Photosmart 5520 won't print black

[tommygolf85]

I have a photosmart 5520, it printed perfect never had one issue with it, until the other day the Black ink ran out, I bought 2 new HP black ink cartridges and they both failed, I have tried everything that has been in these forums, alginment, clean printer head, clean printer, I tried the things that others got from youtube videos,  many attempts that one of my new cartridges is already empty, at least thats what the printer says , I did have some black in built up to the right of the printer head assembly just like others have said.

I will say that the SuperStar Blunticus, is CORRECT, and i want to give him a SHOUTOUT, you need to be commended on your efforts and not taking NO for a answer, you sir are a superstar!   Without your instructions i wouldnt have attempted to remove the printer head, SO i used his instructions to remove the printer head,  IT CAN BE DONE , and there was alot of ink build up, I do not know if it was normal or not , and if you attempt to take out the printer head read his instructions carefully, cuz you have to pay close attention to the ribbons, after putting printer back together i still cant print, but i didnt have any errors from the printer itself or the software everything checks out.  SO if your warrenty is expired and u have no other options use Mr Blunticus instructions, cuz you have nothing to lose. If i can do it, so can YOU, I just wish it would have worked.

  The software tells me that the printer is in great shape, YEAH , totally unreal, that just becuase the black ink ran empty,  now the computor chip or brains of this  printer are dead lol. So if anybody has ideas or thinks of something i may have missed or can try it would be greatly appreciated, my warrenty is expired and i assume i will be buying a new printer and IT will NOT be HP! 

Cheers to you all!

[Blunticus]

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you. Does the printer print anything at all? Does it print in color? You may want to try and take the print head out again. But this time, take some hot water on a paper towel and dab the little screen ports where the ink goes into. Do this multiple times for each port.

This will loosen dry ink that may be preventing the good ink from passing into the head. Soak the bottom of the print head one more time like in the previous post to help rinse the bad ink passing through the head. Let it dry then give it another go.

Hope this helps

[tommygolf85]

I have been running in BLACK INK only mode for over 10  months, in fact i never even replaced the color cartridges when they went empty cuz i never use color, the printer is used for printing shipping labels so i had no need to replace the color cartridges cuz i never used them.  I thought about replacing them to see if that would work, but i really dont think that is the issue cuz the printer was working fine for **bleep** near a year with the color cartridges empty.  And i really dont wanna waste money and replace them , i just wasted $30 on black cartridges, lol.  When i run the diagnostics color shows up but its real light but i knew that since the cartridges are empty.  The Black would print really light and NOW you cant even read a word, but i have tried to clean the print head many times.

I uninstalled all of the software and reinstalled it and ran all of hp diagnostics and everything says the printer is good to go, it prints and updates on command, lol it just wont print black.  Since i have nothing to lose, i will take it apart again and try it,  I have had zero issues with this printer for over a year,  Thanks for the reply and hopefully i can get everything back together with no problem again, Your directions were spot on!  Cheers

[David38]

Printer heads cleaned, alignment performed

[Ciara_B]

@tommygolf85 

I'm going to send you a private message (check out envelope at top right)

[Ciara_B]

@David38 

Do you have a PS 5520? Is it in warranty?

Thanks, Ciara

[elenay]

I tried all of the recommended steps - printer still won't print black. Very frustrating.

[Blunticus]

Ok. Here is an extra step you can take to try and resolve the issue.

Remove the print head again following the steps above. Once you have it removed, get a bowl of hot water and a paper towel. Moisten enough of the paper towel and gently dab it on the screened port for the black ink. You can do this for the others as well. Dab, moisten another clean area of the paper towel, dab....repeat a few times. You may experience ink flowing from the bottom of the print head. Thats a good thing. It might be good to do this over a sink. Once you have finished, rinse the bottom of the print head the way described above, by soaking the bottom portion in the bowl of hot water. Let it dry and reassemble. It sounds like a clogged ink port due to dried ink. Hopefully this helps.

[tommygolf85]

VICTORY AT LAST!!

After removing printer head for the second time, i soaked and soaked and soaked printer head over night in water, I even ran hot water into screen on printer head, then used a fan to dry it out cuz i know I got water on the circuit board, I really didnt care at that point, so after putting it all back together..NO LUCK, it didnt print a thing.  I was done with it at that point.  My mom  had a her printer she never used so i had that one already set up and my old printer was going in the Trash. THEN.........................

   My roommate saved the day, While I was at work, he didnt want to quit,  he thought he would try one more thing with something other than water.  What he  did was put Windex on a paper towl and rubbed it into the screen below the black cartidge and BINGO, it worked.  I couldnt believe it.  So a HUGE thank you to Blunticus! Without your instructions I never would have tried to remove printer head.  If anybody follows his directions make sure you are careful with the slim ribbon that goes from one side of the printer thru the printer head and to the other side, that ribbon must be in the right spot.  And If you only use black, U do NOT have to replace the Color Cartridges with new ones. change your settings to black only and u will be fine.  IT can be done!   I wanna thank everybody who commented or sent me a message. A huge thank you to everybody.  BLUNTICUS  U ROCK!   If your having problems TRY and TRY again.  Cheers!

[Blunticus]

Glad to hear you got it up and running agin.  Kudos to your roomate for elbow-dropping the printer.  Elanay, please follow up and let us know if you are still having issues after cleaning the screened ports.