Officejet Pro 8500A constantly "aligning printheads" and alignment failing

[dkester5]

Awhile back I apparently put a new black ink cartridge in that was expired. Since then the printer is constantly trying to align the prinheads and says it failed.  Then it constantly goes into "cleaning the printheads" mode.  I bought a new unexpired black ink cartridge and put it in, but the printer is doing the same thing!  Before and after I put the new cartridge in, my printer diagnostics said that a non HP printhead and black ink were installed but that is not true. Both ARE HP!! Help---the cycle my printer keeps going in is using up all my ink! 

[Jeet_singh]

@dkester5,

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. For you to have the best experience on the HP forum, you could also visit our HP Forums Guide for First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More. I see from your post that you are having issues related to your HP OfficeJet printer. No worries, I'll be glad to help you.

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

Have you tried to clean the electrical contacts on the printhead and inside the product.

After reviewing your post thoroughly, I suspect this to be a possible hardware failure. However, I would suggest you try these steps which should help you narrow down the issue.

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 follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP Officejet Pro 8500A (A910) e-All-in-One Series Printer - 'Alignment failed' Error Message Display...

Alternatively, you can go through this support document for - 'The following printhead appears to be missing or damaged' Displays for HP Officejet Pro 8500A e-All...

If you have followed the steps suggested and still having the issue, 

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Good Luck.