HP Photosmart C309A - Black won't print and alignment failure message

[Red-Maple]

I am using only HP ink cartridges.  The supply levels are good.  The alignment prints up fine.  I have done all of the HP suggested steps to fix.  I still get alignment failed and it will not print any documents i have created

[Jeet_singh · Accepted solution]

@Red-Maple,

Thanks for taking an interest in the HP Support Forums! This is a great location to get resolutions and interact with experts from the community. I understand you are getting alignment failure error message on your HP Photosmart printer. Don't worry we'll work together to help you resolve this issue.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?

Have you tried to clean the ink cartridge contacts as well as the print head?

Have you tried to align the printer?

In the meantime, let's try these steps here: 

Perform a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

Remove all the ink cartridges and then try to perform a hard reset on the printer.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Now insert the ink cartridges and then try to print a test page and check if it works.

Next thing, I would suggest here is to clean the print head: 

Clean the printhead

Follow these steps to clean the printhead from the printer control panel.

1. If the error message remains on the control panel display, press the OK button to clear it.

2. Press the Setup button () on the printer control panel.

3. Press the Down Arrow button () to select Tools, and then press the OK button.

4. Press the Down Arrow button () to select Clean Printhead, and then press the OK button.

The printer cleans the printhead and prints a test page.

Alternatively, follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Printer Series (C309 and C410) - An 'Alignment failed' Error Me...

If you have followed the steps suggested and still getting the same error message, I would suggest this could be a possible hardware failure with the printer. I would recommend you contact our HP phone support for further assistance.

HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: 

1. Click on this link – www.hp.com/contacthp/
2. 2) Click on “Continue as guest”.
3. 3) Enter the serial of your device.
4. 4) Select the country from the drop-down.
5. 5) Click on “Show Options”.

Fill the web-form. A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

Hope this helps, for any further queries reply to the post and feel free to join us again

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,

[Red-Maple]

After completing all of the suggestion on the HP site, my print still would not align or print documents. The suggestions by the HP employee on the forum fixed my issue. Thank you

[Jeet_singh]

@Red-Maple,

Thank you for the update,
I appreciate your time and efforts, 

I'm glad I could contribute towards resolving the issue and finding the solution you were looking for.
Thanks for taking the time to let the community know about the solution.

You've been great to work with and it has been a genuine pleasure interacting with you.
I hope both you and your product works great and remain healthy for a long time 😉 

To simply say thanks for my efforts to assist you, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos.
And mark my post as Accepted Solution to help others find a similar solution as you have.

Take care now and do have a fabulous week ahead. 🙂
Regards,