"alignment failed" message on Photosmart 7520 start up

[1x2y3z]

While starting up a new 7520, after installing the cartridges, a message comes up "Alignment failed. Cartridges set to default quality".  Test print comes out wth only black and blue grid??  Suggestions??

[Shane_R]

Is the test page you're referring to printing after the alignment is done? Make a color copy and make sure all the colors are printing. Let me know what happens.

[cotn1868]

I am experiencing the same issue with this model printer. The alignment page prints (only black and blue), and says "alignment failed..." yada, yada, yada. I've opened the printer, removed each of the ink cartridges and inserted them again. I also noticed when printing photos a portion of the photo is cut off and an un-printed bar comes out on the paper. Probably has to do with the alignment issue, but just thought i would mention it. Tips?

[Shane_R]

This printer is still new enough that I would give HP tech support a call to see what is going on. The contact information for HP is linked below. Let me know what they say.

http://goo.gl/WaHYM

[mikec78]

I am running into the same problem as I just bought my printer this weekend.  

Anyone figure out what the problem is/was?

My assumption is faulty cartrigages (I am hoping not a faulty printer as that wouldn't be fun)

Any help would be greatly apprecaited.

[Rudy1906]

The link below that (Shane_R) provided is a great way to start with this issue. If those steps does not help, it may be a bad print head instead of cartridge.
Let me know what happens, thanks.

[cotn1868]

I just got off the phone with HP support (1 hour and 45 minutes). They suspect it is a faulty print head and they are sending a new one as well as a fresh set of ink cartridges. I will follow up when that arrives and let you know if the issue was resolved.

We did several tests during the call that may help you....

Test 1: Ink and Head (didn't work, but prompted the tech to order me new parts)

1. remove ink cartridges and printer head. remove ink first then lift lever on the right and lift out the print head.

2. clean off the printer head (underside) with at cloth.

3. with everthing removed, close the latch for the print head and turn the printer off, wait a few seconds, turn the printer back on

4. you should get a warning message about missing printer head, etc. open the printer and install the printhead and ink and close the printer.

5. This should prompt the alignment process to begin. Go make a sandwich, it takes a while.

Test 2: Hard reset  (didn't work for me)

1. Unplug the printer, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in.

2. Run the aligment test

Test 3: Semi-full reset (didn't work for me)

1. From the home screen press in order.... return arrow (bottom left of panel) , home button (top left of panel), x button (bottom right of panel), home button again. Note* The buttons will not be lit up, but this process should prompt another screen.

2. You should now see a black screen with 4 directional arrows, and ok in the middle.

3. Use the directional arrows to find the option for "semi-full restart" (can't remember which or how many arrows i pushed)

4. This should power off the printer and now your printer is reset to the state it was out of the box.

5. You will need to run back through all of the setup steps, and run the alignment test again.

[Rudy1906]

After the SEMI-FULL RESET, if it still did not work, then yes, it will be a replacement. Hope everything works out.

[npbryers]

Here's what HP Support told me to do and it worked:

1. With the 7520 plugged separately into a wall outlet, disconnect all cables including the power cable

2. Wait 3 minutes

3. press the on button on the machine for 30 seconds

4. plug in the power cable.

This worked for me with the alignment and with bar on the side of the photo. It worked perfect and gave me the message that it was properly aligned. Speculation: I suspectwhat they were doing was draining the memory in the machine so that it would start again from the beginning.

I hope this helps you, it did for me.

[bbrixon]

I just replaced my SETUP with XL inks.

I had the same issue, and it was fixed with a Print Head cleaning.

My old HP just did this automatically for me when I installed new ink, so I didn't think twice about it.  My old one was a combined ink version, and I couldn't remove the print head as easily as I could with this one.

I guess everytime I replace ink, more than 3 ink chartridges, I should clean the printhead, or is there a certain maintenance cycle that I should perform with it?