Officejet Pro 8500 - Alignment continues to fail.

[barbid]

I've tried many of the solutions for an 'alignment failed' error message for my printer and none have worked, cleaned printheads - all three steps, calibrated line feed, installed new ink and new printheads, unpluggeed USB and power cords and turned back on. I'd like to reset my printer to fhe factory defaults to see if that helps. Could someone tell me how to do that and in case this doesn't work, what other options/solutions there are? Thx.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @barbid, Welcome to HP forums.

I understand the alignment keeps failing on your printer.

Don't worry I'll try to help you out.

Did you make any changes to your printer?

As you mentioned you are getting an alignment failed error on your printer after cleaning the printheads.

Try the steps recommended below.

Evaluate the alignment page

Follow these steps to check the alignment page that printed after the printhead installation, or try to align the printer again, and then evaluate the alignment page.

   NOTE:

Newly installed printheads must be aligned to the printer for best print quality. For successful alignment, a sharp, clear alignment page must print, and that requires unused, plain white paper. Colored paper, or paper that has already been printed on, even on the other side, can cause the alignment to fail.

Figure: Example of a correct alignment page

• If no paper was loaded, or the paper was previously printed on or colored, or if no alignment page printed, follow these steps to retry the alignment.

  1. Load plain, white paper into the paper tray.

  2. On the printer control panel, press the Setup button ().

  3. Select Tools.

  4. Select Align Printer, and then press OK. The alignment process begins.

  5. Wait for the printer to complete the alignment, and then press OK.

  6. Check the alignment page. For successful alignment, the patterns on the alignment page must be sharply printed.

  • If the alignment page prints and there is no error message, the issue is resolved, and you can stop troubleshooting.

  • If the page is obviously faded or streaked, continue to the next solution to clean the printheads.

  • If you are not sure whether the alignment page printed correctly, continue to the next solution to print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostics page to see if the printheads are working correctly.

• If unused, plain white paper was loaded, and an alignment page printed, check the alignment page. For successful alignment, the patterns on the alignment page must be sharply printed.

  • If the page is obviously faded or streaked, continue to the next solution to clean the printheads.

  • If you are not sure whether the alignment page printed correctly, continue to the next solution to print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostics page to see if the printheads are working correctly.

Solution three: Clean the printheads, and then print a Print Quality Diagnostics page

Follow these steps to clean the printheads, and then print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostics page for defects.

Step one: Clean the printheads

If the alignment page was streaked or missing colors, clean the printheads.

1. Load plain, white paper into the paper tray.

2. On the printer control panel, press the Setup button ().

3. Select Tools.

4. Select Clean Printhead. The printer automatically cleans the printheads.

Step two: Print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostics page

1. Load plain, white paper into the paper tray.

2. On the control panel, press the Setup button.

3. Select Print Report.

4. Select Print Quality Page, and then press OK. A Print Quality Diagnostics page prints.

   Figure : Example of a Print Quality Diagnostics page

   

5. Examine the page for the following defects.

   • If all the test patterns on the Print Quality Diagnostics page show no defects, the printheads are operating correctly and do not need to be replaced. Skip to the solution in this document to retry the alignment.

   • Figure : White lines in Test Pattern 2

     

     • If there are white lines through any of the color blocks in Test Pattern 2, follow these steps to clean the printheads again.

       1. Load plain, white paper into the paper tray.

       2. On the printer control panel, press the Setup button.

       3. Select Tools.

       4. Select Clean Printhead. The printer automatically cleans the printheads.

       Repeated cleanings might eventually fix the printheads. However, if after repeated cleanings there are still white lines through the color blocks in Test Pattern 2 (but no lines in the gray blocks in Test Pattern 3) on a new Print Quality Diagnostics page, skip to the solution in this document to replace the problem printhead.

     • If there are white lines through ALL the color blocks, and also white lines through the gray blocks in Test Pattern 3, do not clean the printheads. Instead, continue to the next solution to calibrate linefeed.

   • Figure : White gaps or dark lines in Test Pattern 3

     

     • If there are dark lines or white gaps in any of the gray blocks in Test Pattern 3, continue to the next solution to calibrate linefeed.

Refer this article to further troubleshoot alignment issues with your printer. Link: https://hp.care/2kb6iNI

Refer this article to further troubleshoot printhead issues with your printer. Link: https://hp.care/2BrKSWx

If the issue still persists after trying out the steps, It's an issue with the printhead. I would suggest you buy a new printer instead of replacing the print head as it would be cost-effective.

Also, please contact HP support for service options.

Link to contact HP.

If the solution provided worked for you, please mark accepted solution for this post.

Please let me know the outcome.
Have a great day ahead! 🙂

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[barbid]

I have tried all these fixes and none have worked. After I print something, the printer spits out an alignment page with just the top part of the alignment page, not even an entire page. Then it starts the lengthy alignment process and always says alignment failed. I tried resetting printer to the factory defaults. The printer quality page prints perfectly, so what's wrong with it? I will bypass the pen alignment in the diagnostics/service menu. Hopefully, that will prevent it from pestering me and using all my ink. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions, I would appreciate your letting me know. Thank you.

[The_Fossette]

@barbid, 

I am the The_Fossette. It looks like you were interacting with @A4Apollo, but he is out of the office today so I'll take over from here. 

I reviewed your conversation and I see that you have followed all the troubleshooting.

As you have mentioned, please try bypass the pen alignment in the diagnostics/service menu and check if it helps.

Please post your results, as I will be looking forward to hearing from you.

Good day!

[barbid]

After bypassing the pen alignment on the service/diagnostic menu, I printed again and there were no pesky alignment failed notifications. It's a round-about way of fixing that problem, I guess.

[The_Fossette]

@barbid, 

Perfect, I am really glad to hear that! 

If any other questions arise, please feel free to write back to me.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accept as Solution. Your feedback counts!

Good day! Take care 🙂

Cheers!