Are set up cartridges required when replacing HP 8600 printhead?

[drmjf86]

I recently ordered a replacement printhead for my HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus after running into the "Missing or Failed Printhead" error and trying a few on-line tricks to salvage the old printhead.  Since I had recently purchased a number of new non-oem cartidges, I figured I'd  spend the money on the new printhead so my cartridges  wouldn't go to waste. My replacement printhead came with no cartridges.  With the new printhead I am running into the problem of error messages related to the non-oem cartridges.  They do not appear to be recognized by the new printhead even though they had been by the old one (maybe I didn't get there ink levels but I could print with them).  I've done numerous resets and tried everything I could find on-line to get my non-oem cartridges recognized to no avail . In the set up, I can't get beyond the step that instructs me to "Install the cartridges that came in the box with the printer."  Does a new printhead require oem set up cartridges?  I don't want to throw more good money after bad and by purchasing oem 950 and 951 set up cartridges without a high level of faith that this would solve the problem.

[Valsimot]

Yes, if you buy printhead from HP original spare part you receive 4 SETUP ink cartridges that must be used for printhead replacement.

Go to youtube and search how to bypass setup cartridges, you have more than a few methods on how you can bypass SETUP cartridges, maybe it will work for you.

[drmjf86]

Thank you for your reply. I did perform the set up cartridge bypass procedure found on-line but apparently that only allows the set up cartridges to be used after the initial set up - e.g., in another printer that has already been set up or refilled and used in a printer that has been set up.  Given the cost of set up cartridges w/ no guarantee that I won't run into a problem w/ my printhead and any set up cartridges I might find not working together due to HPs ink cartridge regionalization, I'm not going to pursue getting set up cartridges.  I did purchase an inexpensive Brother printer which is meeting my needs and when the HP printer in my 2nd residence runs into problems will be replacing that one w/ a Brother printer as well. I'm done w/ HP printers.