Missing or Failed Printhead

[cvarr]

I have two computers connected to my 8600.  One prints fine.  The other will not print.  The error message I receive says, Missing or Failed Printhead

Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black

The printhead appears to be missing, not detected, incorrectly installed, or incompatible.

The printer prints fine from the other computer so the error message is invalid.  The printer also works when I e-mail print jobs to it.  I have tried removing and reinserting the ink cartridges and cleaning the printheads, that did not change anything.  Help!  Any suggestions? 

[Chimney_83]

Greetings @cvarr, 

Welcome to HP Forums and Thanks for the post. 

I understand that you are able to print fine from one computer and the other computer says that there is an error with the printhead when you try to print, is that right?

Not to worry, I will be glad to help.

Kudos to you for trying to troubleshoot the issue on your own.

Are both computers running on Windows?

Is the printer listed multiple times in devices and printers on the computer where you are unable to the print?

Recommend you to follow the procedure mentioned below to uninstall the printer software and settings completely and then install the latest full feature software for the printer back on the computer. 

Uninstall the printer from "programs and features" which can be accessed by doing a right-click on the Windows button (Please have the printer Off and disconnected during uninstallation.)

Check in device manager, if the printer is listed there, please delete it. (Right click on the Windows button to access device manager)

Go to devices and printers, select any printer listed there and you will get some options on the top. 

Click on print server properties. 

You will get a popup, click on the drivers tab and delete all the HP printer drivers listed there, if any.

Delete all the instances of your printer listed in devices and printers.

Restart the PC.

Once the PC is on the desktop, press Win + R, it would bring a Run dialog box, 

Type %temp% in the run box and click Ok or hit the Enter button.

It would bring up the temporary files folder. Delete the files in the folder (You might not be able to delete all the files, ignore them).

If possible, delete the printer from the registries using Regedit or using any other 3rd party application.

Restart the PC again. 

Download the latest full feature driver from www.hp.com/drivers and install it on the computer.

Connect the printer to your computer only when the setup prompts for the printer. 

Let me know if this helped. 

[cvarr]

Your suggestion did not work.  Any other suggestions?  This is really frustrating. I should mention that the "Missing or failed printhead" message has dissappeared but the printer still will not connect to my 2nd computer.  Spent hours on this yesterday and today. 

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply, may I know how many instances of the printer is listed in devices and printers? Both the computers are accessing the printer over wireless, is that right?

Recommend you connect the printer to your computer using a USB cable and update the firmware on the printer by downloading it from www.hp.com/drivers

Keep me posted. 

[cvarr · Accepted solution]

I fixed the problem. 

It's a long story on what happened but the short version is that I think I had some type of IP conflict.  I had the electrical equivalent of a ground loop becasue of the way I had network cables connected between my wireless router, my computer, a voip phone, and some Netgear adapters used to transmit signals through AC outlets. 

It really wasn't the printers issue.  I just got a little too creative in how I connected network devices I think. 

Thank you anyway.

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply and glad that the issue is resolved.

Please do post your technical queries on our Forums for assistance.