950XL & 951XL Printer Cartriges not fitting in my older HP Officejet 8600 PRO printer

[Mtnmann]

It seems there are 2 problems I have noticed owners of HP Office jet 8600 Pro older models  encountering that I have also encountered? The 2 issues I have run into:

1) The first problem happened when I could not even attach my wireless HP 8600 Pro wireless printer to my computer when I downloaded Windows 11. I tried to get some answer or fix from HP but got nowhere along with the many others who were encountering the same issue. This issue has now been addressed by Microsoft in its Windows 11 operating system by giving an option for older wireless printer hook up and my printer works fine now regarding the wireless attachment to my Windows 11 computer.

2) The 2nd problem occurred when I purchased what was advertised on Amazon as HP office jet 8600 Pro compatible ink cartridges, the cartridge numbers I had been purchasing all along, which cost $108 if you purchase the HP cartridges coded as 950 XL for black ink and 951 XL for the 3 colored cartridges. I received the cartridges, took them out of the box and proceeded to insert the 950 XL black ink cartridge and it would not fit no matter what I tried. I found out after looking at the 2 cartridges side-by-side, the old one and the new one, HP had changed the configuration of the indented area above where the ink is released which has the data chip on it which the printer reads, making it impossible to fit in the printers that are a little older! I would like to know when we are going to have these cartridges made available to us that fit in the thousands of HP office jet 8600 Pro printers being used across the nation as we speak if they still have printer cartridges that is from the older standard. I don't have $108 to throw away through a misleading ad selling ink that will not fit in the printer it purports to fit in. Thank you

[Mtnmann · Accepted solution]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I know there have been other people having trouble with feeding their HP 950 XL ink replacement cartridges into their printhead cartridge holder. When it happened to me I did a little research and found out that there were others experiencing this problem, and I found my solution which may not be yours. The print cartridge for the 950 XL black ink had broken off the plastic area where the data pins the cartridge data plates. I could not fit the XL cartridge in their because that plastic piece had broken off in its slot! I took a flashlight and after considering the configuration of the replacement cartridge in the cartridge I had taken out, I saw that that data plate was missing with the plastic assembly it's attached to in the upper left-hand corner of the cartridge and above where the ink pump pierces the ink whole. The corner section is hollow for the most part except for that plastic piece that holds the data plates, well it had broken off and was stuck in that area somehow so I got a pair of pliers and pulled it out and my printer is up and running again! I thought the configuration of the new replacement cartridges had been altered in some way because of what I saw when I looked into the printhead the first time but I was simply seeing the plastic piece that had broken off not an actual part of the printhead just FYI.Hopefully this helps somebody someday but there it is!

[camerongs]

Thanks for posting the solution. I had the same problem and removed the plastic piece in the upper left hand corner in the slot the 950XL fits into.