8630 ink cartridge leaking

[EricKS]

My printer is 10yo.  It has performed well in this time.  Just replaced yellow ink 2 mo ago.  Cyan, Magenta, black all estimated at about 30% full.  It has printed on demand, no problems - until yesterday.  Last successful print was Tuesday.  When sending a print job, it spit out a blank page and displayed message <<  Printhead: Missing, Failed or Incompatible 0xc19a0013 >>

One exam, it's not missing - i can see it.  It is compatible - original printhead.  That leaves Failed. I ran HP diagnostics and it said printhead is 'bad'.  Ran troubleshooting step / remove power / remove reinsert cartridges & printhead.  No fix.  Search on 'net for solutions and I saw a post about a leaking ink cartridge.  I removed all and saw the cyan had ink droplets on the rubber disk where the ink needle is inserted, cleaned off and reinserted.  Same error.  Pulled cyan again,  more ink.

My questions:  1) will replacing cyan with new cartridge fix my problem?  2) if not, does it prevent that cartridge for being inserted in to new printhead?  3) does the printhead need to be cleaned from ink in the cartridge area and how?  4) I have <6000 print pages, would that warrant a new printhead? 

Insights would be greatly appreciated.

[Valsimot]

1. No, you have a printhead issue, not a cartridge.

2. Your cartridge is fine, it's normal to see traces of ink on the rubber seal ring.

3. No cleaning is helpful, printers it's probably bad.

4. There is no strict number on how much a printhead can print on that printer model.

A most common issue is the printer is unused for a longer period, or even worse ink cartridges are removed and the printer turned OFF without cartridges that is killing the printhead.

[EricKS]

So my next question is:  Which is better, spending $170 on a replacement printhead for a 10yo printer or just buying a replacement printer?  This was purchased in the Win7 heyday, and with Win11 coming out soon, will there be drivers for it if i close to repair and then upgrade to Win11?   Last driver update was 2015.