Until then, tomorrow, I will be visiting an office supply store that can recommend a product other than HP. I will purchase anything other than HP in the future. It's a shame that HP has fallen to this level as they used to be a reputable company. I feel sad that so many people have been taken under with this faulty product. It's not a lot of money and maybe that should be a warning to future buyers, you get what you pay for and obviously you do not pay for HP support as they are less than worthless.

[bigwheel]

I had a 8600 1 month out of warrantee the 1st time I replaced ink the print head failed to register them.  Contacted support and a NEW HEAD was sent free of charge

[bigwheel]

same problem, contacted support and was sent a new print head.

[bigwheel]

same problem but was satisfied with them giving me a new printhead

[bigwheel]

have  had the same problem after a paper jam but dont know if THEY  are connected since my failed printhead (after trying to put new cartridges in),  failed to register resulting in a new printhead free

[Dayle75]

My printhead went bad also,,,,and only a year out of warranty. I had to purchase a new printer (HP 8625) and put that printers printhead in it and it worked fine. If I was dishonest, I would have ... You know what I would have done ... But I didn't. It is a way for HP to sell more printers, it stands to reason! What a shame that this company does this. It is a throw-away society and HP takes advantage of its' loyal customers!

[PrintSF]

This is a problem I've also experienced several times with my HP Officejet Pro 8600 printer.  Once it started happening, I couldn't print, but then after trying a bunch of things, it would start to print again.  And then the problem would return.  Since it was able to print fine some of the time, it was clearly not an issue with the ink supply, or the print functioning of the printhead.  And it didn't seem at all likely that buying a new printhead would solve the issue.

Since the problem would come and go, I didn't want to buy a new printhead, but it got to the point where I simply gave up on the printer, after several attempts and several hours trying to get any useful help at all from HP.  In my experience, HP tech support is pathetic at best.  I seriously doubt I will ever buy another HP product, even though I've used a number of their printers over many years.  So the printer sat unused for about a year. 

Yesterday, I decided to give it another try, and amazingly, it printed four pages, both black and white and color, flawlessly. Then today, I got the dreaded "The printhead appears to be missing, not detected, or incorrectly installed" message.  I thought, maybe HP has managed to figure out what the hell is going on with this printer in the intervening year, so I checked this forum, along with some others, and nothing seems to have been accomplished.  I then called the HP support number and wasted an hour on the phone with someone from the Phillippines who clearly had no idea what she was talking about and told me that I needed new ink cartridges, a new printhead, and that they would "upgrade" me to another printer: translation: "buy another HP printer."   At the end, when I asked to be transferred to her supervisor, she put me on "permanent" hold, which automatically disconnected me after 20 minutes of waiting. 

So, recognizing that this is an intermittent problem, I pulled the printhead/cartridge assembly partly out, jerked it around a few times, raised and lowered the locking arm several times rather energetically, and locked it back in.  Voila!  It is now working again, and I've printed several more pages in both black and white and color.  Unfortunately, I suspect that all too soon this problem will recur.  I suspect that it's a flaw in the design of the printhead docking mechanism -- either at least one contact isn't actually touching or it's not conducting sufficiently some of the time, and that causes the error. 

It seems to me that HP should either: offer a free redesigned printhead to anyone who experiences this problem, or provide a software patch that overrides this error. 

Meanwhile, when it occurs next (today? tomorrow?) I'm planning to whack the thing real good, and it may start working again.  Don't waste your money buying new ink or printheads.  Even if it starts working if you do, it's probably only because the new printhead is seated slightly better. 

Good luck! 

 (Note: see my follow-up below.) 

[techqueen]

Purchased my HP Officejet 8600 on 1/16/12 with a 3 year warranty.

Received missing or failed print head error messages on 1/20/15!  3 days out of warranty!

I refuse to pay $120 to replace the print head when I paid $179 for the printer just 3 years ago.

We all have been duped.  I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER HP PRODUCT.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!