Poor quality printing from black ink

[AJ95]

The print quality from the black ink is very poor - I printed off some printer info pages & could hardly read them.

The colour seems ok

[sandytechy20 · Accepted solution]

@AJ95

Welcome to HP support community.

Did yo u maker a copy and c heck if that prints fine?

If copy does not come out fine, follow the below steps to fix this issue:

Manually clean the area around the ink nozzles

1. Gather the following materials:

   • A clean, lint-free cloth or a clean, dry cotton swab

   • Distilled or bottled water

        CAUTION: 

     Do not use tap water because it might contain contaminants that can damage the printhead.

2. Open the ink cartridge access door.

   The carriage moves to the center of the printer.

   Figure : Opening the ink cartridge access door

   

3. Wait until the printer is idle and silent before you continue.

4. Lightly press down on one of the ink cartridges to release it, and then pull the ink cartridge toward you out of its slot.

   Figure : Removing the ink cartridge

   

      CAUTION: 

   Do not remove both ink cartridges at the same time. Remove and then clean each ink cartridge one at a time. Do not leave an ink cartridge outside the printer for more than 30 minutes.

5. Hold the ink cartridge by its sides.

   Figure : Holding the ink cartridge by its sides

   

6. Lightly dampen a clean, lint-free cloth or swab with bottled or distilled water.

7. Clean the face and edges around the ink nozzle with the cloth or swab.

      CAUTION: 

   Do not clean the ink nozzle plate.

   Figure : Cleaning the area around the ink nozzle

8. 1. 

      Nozzle plate - Do not clean

   2. Area surrounding ink nozzle - Do clean

   3. Ink cartridge contacts - Do not clean

9. Wait 10 minutes for the cleaned area to dry before you continue.

10. Hold the ink cartridge by its sides with the contacts toward the printer, insert the ink cartridge into its slot, and then gently push the ink cartridge until it snaps into place.

    Figure : Snapping the ink cartridge into place

    

11. Repeat these steps to clean around the nozzles on the other ink cartridge.

12. Close the ink cartridge access door.

You can refer this HP document for more assistance:- Click here

Let me know how it goes.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others and please give the same post a Kudos.

Cheers.

[AJ95]

Hi Sandytechy20

Thanks for the advice.

I have made a copy of a page with black print & that is very clear.

I tried printing again & that is better but  some of it changed to blue.

Would you still advise cleaning the cartridge please?

[sandytechy20]

@AJ95

Yes, clean the cartridge and check if that works fine.

Cheers.

[AJ95]

Hi Sandytechy20

I cleaned the cartridges as per your instructions & the black print is now very much improved , just slightly smudged in places.

I assume that  it would also be advisable to use better quality print paper.

Thank you for your advice!

[sandytechy20]

@AJ95

Clean the cartridge again it should work fine.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.