After about 3 years I decided to turn on my now 12 year old
HP Office Jet 6600. It failed with something like "Missing or failed
print head".

I didn't touch the printer all these years, and last time it
worked. Google recommends to remove the print head. I tried but there
doesn't seem to be a latch to pull as videos show.

The printer seems to be locked down otherwise: I can not enter the menu
on the built-in display, only cycle between that error message and a
description what to do. Luckily I set up the printer to be a wireless AP,
so I can get the setup in a browser. I see two of the four color tanks
shall be depleted. Last time they were at 30%. Do they just dry out over
the years?

Anyway, no idea what to do. So I opted for a factory reset. But all I
find on Google is to trigger it via the printer menu, which I cannot
access. The manual also tells me the same.

Doesn't the printer has a small hole somewhere you would ram a ball pen in
to force a factory reset? Or any other means?

I'd like to just have it as scanner.
--
Andreas

https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/

On 2023-10-30, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:

> After about 3 years I decided to turn on my now 12 year old
> HP Office Jet 6600. It failed with something like "Missing or failed
> print head".
>
> I didn't touch the printer all these years, and last time it
> worked. Google recommends to remove the print head. I tried but there
> doesn't seem to be a latch to pull as videos show.
>
> The printer seems to be locked down otherwise: I can not enter the menu
> on the built-in display, only cycle between that error message and a
> description what to do. Luckily I set up the printer to be a wireless AP,
> so I can get the setup in a browser. I see two of the four color tanks
> shall be depleted. Last time they were at 30%. Do they just dry out over
> the years?
>
> Anyway, no idea what to do. So I opted for a factory reset. But all I
> find on Google is to trigger it via the printer menu, which I cannot
> access. The manual also tells me the same.
>
> Doesn't the printer has a small hole somewhere you would ram a ball pen in
> to force a factory reset? Or any other means?
>
> I'd like to just have it as scanner.

Very late answer, but:

At least OfficeJet 6500 has one or two additional service menus; from
personal experience, there are two problems with this model: the
multifunction here was never used for printing again because of the
failed print head itself; but another problem is the "pervasive" error
message...

The error message will indeed render the interface unusable and also
does not allow scanning (in my case, I could never get it fully working
- the main goal was printing in color, but it would eventually get back
to the error message no matter how much I cleaned it (this one has a
lever, though), and I think at least part of the heads had dried too, so
it couldn't print well, but it could still work as a scanner device, as
far as I could make it not trigger the printing head error condition).

It has been a while, so I would need to retest to confirm what works for
this model (OfficeJet 6500A, so not the same as yours but also not the
same as the links I've got in some notes as references for this), but,
just in case it is helpful for your model and that it still is helpful
to you more than two months later:

The links I have here:
- (this one has two "pages")
https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3703&t=know_how_hp_officejet_pro_8500s_hidden_service_menu
- https://tinyapps.org/blog/misc/201703040700_reset_hp_officejet.html

The procedure that worked on this one (seems to be the same as in the
first link above?):

1. turn on
2. turn off using the (power?) button
3. push power for 5 seconds
4. press home, back, home, home (same sequence as in the normal
interface)
5. a basic menu appears, which has a reset option somewhere

I think one of the service menus also has Pong.

--
Nuno Silva

On Sat, 20 Jan 2024 11:33:58 +0000, Nuno Silva wrote:
>
> The links I have here:
> - (this one has two "pages")
> https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3703&t=know_how_hp_officejet_pro_8500s_hidden_service_menu
> - https://tinyapps.org/blog/misc/201703040700_reset_hp_officejet.html
>
> The procedure that worked on this one (seems to be the same as in the
> first link above?):
>
> 1. turn on
> 2. turn off using the (power?) button
> 3. push power for 5 seconds
> 4. press home, back, home, home (same sequence as in the normal
> interface)
> 5. a basic menu appears, which has a reset option somewhere

After some 5 attempts it worked! But after it asked to set up language
and region it tossed me back to the "print head missing" error.

Suppose I toss it finally out.

> I think one of the service menus also has Pong.

Cannot even play pong with it. ;-)

Thanks for the info.
--
Andreas

On 2024-01-20, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:

> On Sat, 20 Jan 2024 11:33:58 +0000, Nuno Silva wrote:
>>
>> The links I have here:
>> - (this one has two "pages")
>> https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3703&t=know_how_hp_officejet_pro_8500s_hidden_service_menu
>> - https://tinyapps.org/blog/misc/201703040700_reset_hp_officejet.html
>>
>> The procedure that worked on this one (seems to be the same as in the
>> first link above?):
>>
>> 1. turn on
>> 2. turn off using the (power?) button
>> 3. push power for 5 seconds
>> 4. press home, back, home, home (same sequence as in the normal
>> interface)
>> 5. a basic menu appears, which has a reset option somewhere
>
> After some 5 attempts it worked! But after it asked to set up language
> and region it tossed me back to the "print head missing" error.
>
> Suppose I toss it finally out.
>
>> I think one of the service menus also has Pong.
>
> Cannot even play pong with it. ;-)
>
> Thanks for the info.

My notes on this are scattered -- I should have organized these back
when the details were fresh in my memory...; I just found another
section of a text file where I have other links and the information
about the possible kinds of reset.

One of the menus had a game, I really think it was pong, but I need to
find the power brick and connect the printer^Wscanner again to check in
which menu it is.

And I just saw a note saying yet another menu is available if you press
back four times (I'm guessing this is in the "home" screen of the
regular interface?). (Which I now see is actually also described in the
two-page article I linked yesterday (page 2, [1]))

[1] https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3703&seite=2

At another website, a page [2] mentions a procedure to reset during
power on, I wish I had seen this before sending my previous
reply. Although it requires the "keypad", which I'm not sure 6600 has,
from the photos I've found so far?

[2] http://resetprinters.com/3-different-ways-to-reset-the-hp-officejet-6500-all-in-one-printer/

(Also, make sure the messages you get after resetting are errors, I
remember seeing, when I was doing the reset-clean reset-instal-remove
try-anything-I-can-come-up-with cycles, messages that could actually be
closed to get back to the home screen, which can be easier to miss when
you've been getting an endless stream of unskippable errors.)

There might have been something about 'clearing' the printhead state by
cutting the power to the printer (so not powering off using the button,
but by disconnecting the power brick from the printer) with the top of
the printer open (and the cart/head in the middle), but I haven't found
yet where did I get this information from (if I'm even recalling it
correctly...). Another page [3] says that a "nozzle test" supposedly
fixes the error.

[3] https://www.techtangerine.com/2011/12/15/hps-dreaded-ink-system-failure/

Nozzle test is supposed to be at least in the menu you get with 4x back,
see the list of entries in page 2 of the two-part article [2].

A note mentions replacing the CR2032 - also mentioned in [3] - 6500A has
one, but I'm not sure it's easily accessible in this model, I was able
to remove and replace it because I was *trying* to access the spittoon
(I didn't get that far, though). As I was doing that, the battery slot
was more easily accessible than with all the covers in place...

--
Nuno Silva

On Sun, 21 Jan 2024 10:01:42 +0000, Nuno Silva wrote:
>
> On 2024-01-20, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>
>> After some 5 attempts it worked! But after it asked to set up language
>> and region it tossed me back to the "print head missing" error.
>>
>> Suppose I toss it finally out.

[...]

> And I just saw a note saying yet another menu is available if you press
> back four times (I'm guessing this is in the "home" screen of the
> regular interface?). (Which I now see is actually also described in the
> two-page article I linked yesterday (page 2, [1]))
>
> [1] https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3703&seite=2

That was the page I got the information from. It worked.

> At another website, a page [2] mentions a procedure to reset during
> power on, I wish I had seen this before sending my previous
> reply. Although it requires the "keypad", which I'm not sure 6600 has,
> from the photos I've found so far?
>
> [2] http://resetprinters.com/3-different-ways-to-reset-the-hp-officejet-6500-all-in-one-printer/

It has no keypad.

> (Also, make sure the messages you get after resetting are errors, I
> remember seeing, when I was doing the reset-clean reset-instal-remove
> try-anything-I-can-come-up-with cycles, messages that could actually be
> closed to get back to the home screen, which can be easier to miss when
> you've been getting an endless stream of unskippable errors.)

There was no error after resetting and setting up language and
region. But after that the *same* message about the missing print head
appeared. So back to square one.

> There might have been something about 'clearing' the printhead state by
> cutting the power to the printer (so not powering off using the button,
> but by disconnecting the power brick from the printer) with the top of
> the printer open (and the cart/head in the middle), but I haven't found
> yet where did I get this information from (if I'm even recalling it
> correctly...).

Last thing before tossing it will be the "unplug power" thing once I am
where the printer is.

> Another page [3] says that a "nozzle test" supposedly fixes the error.
>
> [3] https://www.techtangerine.com/2011/12/15/hps-dreaded-ink-system-failure/
>
> Nozzle test is supposed to be at least in the menu you get with 4x back,
> see the list of entries in page 2 of the two-part article [2].

Trying to get to the nozzle test URL since about half an hour, but only get
"Too many connections".

> A note mentions replacing the CR2032 - also mentioned in [3] - 6500A has
> one, but I'm not sure it's easily accessible in this model, I was able
> to remove and replace it because I was *trying* to access the spittoon
> (I didn't get that far, though). As I was doing that, the battery slot
> was more easily accessible than with all the covers in place...

Really not worth it. Printer was a street find many years ago. Just
thought I could use the scanner part even if the printer part fails.

Or play Pong at least. ;-)

Got to toss it. I made things even worse (I expected it though). Before
the factory reset I set it up to be a WLAN hotspot. So I could log
in. But not all settings are void. Because I cannot get to the main
menu I cannot even set up the network.

But thanks for your recherche. :-)
--
Andreas