The color printing is suddenly extremely faded -- See details below.

[js77]

Hello - Nothing has changed in my home office (same pc and OS, same HP printer, same everything) but recently the color has been printing very faded.  I have done all the troubleshooting recommended on the HP site (multiple times in fact): turned off & on, checked paper, tried printing tests, cleaned the printehead, installed brand new HP color cartridges, aligned the printhead...  OK, finally something: after aligning the printhead, I received the message: "Alignment was unsuccessful."  My warranty lapsed on 2014, so am I completely out of luck?  Or does someone have instructions I can follow to fix this?  Thank you very much!

[Rainbow23]

Hi @js77,

Welcome to HP Forums, this is a great place to get support, find answers and tips.

Thank you for posting your query, I'll be more than glad to help you.

I understand that you are getting an error message "Alignment was unsuccessful" on your HP Officejet Pro 8600 Premium e-All-in-One printer and also the colors are faded.

This issue could occur if the printhead is expired or not working.

Let's go through a few steps to troubleshoot this issue.

And here's the step by step guide for you in the link: Alignment Unsuccessful

Let me know how this works.
 

You have a good day ahead.

[js77]

Hi Rainbow23,  The page you directed me to is the exact page of troubleshooting items I have already tried.  I'm ready for the next solution beyond that.  It appears I am at Step 8 - Service the printer.  Who can do that?  Thanks!

[sandytechy20]

@js77

Thanks for the reply.

Superb job on trying the different steps to isolate the issue.

It seems to be a hardware issue.

I request you to contact HP Phone support for further assistance on this.

Cheers.