Officejet Pro 8600 (N911a) will not feed photo paper

[jpdupere]

By the way, just to be clear, the sticky side of the tape is down, sticked to the paper, and not up in the air. And it does NOT extend beyond the paper.

[jl3dg]

The scotch tape trick didn't work for me, but thanks anyway.

Still no feed of photo or heavier stock paper on my brand new 8600, as reported by so many others. That's the last HP printer I'll get. The 8600 was a replacement for a different hp that was a couple years old, lightly used, that developed a paper feed problem too. You'd think their QA process would have checked photo paper feeding.

[ChattaroyMan]

Same problem with a HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus. Tried the tap - no go. Tried half a tray full - no go. Tried only one sheet - no go. Tried a full tray - no go. It prints plain paper OK - will not feed photo paper. If I can't get it working this AM tomorrow it is going back to Staples and that's it for me with HP.

[liusk]

I have exactly the same problem. The printer can't load the photo paper.

However I found the bypass, that is to select the 'Card Stock' as media.

Anyway, so disappointed with the current problem. Hope HP can fix it asap.

[micahbeverly]

***UPDATE***

Do Not Buy! Return Immediately. Don't waste your time. I took the printer back to OfficeMax. It worked a couple of times and then went right back to not grabbing the paper. ALSO the top document feeder would jam every couple pages or so! Seriously, piece of junk printer. DO NOT BUY ONE!

***UPDATE***

HP Support helped me FIX the problem. I was having the same issue - feeding photopaper. It is NOT a hardware problem. It's a computer program to printer communication issue. The program is telling the printer one kind of paper is in the tray but we have loaded in photo paper. My inital issue was trying to print from Illustrator CS4 on a Mac running Snow Leopard. We discovered the printer had the latest firmware, printed fine from an SD card, printed from iPhoto, and after checking ALL the print dialogue settings in Illlustrator and changing a few, We got it to PRINT!

STEP 1: Make sure you have the latest Firmware update on the printer.

Mine is connected wirelessly, so all I had to do was touch the Web Service Summery (little paper icon with blue circle top left) on the printer screen. Go to settings. Select "Printer Update", "check for Update" If it says it's updated then it's onto step 2. Otherwise if it needed to update that might have been the problem. Try printing. Read step 2 though.

STEP 2: Try printing form different sources.

Grab an SD card out of a camera and put it in the printers card slots. (The SD slot is the top one). It recognizes the card automaticaly. select the following:

View and Print

Touch a picture

Raise quantity to 1

Done

Settings

Layout (whatever size you loaded into the paper tray)

Paper type (I selected Photo Paper)

Done

Print.

If that works, you know it's a computer to printer communication issue.

STEP 3: Try printing from different programs:

I'm on a mac so I went to iPhoto and it printed succesfully. In illustrator I changed color management to officejet 8600 advanced photo. colors were too dark but it printed. 

NOW the printer seems to have no problem printing no matter what settings or what program. Maybe it just needed to go through one of the steps above. Hmm. But IT IS WORKING! I really like this printer so I hope it keeps working. Hope something from my experience helps someone reading this forum. 

[BAZZAB]

Thank you for the tape trick.  Seems to help.  I have been very disappointed by the lack of an envelope/photo feed slot on this printer.  That is a feature I use frequently on my Cannon MX860 at home.  Makes this unit more of a lightweight home printer than a printer suitable for small businesses.  Too bad.  

[objexeter]

Guys .. it is NOT a software issue .. the paper roller is slick and dry on some new printers .. apparently a LOT of them .. I have always had good luck with HP and was very disappointed .. called support .. THIS WORKS ... AND ITS EASY !!!!! turn off printer .. remove paper tray .. turn printer on LEFT side so you can see the bottom.. .. get a clean dry white t-shirt .. rub the big gray rubber roller gently while turning it .. rough it up a bit .. it will now work great .. no need to return this printer .. it works AWESOME now ..

[idjit]

Yes it is most deffinately NOT a software issue.

I bought one of these now a second and have just purchased 200 sheets hp's premium photo paper

Now I find that they won't pick up.   I cleaned the roller (that this is even hinted as being necessary is insane) which didn't work.   I then used isopropyl alcohol to clean it and still doesn't work.

Now both are going back, the photo paper is going back and I'm probably going to have to buy an Epson.

I am so disgusted with HP.   Their Computers have been catastropic for a while (210+ degree laptop  temperatures and they refuse to fix them under warranty.)  

Now their bread and butter printers are also horrid.

Where are the lawsuits. 

[jl3dg]

Thanks for the try, but that did not work at all for me. Tried with a shirt, then tried roughing the roller with an emery board (ladies nail file thing), and still no joy. Also tried the scotch tape on the edge. Nothing works. Agree it's definitely not a software problem - it's just a crappy hardware problem - HP quality has really gone downhill. Won't buy another.

[BillSalter]

Thanks to all you folks for this great lab work. I have an HP mp6p since 1997. replaced one roller since then. Great printer. I almost bought this printer. Won't now. I wonder if the two-tray 'Premium' model has this problem?