Photo black vs black ink

[CapnJack]

It is my understanding that my c309 uses the larger black ink cartridge (not the smaller photo black cartridge) to print black text on plain paper.  However, I have only been printing text on plain paper for over a month (no photos at all) and my smaller photo black ink cartridge is empty and the larger black ink cartridge is full.

In addition, now that the photo black cartridge is empty my black text comes out blank even though there is plenty of ink in the larger black cartridge.

How can I force the printer to use the black (not photo black) cartridge for text on plain paper? Thanks.

Jack

[Bob_Headrick]

There is unfortunately some confusion in the ink gauge for the c309a.  Depending on how your printer is connected the ink gauge may show as a mirror image, leading to the incorrect assumption that the Photo cartridge is empty when it is actually the Black.  The black cartridge is the one next to the yellow, and shown below with the cyan arrow.  The photo cartridge is the one next to magenta and is shown below with a yellow arrow.  If the printer really is using the photo cartridge for printing black text it may be that the paper sensor is incorrectly reading the paper type as photo paper.  In this case changing the paper type from "Automatic" to "Plain Paper" should resolve the issue.