officejet 8600 printing problem

[activethermal]

My Officejet Pro 8600, a great machine, 

has worked well for many years and still  prints, scans and copies well in color and B&W.  But yesterday it started printing only the top & bottom 1/5 of pictures (left edge  to right edge), with a huge white gao in the center. Text docs print well, test pages are fine; it's only pictures that have this problem, in any size from 4x6 to 8..5x11.

I've removed the printer, reinstalled it, reinstalled the software from both the HP site and from the original disc - nothing helps. Any suggestions? 

[TEJ1602]

@activethermal, Welcome to HP Support Community!

To be able to assist you better, I'd like to know the following-

• Does the print preview look good?
• Which application are you trying to print from? Have you tried different applications to print pictures?
• What happens when you make photocopies of the image/picture?
• Have you checked the printing preferences/driver settings?

Meanwhile, refer to the document HP Printers - How to Print Photos (Windows) for help.

Update the printer firmware

Download available firmware updates from the HP website

With the printer on and connected to the computer, go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, and then identify your printer. Look for and install any available firmware updates. Refer to the document HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

If the issue persists, I would suggest you try the Windows built-in drivers. Follow the steps below:

•    Go to Control Panel - Devices and Printers - Click on "Add printer" and follow the on-screen instructions.

•    When the page prompts for the drivers, select "Windows update". The driver list will be updated.

•    Click HP, Hewlett Packard, or Hewlett-Packard in the Manufacturer pane, and then click the name of your printer in the Printers pane.

Refer to this document HP printer setup (Windows built-in driver) for help

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

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