I replaced all ink cartriges. Black wasn't working before and still isn't. I've cleaned the printhead 6 times. Still no printing in black. Help
1538173
I had similar problems and finally junked the printer after spending way too much time and money buying new cartridges and trying to clean the print head. A new print head cost as much as a new printer. I bought a new Brother printer and haven't had any issues so far. This was my second HP that was junk after very little use in a short time. I wouldn't buy another.
1538174
I wish I had a solution for you but unfortunately I had to scrap my HP Officejet for the exact same issue. We tried changing all of the cartridges, including the black twice, just in case it was just a bad head and we even updated the software. After dealing with this ink-guzzling monster for over a year we junked it and got the Epson Workforce printer. We're having much better ink use with the new printer.
1538175
Unfortunately that usually the print head is ruined and needs to be replaced. I would not suggest that you do so and instead just buy an Epson Workforce printer which uses less ink and is far more reliable.
805604
Hi Angela,, what I did when that happen to me, was, I took all colors cartridges out, yes even my empties, an put them back in, an made sure they clicked in place, try it, it worked for me, then restart the printer.
198973
Lois, check out this link, scroll down to porfo's answer. Just be careful when you detach the printer head wires, I jacked mine up. http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Issues-Troubleshooting/My-Officejet-4620-will-not-print-the-black-ink/td-p/2235905
456859
When I installed the first black cartridge from the set in my xp-410 it didn't work initially. I did a print head cleaning cycle and now it works fine. Waiting to write a review until I've had a chance to try the other cartridges, but figured I would share my experience. They should have a basic trouble shooting FAQ site that you could go to for common issues that might be easily solved.
905771
Oh, thank god, this worked for me as well. This was driving me nuts. I had just bought a replacement large black tank and all I'm trying to print is text, but it wouldn't work because one of the photo tanks was out. (And I couldn't just buy that one, would have had to buy the pack of all four colors for $60)... I was about ready to just buy a new printer!
1103852
My printer stopped printing in black and white and will only print in color. I have never experienced anything like this. I've cleaned the printer head and run all diagnostics available and nope. It was great when it worked but this printer is only two years old. The hell.
300439
I have printed in only black and white. Just now, I removed the 3 color cartridges, and it would not print. May be missing something, but I think all the cartridge slots must be filled.
2201247
make sure that you have run 2 cleaning cycles. I have them not show up but try it anyway. make sure that the cart. are fully insured into the printer. if all everything still fails they have a warranty on them. and tell the story to inktoneram. they have worked well for me with no problem. also note that the printer may see cart. as empty but try printing again and they should work, runt cart as long as it prints ok when showing streaks and so on, change cart.
1498676
I am assuming that you have tried to clean the print heads. This happened to me, and in the end I had to return the printer. It was under warranty and was replaced by Epson.
1472879
I have not run across this problem yet, but I believe if you print in black you should still be able to print without replacing the color that has run out. Hope this helps.
1888039
2 months after purchase my black ink went streaky and wouldn't clear up no matter what I tried. I contacted Lexmark via online chat and they agreed to replace the printhead. One word of caution--they will make you exhaust every possible solution before they replace it, so have all available purchase and machine info ready. They will also try to send you a free ink first, saying it is a bad cartridge. If you can get through all of this, and have a half hour to spend, you can get a new printhead.
396041
I had the same issue. I followed the instructions here and was able to print with black ink again: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Ink-Toner-Cartridge-Printhead-Issues/HP-PhotoSmart-5520-How-Do-I-Remove-Printhead/m-p/3724256#M43692
403962
Hi John, the cartridge are supposed to be "plug and use", if they are not being recognized by the printer, contact the seller, they should be fine to replace them for you. It happend once to me on one black cartridge, the seller asked me to trash it and he send me a replacement one that worked fine.
466168
Apparently that is the nature of this printer as I had to do the same after I'd replaced the black/yellow printhead, also replace the magenta/cyan printhead. I hope this helps, Dave.
1369840
It's possible that your Cyan or Yellow printhead ports might be clogged. Try using a different set of full ink cartridges and then clean the heads using the printer software.
1261325
That's a good question! I have two of these printers and both have been nothing but trouble. I have one that can't see the full black cartridge now. I just read the note about contacting Lexmark support. I'll have to give that a try. Best of Luck!
243018
I guess that I had a similar experience. I replaced the black cartridge several times and worked with help desk. Eventually it came down to replacing the entire print engine. At this point I took the printer to the dump. Sorry you had a similar experience.