Mound of ink from black 92 cartridge, also only blue left in color 93

[tlcon]

I replaced my black 92 cartridge recently, even though I hadn't printed a lot and it was fairly new.  Today I removed my color 93 to replace due to the fact that the magenta and yellow is low (when I do a test page, only blue shows) and in doing so, I noticed a mound of black ink under the black cartridge. 

Is this a cartridge problem or a printer problem?  I cleaned out the mound of ink, do I need to do further cleaning of my printer and where the mess was, such as the foam?

[Bob_Headrick]

The mound is normal, what you cleaned out was the "spittoon" area where the cartrdiges are serviced to keep the nozzles clear.  It is generally not necessary (or desireable) to clean the service station area.

Running cleaning cycles from the toolbox is generally not necessary and should be avoided.

[tlcon]

Thank you Bob.  Do you recommend I do anything from the toolbox after I replace my color cartridge?

[Bob_Headrick]

What printer model?  The printer should automatically run the necessary routines for a new cartridge without requiring any manual cleaning cycles.  For some printer models it may be necessary to complete an alignment process by loading the printed sheet on the scanner bed and pressing the scan button.

[tlcon]

Photosmart C3180 All-in-One.  It's an older printer, I love it, and I have never had any issues before, but these last cartridges just didn't provide much printing.

[Bob_Headrick]

The 92/93 cartridges are relatively small, but if they did not give the normal life there are a few things to check:

1. Are the cartridges outdated?  Especially the color cartridge may be prone to failure if it is well beyond the normal 2-year warranty date.  While the cartridges do not have an expiration as such they do have a shelf life and if they are very old they may have shorter life.  See the page here for cartridge warranty information.
2. Are the cartridges HP or reman/refills?  The latter generally have poor page yields and reliability, see here for information.