Photosmart C309 suddenly stopped printing black ink (any solution?)

[E47Amsterdam]

My HP Photosmart Premium C309 suddenly stopped printing black.

Does anyone recognize this issue and has a solution?

I tried unplugging power-socket, on/off, cleaning printheads several times (also manually), giving cartridge some air, checked connections, replacing cartridge by new one. Nothing helps.

Browsing on the internet: it seems that this problem occurs with more HP-printers.

See e.g.: some forum Someome did temporarely solve the problem by performing cleaning procedures for (more then) 7 times, which cost five new cartridges to be replaced, and after a month or so the problem re-occurs. 

I would not like to do that because I don't want to empty another XL-cartridge and then finding out that the problem re-occurs.

The printer (purchased in april 2010)  is connected via USB on a Mac Pro 8Core with OS-X 10.6 (I always only use HP-paper and HP-original cartridges)  

Thanks for your help in beforehand.

Y.S., :robotsad:

[Bob_Headrick]

The steps of "cleaning the printhead manually" and "giving the printhead air" could each damage the printhead and should be avoided.  You mention that you bought the printer in April 2010, in most regions the printer would have a one year warranty.  I would suggest you Contact HP for warranty service.

[UnemployedEGR]

REAL SOLUTION. I had same experience, spent hours pulling my hair out as kids had project do at school and it was 10pm.  Your carriage is clogged! HERE IS THE FIX!! : 1) Remove all ink cartridges. 2) Remove carriage that the ink cartridges ride in by lifting lever on right and lifting the carriage vertically. 3) Wipe off any ink build-up visible on outside with clean rag or paper towel. 4) THIS IS THE KEY: Hold carriage under hot flowing water to flush all ink from the irrigation channels which distribute ink. Keep rinsing until water in clear i.e. no signs of ink. 5) Dry carriage with clean rag and blow into areas you can access to flush water remnants. 6)Let carriage air dry over night. 7) Re-install carriage, then re-install ink cartridges. 😎 ENJOY YOUR PRINTER. 9) I have seen numerous entries on this topic dating back two years, with no real solution offered. I am an unemployed Auto Engineer. If HP (or anyone else) would like to hire an intelligent, hardworking Engineer in Detroit area, please inform. Thank you!

[Bob_Headrick]

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@UnemployedEGR wrote:

[snip] 5) Dry carriage with clean rag and blow into areas you can access to flush water remnants. [snip]

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This step could permanently damage the printhead. Blowing into the printhead could cause the layers to delaminate, destroying the printhead.  Be careful....

[hnolde]

Thank you!  I have been fighting the same problem for over a month.  It may be dangerous, but it worked for me!!!

[danndewitt]

I don't have an answer, but I do have a similar problem: my C309 prints on paper fine, but suddenly now when I try to print printable CDs or DVDs (which have worked fine in the past) with simple black on white, I get only cyan. Have checked levels of ink and black, oddly, is the most full. And like I said, all colors print fine on paper. Have tried to print out of Word, Photoshop, and Acrobat. Sound familiar to anybody? I'm totally baffled.

[erisso]

HP Photosmart Premium C309 not printing black

Got that problem also, Black would not pring but dark grey would be printed ???

What i did and it worked was reset to factory settings, unpluging the printer for ± 25 seconds

holding 3 and # for and other 25 seconds went and after pitting power back on

then re-enterring your setting,  all wet fine

Hopping this will help others

[cofas00 · Accepted solution]

This "Absolutely" worked for my c309! It started printing gray yesterday, then I finally got blank pages. My first thought was HP has screwed me again! lol But I tried the post above...I unplugged the printer for over 25 sec., held down the 3 and # buttons simultaneously for another 25 sec plus then plugged printer in while still holding the buttons down and did this for another 25 sec.  Had to reset the lang. and country, but after a few minutes it printed a perfect test page and I was able to print all my docs now!  So this was an easy fix vs the one on removing the heads/cartridge and water, etc.  I would try this first and if it doesn't work, then you can try the other fixes. Thank you!!!!  Good luck!

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@erisso wrote:

HP Photosmart Premium C309 not printing black

Got that problem also, Black would not pring but dark grey would be printed ???

What i did and it worked was reset to factory settings, unpluging the printer for ± 25 seconds

holding 3 and # for and other 25 seconds went and after pitting power back on

then re-enterring your setting,  all wet fine

Hopping this will help others

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[JaniceMo]

Im having this same issue with the yellow only. Will try and let you know if it works. Thanks!

[MKBeidler]

The partial factory reset did, in fact, fix my black ink issue!  Thanks for the assist!