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Archived This topic has been archived.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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I have a C309a All In One Photosmart Premium printer.   It quit printing black, so I replaced the large black ink cartridge and it still wouldn't print black.  I checked ink levels in settings, and it says that the Photo Black is out!

 

I don't print photos.  Why is it using the photo black instead of the regular black?

 

I have already verified that my print settings specify "general everyday printing" rather than photos, etc. I've looked through all the settings on the hardware and the software, but been unable to find anything that fix this.

 

Does anyone know what I can do to make the printer use the large, general usage black instead of the photo black ink?

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Covcomm wrote:

OK, thanks for the quick response.  I tried switching it to "plain paper" and reprinted, but still the black doesn't show up.  The other colors do, so it must be using more of the photo black than the general usage black.

 

If I understand your answer, the printer requires that both black cartridges have ink in order to print any black, even though I am not printing photos?


OK, if the printer goes through the motions of printing but does not print black it would indicate an issue with the printhead.  Try running up to three  printhead cleaning cycles from the toolbox.

 

While a small amount photo black (and all other colors) ink will be used for serrvicing it will not print on the paper for normal text.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

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

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Covcomm wrote:

I have a C309a All In One Photosmart Premium printer.   It quit printing black, so I replaced the large black ink cartridge and it still wouldn't print black.  I checked ink levels in settings, and it says that the Photo Black is out!

 

I don't print photos.  Why is it using the photo black instead of the regular black?


It will use a small bit of ink in each color to keep the nozzles healthy.  If a color is allowed to run out the printhead nozzles can become clogged, so the printer will not print to prevent damage to the printhead.

 

The printer will also not use the normal black if it detects photo paper in the printer.  If you are printing on plain paper I would suggest selecting "plain paper" rather than automatic for the paper setting.


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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OK, thanks for the quick response.  I tried switching it to "plain paper" and reprinted, but still the black doesn't show up.  The other colors do, so it must be using more of the photo black than the general usage black.

 

If I understand your answer, the printer requires that both black cartridges have ink in order to print any black, even though I am not printing photos?

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Covcomm wrote:

OK, thanks for the quick response.  I tried switching it to "plain paper" and reprinted, but still the black doesn't show up.  The other colors do, so it must be using more of the photo black than the general usage black.

 

If I understand your answer, the printer requires that both black cartridges have ink in order to print any black, even though I am not printing photos?


OK, if the printer goes through the motions of printing but does not print black it would indicate an issue with the printhead.  Try running up to three  printhead cleaning cycles from the toolbox.

 

While a small amount photo black (and all other colors) ink will be used for serrvicing it will not print on the paper for normal text.


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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Ah, that did the trick!  Thanks! 
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I have a similar problem (I think). I have a new C309a. When my first cartridge of regular black ran out, the photo black cartridge was also empty even though I had printed no photos. I replaced the regular black cartridge, not the photo black cartridge, and it's printing fine.

 

Your explanation doesn't sound like equal amounts of the photo black and regular black would be used...is this correct? If so, then I'm wondering why the black cartridges emptied at the same rate..

 

I'm not getting any warnings about the photo black being empty...are you saying I should replace it anyway to avoid a clog?

 

Thanks, cp

 

 

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Why did my photo black cartridge run out before my regular xl black ink cartridge on my HP c309a.  I've had the printer for 2 months and have printed 2 photos and many many documents using plain paper?

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I purchased my photosmart 309a printer at Costco in December. I have printed around 40 black and white pages, maybe 20 colored pages and 3 pictures.  Today, when pringing in B&W, the quality was gone and there was very little black ink produced.  When I checked the ink levels, ALL of the cartridges show empty.  

 

Can someone tell me why this would happen?  I tried cleaning the jets, and it printed fine for about 3 times, then back to gray ink, and very little of it.  The color is also bad.  I have tried taking them out and putting them back in, again, no improvement.

 

I am getting very cranky about this.  I picked this printer because it had all of the features I needed, and was advertized to have good ink usage, but I am really not happy about this.

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If I were you, I'd take it back to Costco and go get a Canon.  I wish I had!

 

My ink cartridges went out quickly too.    I can list about 15 things that don't work with this printer - scanning  only works from the glass, not from the feeder.  Anything I do from the feeder causes an error, because after the last page it's always looking for another page, then it gives a jam error, then it cancels. So I can't use it for copying - to make a copy I have to scan it, then print!  The wireless feature doesn't work at all.  The printer will cut off the bottom of the page, about 1/2 the fime. 

 

I bought this for my home business, and I kept thinking it was all just user error, and if I were smart enough I could make it work.  After reading this site, I realized it's another case of HP using the users to test their beta products. 

 

I guarantee this is the last HP printer I will buy.

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I have a similar issue with my (new) HP Photosmart C5380. All the black printing is done using the Photo Ink cartridge, with the standard black ink cartridge not being used at all. I have not changed any of the default settings. I have standard paper (A4 size) loaded in the main tray. I have some of the 4x6 photo paper loaded in the tray for it. What settings do I need to change to use regular black instead of photo black?

 

I can see that one thing is to change the print quality setting from "automatic" to "normal". And apparently I need to change the paper type from "automatic" to "plain paper". Is there anything else?

 

Finally, I would like to change the "everyday printing" shortcut to reflect the above - but I don't seem to be able to make any changes stick. It always reverts back to the original (for example, returning to 8.5x11 paper instead of A4). How can I permanently change/modify (or even delete!) these printer shortcuts?

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