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Archived This topic has been archived. Information and links in this thread may no longer be available or relevant. If you have a question create a new topic by clicking here and select the appropriate board.
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Bob, I have gone through all your suggestions (and thank you for being so patient and detailed with all of us)  Unfortunately I still have a problem.  

 

Here are my details.  

 

I have an HP Officejet 6500.  Black ink was running low yesterday so I replaced the 920XL cartridge (HP brand).  This morning my son tried to print and no black printing (although color worked).  I have had this issue with other printers so I first tried running the Clean Printhead software several times.  Nothing.  

 

Then shut off printer, turned back on.  Same for computer.  Tried cleaning again.  Tried checking the vent of the cartridge with a pin.  

 

Thought maybe a bad black cartridge, so I opened ANOTHER brand new one.  Same thing.  Tried running the Clean Printhead again with new cartridge.  Nothing.  

 

Ok, so I figured I will try manually cleaning the print head with hot water, as you had recommended.  Followed the directions, hot water for 5 minutes, dried it off well and gently.  Put everything back and still no black ink.  Ran Clean Printhead software again several times.  

 

When I pulled out the black cartridge again, the print head was AMAZING clean...it had no black ink on it.  Which tells me that no ink is even coming out of the cartridge and touching the print head.  Checked out the cartridge again and it does not appear clogged.  Taking a paper towel and touching it to inky part (sorry don't know the right term), got a nice round blot of ink.  Several times.  The ink is there.  It's almost as if the printer doesn't think it's supposed to be printing with black.  

 

So then I saw a post (maybe it was even one of yours) that said to try COPYING a page, rather than printing using the computer.  So that's what I did.  Put in a sheet of paper with lots of black text, tried to COPY, using the BLACK option, not the color.  Paper is absolutely blank.  Is there anything else I can try or have I totally run through all my options?  

 

I wouldn't mind so much buying another printer but now I have all these cartridges just for the 6500.  Thanks in advance for any other suggestions you can give me.

Valerie

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Thanks for the help.  we cleaned the printhead which didn't work at first.  Then we ran the printhead cleaning cycle through the tools menu twice and that did it!  Thanks so much.  Had  the creditcard out, ready to order another printhead but it works perfectly now.  THANK YOU!

HP Recommended
THanks for the help
HP Recommended

We have a HP6500 printer and the black ink will not print.  We followed the instruction on how

to clean it from the post.  We were excited to find a way to solve this problem without having to

buy a new printer.  It is fairly new (but out of warranty) and we do not use it that much.  The problem

is after installing the clean printhead the read out on the panel continues to say "ink system

failure...turn printer off and then on".  We have done this 10 times and it still says the same

thing.  Any other suggestions as what to do????????

HP Recommended

Well, I'll tell you how I solved MY problem (after following all the steps above):

 

1. Throw out all HP black ink cartridges

2. Throw out all HP color ink cartridges

3. Throw out HP Printer

4. Buy Epson printer

HP Recommended

@lindagg wrote:

We have a HP6500 printer and the black ink will not print.  We followed the instruction on how to clean it from the post.  We were excited to find a way to solve this problem without having to buy a new printer.  It is fairly new (but out of warranty) and we do not use it that much.  The problem is after installing the clean printhead the read out on the panel continues to say "ink system failure...turn printer off and then on".  We have done this 10 times and it still says the same thing.  Any other suggestions as what to do????????


The document here may help.  Be sure to follow all the steps, Solution 2 may resolve your issue.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


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I experienced the same frustrations. But I found that after cleaning the printhead, if I let the printer sit, turned off, for a few days, it came back to life, healed and healthy. It's been working fine again for three months. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

HP Recommended

I am so sorry that the frustration wore you out!  You're right... that with the expense of the ink cartridges, it is particularly aggravating. I had actually bought a new printer and all the gear, but I found that after letting the printer with the cleaned printhead sit for a few days (turned off), when I turned it on for one last try, Lazarus had arisen from the dead! It worked!  So I returned the newly purchased printer within a week. The old one has been working fine for three months.  I am being more cautious about buying printer ink, but I am glad to put off replacing the entire printer, since the technology is constantly improving and the costs are coming down.

HP Recommended

I had the same problem with my black ink not printing.  I'm glad to tell you all that Bob's method of soaking the printhead works!  After soaking the printheads, I did have to leave my printer alone for three days until it would print in black, though.  You may not have to leave it alone for that many days.  I was just fed up with it (tried to solve the problem for two days straight).  I hope this helps anyone else with the problem.

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You have my vote 100%. Too much talk and discussion on a piece of poop equipment.
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