Document not printing on paper

[jon12341]

This morning, I tried printing out a black and white word document and the printer just spit out the blank sheet of paper back at me. I assumed the ink was out so I replaced both of the ink cartridges with new ones. At first, the small screen on the printer was telling me that the ink cartridges were either not being detected or they weren't installed properly. I tried taking them back out and then putting them back in and then the printer no longer detected those issues. When the printer proceeded to print the alignment page, it only spit out the blank sheet of paper back at me with nothing printed on it again. What should I do? 

[Drakster]

Hi @jon12341,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I see that you're unable to print documents on your HP Photosmart C4795 All-in-One Printer. I will certainly do my best to help you and please remember to return to this thread and mark 'Accept as Solution', if I have successfully helped you resolve the issue. If you wish to say 'thanks' for my effort to help, click the 'thumbs up' to give me a Kudos.
 
I see that you have tried a replacement ink cartridge, I'm fairly certain that the black ink cartridge is defective or printhead is clogged.

How often do you print? 

TIP: If waiting until the cartridges are depleted before replacing the supplies can cause issues with the printer's ink delivery system. To keep your printer healthy and extend longevity, always replace the cartridges before the ink runs dry so that air does not get trapped inside.
 
Please try the steps within this guide: 

• Fixing Print Quality Problems for the HP Photosmart C4600 and C4700 All-in-One Printer Series

Are you using Genuine HP Cartridges?

• How to identify genuine HP cartridges.
• What are the ink levels?

If you have a defective ink cartridge or printhead, it might be under warranty. To check the warranty on your ink supplies, go to hp.com/go/learnaboutsupplies, select your country/region, then review the limited warranty information for your supplies.

If the cartridge is out of warranty, you can try cleaning the cartridge manually. Please use at your own discretion. 

• Video: 7 Ways to Clean Blocked Clogged Ink Cartridges 

If you completed all the preceding steps and your product still has an issue, service the product.

Contacting HP for service in all countries/regions except Asia Pacific.
First, go to Check your product warranty to check your printer warranty status, and then go to Contact HP Support to find an authorized service dealer or to schedule a repair.
Check Warranty Status: http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/wc/public/home 
Repair fees might apply for out-of-warranty printers.
What you can do, is use the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process: 
Step 1. Open link: http://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp
Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect 
Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options" 
Step 4. Scroll down and click on HP contact options - click on Get phone number 
Case number and phone number appear. 

I hope this information is helpful. Please respond to this post with the results. Good Luck! 

[jon12341]

Thanks @Drakster for replying to my issue. 

To answer your question, I used to use the printer frequently but the past few months I have printed at my university's printers for convenience purposes. About a month ago,  I printed out a photo from a word document and it turned out fine but that was the last thing I printed. 

You think the black ink cartrdige is defective? When I try to print the allignment page out though even the color ink does not show up on the piece of paper. I'm hesitant to buy a new cartridge because I suspect the problem might be the devices inside the printer.

If the print head is clogged what should I do?

I went ahead and tried several of the steps within the guide like cleaning the print cartridges through the toolbox. I have not tried manually cleaning the cartridges with water though. Would you recommend trying that?

ALSO, I would be interested in servicing the printer. However, my warrenty expired 2 days ago! (May 30) Do you know if there is anyway I can have a minor extension on my warranty? 

[Drakster · Accepted solution]

Hi @jon12341,

Thanks for getting back to me.

Yes, I suggest that you manually clean the cartridges (if they are out of warranty), rather than replacing them. If you do not print often, the printhead can dry out. The printhead is on the cartridge, this is why I recommended that you try manually cleaning the cartridges.

I noticed that you mentioned that the printer's warranty just ran out. I believe this printer was first released in 2009, you purchased this printer a year ago? 

To my knowledge HP does not repair consumer printer products. However, HP may offer you a discount towards a trade-in on a replacement unit. Please call HP at your earliest convenience.

I hope this helps clear up any confusion. Thanks for reaching out to the HP Support Forums!

[jon12341]

Manually cleaning the cartridges solved the issue! Thank you! At first, I was hesitant to put the cartridge into water because I thought it would damage it but now I see that it works! 

[jgishere]

I am not too smart with technology...but sometimes we dumbA stumble on  a fix. I worked for days trying to figure out why my hp8600 printer would not print and an error box came up for me to reload paper. I was just fixing to trash it as I have had it a good while. I decided to try one more time. It wouldn't work and as I was giving up, my husband noticed something that I could not see. It was a very thin material that had slipped down into the top feeder. I pulled it out and it works great. I didn't think about the top feeder as I never use it. Just a tip that I wanted to share as I know that I am not the only DumbA out here. Tnanks for the space as I doubt that you will hear from me again.