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I am very frustrated! I cannot get my Photosmart 6515 to print black ink.

 

Our school sends documents via e-mail now that we have to print out at home. Great for them, but not for me. They are usually PDFs, so I don't have the ability to edit and change the color to blue to get it to print, either.

 

I have only used HP cartridges on this printer. I know it is over a year old, so calling phone support will do no good.

 

I have replaced two cartridges, and now it shows the black ink completely full, but when I print the printer status report, the black does not show up at all. Black is not showing up on any of the tool pages, either.

 

I've tried the "clean printhead" command several times. I've unplugged it, and waited. I've taken all the cartridges out. The connections look clean.

 

What do I need to do to do a partial or complete reset?

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
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Hi Photokool,

 

I understand this has been a frustrating experience for you, and I would like to help.

 

I am going to send you a private message, please check the little envelope on the top right hand corner of the forums page to check your Forums inbox.

 

Forums Inbox.jpg

Sunshyn2005
I work on behalf of HP


If you found this post helpful, you can let others know by clicking the Accept as Solution button. You can also show your appreciation, with a kudos, by clicking the thumbs up" button!

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32 REPLIES 32
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And the vent holes are clean and "free" of adhesive. Not sure what else to do. This is my third HP printer, but if I have to buy a new one just for this, then it will not be another HP!

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Can someone at least tell me if there is a way to remove the printhead in the Photosmart 6515 to clean it? Thank you.

 

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From the amount of posts on this issue, it appears to be a VERY common practice with current HP printers... within the first year or two, the black ink clogs up and will not print. The "clean print head" options on the printer don't accomplish anything.

 

So even though I've only put "genuine" HP cartridges in my printer -- and paid the cost that goes along with that -- that does not assure me that I can have a reliable printer.

 

On one of the of the other threads, someone actually marked the issue as "solved" when the person with the printer was so frustrated that that gave up and bought another printer! That was the SOLUTION!

 

If this is a significant issue with HP printers, then HP needs to own it and issue recalls for the printers that are affected.

 

I'm going to call HP today, but I don't expect much. My previous loyalty to HP is misplaced, I guess. My third HP laptop had a hard drive failure after only 9 months. I replaced that drive, but then the computer CPU died when it was just over two years old. It is sad.

 

My current printer is my third HP printer. I gave away my first one because the print cartridges were so expensive and NEVER came down in price (black ink - $35 for an ink jet!). My second one I gave to my daughter, but she says she is having problems with print cartridges now, too.

 

My current one is not very old... it should not need to be replaced already. Very sad!

HP Recommended

Hi Photokool,

 

I certainly understand your frustration and appreciate your troubleshooting efforts thus far. 

 

It sounds to me like you have completed all of the steps in the following document; Printer Does Not Print Black Ink or Color Ink, or Prints Blank Pages. Please take a glance at the solutions offered and if there is anything you haven't tried yet go ahead and do so.

 

Although I would hope these troubleshooting efforts would resolve the issue, they might not. If the issue persists, please post back with your warranty status. Use the following link to check your warranty.

 

If your printer is still in warranty, please call HP and explain the issue you are experiencing. The number to call HP is 1-800-474-6836 for Canada and US, or you can Contact HP Worldwide.

 

If your printer is out of warranty, let me know and I will do my best to help. Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Please also include your country/region in your next post. Thanks.

 

I notice you have posted on other threads as well as created your own. I am confident that I will be able to help you, but I do ask for your patience. 

Sunshyn2005
I work on behalf of HP


If you found this post helpful, you can let others know by clicking the Accept as Solution button. You can also show your appreciation, with a kudos, by clicking the thumbs up" button!

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I'm still amazed at the lack of "formal" response I've received on this issue.

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Sunshyne,

I am in the U.S., and yes, my printer is out of warranty (I checked.)

 

Thanks for at least replying. I need to print out a permission form for my daughter's band camp, and it is a PDF, so I can't change the color to print as grey or blue even. The whole reason I have a printer at home so that I don't have to go elsewhere to print!

 

I am beyond frustrated now. I have tried every solution that is out there... which did NOT work. Why does HP make some printers with removeable print heads and others that are not? This was not a cheap printer. And I take very good care of my equipment, but it looks like these HP printers are set up to fail. From all the posts out there, the HP black ink must eventually gunk up the print head. Even buying pricey HP ink is not the solution. I feel like I should have just bought the knock-off ones now for all that it gave me in return. The joke is on me, I guess.

 

Calling HP customer service is mostly a joke. I know after the horrendous experiences I had after both my hard drive and then the CPU failed in my third HP laptop. You will get someone overseas whom you can barely understand, and they will have trouble understanding me as well. A laptop that is mostly used at home should not have just completely failed after two years. At least with the hard drive, I had some warning that the drive was failing, but I still lost 9 months of e-mails saved in Outlook because no one told me to back it up, too. I lost a bunch of stuff when the CPU failed, too, and it took me months to recover because I lost a lot of programs, too.

 

I posted on those other forums in the hope of saving others time who might search this forum. If you have an HP printer, it may suddenly decide to stop printing black ink, and there is really nothing you can do to fix it except buy another printer. Learn your lesson, and don't buy HP. 

 

"Genuine" HP ink is not the solution either because it clogs the print heads just as easily... depending on usage, but you can count on it being after your warranty has expired. I don't think HP wants to solve this because it knows it won't happen until AFTER the warranty has expired.

 

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I tried posting something about this on HP's Facebook site, but they have a way set up so that any customer complaints do not post to the main wall, instead they are buried off to the side that only shows part of one post. You have to click through to even see the large number of complaints. So basically, no one sees them. Great!

 

I'm still amazed at the lack of formal response from HP to my problem. 

 

I've now been without a printer for more than a week. It has not been fun. If anyone has a suggestion on a non-HP printer to buy instead, please send me a PM. I really don't want to go through this again in two years or less.

 

I've had three HP inkjet printers, but this is the first one that stopped printing black ink when the printer was not even two years old. IF I had used non-HP ink, I would have said maybe that was why. But I only used brand-new, non-refilled cartridges, and yet my printer failed so quickly. Is it unreasonable to expect something that cost $130 to last more than two years? Why is the printer designed to fail so quickly, and why is there not a solution that can be fixed? Why can't the print head be cleaned, if that is why the black does not print. 

 

Just telling people to run "print head clean" cycles just wastes more ink because all it is doing is trying to shoot more ink through a print head that is already blocked.

 

Remember when our VCRs (I'm dating myself!) had tape head cleaners you could buy? Just put the cleaner tape in and go.

Why can't HP design a clean print head cartridge that would actually dissolve the gunk built up?

 

I like having a separate photo paper tray for 4x6 prints. Image quality is important to me, but I don't think I need six separate tanks like one of the printers I was looking at recently. I really don't want another HP because I'm really disgusted that this problem is so widespread but HP continues to sell new printers that will have the same issues.

 

Even Costco is just selling HP printers now! Ugh! I want something more reliable!

HP Recommended

Hi Photokool,

 

I understand this has been a frustrating experience for you, and I would like to help.

 

I am going to send you a private message, please check the little envelope on the top right hand corner of the forums page to check your Forums inbox.

 

Forums Inbox.jpg

Sunshyn2005
I work on behalf of HP


If you found this post helpful, you can let others know by clicking the Accept as Solution button. You can also show your appreciation, with a kudos, by clicking the thumbs up" button!

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Still waiting on some type of "official reponse." Frustrating!

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