Black ink won't print on Photosmart Premium C309a

[kakkak]

Well, that new printhead worked fine for a little while.  Then the same old problem.  Tried cleaning the head again and again and finally just trashed the HP and bought a Canon MX922 for about $100 and it works great! 

[jansy2468]

At your suggestion I tried the  on-board printer utilities in the Setup menu.  

Alignment was successful and then finally "black ink" printing success!!    

Thank you so much for your help!!! 

[hjanfar]

This works, except if you want to use economical printing you can't.  I usually put my preferences on "black only" and use economical printing.  This fix doesn't work for that.  When I use this fix it prints regular, uses more ink and takes longer. BUt it is good to know.  Thanks.

[typritc]

This worked great for me too. Now I'd like to find a solution that works for the copy function.

[typritc]

Is black ink less expensive than colored ink?

[EnviroJack]

I replaced the black ink cartrige a couple of weeks  ago and, initially it would not work.  All other colors worked.  The photoblack cartrige has been empty for many months.  I seldom print picture so have not bothered to replace this color yet. Anyway, after restarting the printer several times, the black started to work.  Two days ago, it stopped printing black for documents from the computer and from copying on the printer glass.   I took the cartrige back to WalMart and they replaced it.  However, the new cartrige does not work at all now,  thus, it must be something wrong with the printer.  I have gone through all the relevant trouble shooting steps to no avail.  I have done an alignment test which "failed."   Need some help please.

[KathyH]

It's probably too late for most you but I figured out how to change the printer setting to "Applicatin Managed Color" permanently...  (My black only started to not print last night so that's why I arrived late to the party.....)

You do it by accessing the printer properties in the Devices and Printers window.  Select the Color tab, etc and after clicking on "apply" restart your computer.  Where MS Word and Excel weren't saving the "application management color" setting before, now they are. 

Hope this helps. 

P.S. While I see a lot of complaints about the 309A I love this printer and this is the first problem I've experienced...

To those of you who have purchased a new printer, what do you suggest - in the event  this is only the first of many probs to come... I'd be interested in knowing

TY

[SantaAtKX7]

I'm in the middle of troubleshooting some ink problems with my Mom and Dad's CC335A All-in-one; incredibly short lifespan.  Seems like you have to replace the cartridges every 20 pages.  I know they've replaced the whole set at least five times and they're still using their first ream of paper.  But in general, my observation is that HP tries to stick it to users with ridiculously high ink costs.  So my suggestion:

1. Don't use HP cartridges (unless I bring them to you as a Christmas Gift - hohoho).  Get replacements from OfficeMax, Meijer, Walmart, or wherever.  At least you won't be paying the exorbitant cost.  Maybe if enough people stop buying ink from HP, they'll cease trying to hijack users on ink and ink usage.
2. Ignore any warmings about "Genuine High Quality HP Ink".  If you're using this printer, you're probably not the kind of person who cares -- even if there is a difference, which I dont think there is.

And NEVER use the "endless ink" ploy.  They charge you on both number of pages and ink usage - and bill you monthly.  If you disagree or do not pay, they will TURN OFF YOUR PRINTER THROUGH THE INTERNET.  That happened to me.  Disabling a printer that you purchased makes it your property.  There was no understanding or presumption that HP would do this.  It might be in an online disclosure, but the whisk you past those pretty fast in the online application process.

I'll post something when I figure out what it's costing per page to print on the CC335A.

Merry Christmas

Santa

[elantiq]

I still have my c309a Photosmart printer and spent an entire afternoon trying to solve the "new black cartridge will not print and alignment failed" double whammie.  Wasted so much ink, paper, etc following the official HP suggestions, including washing the printer head.  About to give up when I found your suggestion.  Thank you.  You saved my mind!!!