HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 won't print black

[MarjV]

My printer is barely over a year old and barely used. The original cartridges were empty, mostly from printer maintenance tasks, so I bought new cartridges and installed all 4 black and colour cartridges, 902XL (VERY expensive). Since then, the colour cartridges print perfectly, but not even a hint of black ink whatsoever. I followed every step suggested on the HP support page and on the support community forum thread here: 

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Inkjet-Printing/HP-6978-won-t-print-black-ink/td-p/5922581/page/1

It still prints no black at all and I have wasted about $30 of ink (about 1/3 used from each) from the brand new colour cartridges. I even thought it may have been a faulty black cartridge, so I tried the second black cartridge from my Costco 2-pack (did I mention, VERY expensive?) to no avail. 

I am about ready to take it to the recycling depot and never buy another HP printer. I previously had an 8500 series and had nothing but issues with it, too, having to replace the printhead, and wasting a fortune in ink there, too. I am at my wit's end and will be so angry if this is not fixable within only a few months of the warranty expired and not even getting past the original ink supplied with the unit. 😞

Almost feels like it was set up to fail from the factory, right after the warranty expiration in July! 

Any help greatly appreciated! I have only printed maybe 20 pages from this thing - it's practically brand new!

[Kumar0307]

@MarjV, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Apologies for the inconvenience caused. If you have tried all the troubleshooting steps mentioned in this document and the issue persists, please contact our HP Support team for Service Options as it could be a possible hardware issue:

1) Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/

2) Select your product type below.

3) Enter the serial of your device.

4) Select the country from the drop-down.

5) Select the appropriate option based on your preference.

6) Fill the web-form and proceed further.

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

If you feel my post solved your issue, please click “Accept as Solution”, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[whatever19]

I have the same problem with a different HP model. I followed all the steps to no avail. If you follow the BS support advice provided, since your printer is also out of warranty, the HP feedback is you can call us, but we will charge you if you call. Thus, my opinion is they want us to take the printers to the dump or electronics recycle and then go out and buy a printer not sold by HP.  I'm not wasting money on their criminally priced ink just to still have the printer not print black and the cartridge be useless.

[Kumar0307]

@whatever19

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

[MarjV]

Thanks, @KUMAR0307, but I went to Costco yesterday, after much frustration and wasting half of all the brand-new colour ink cartridges doing tests, and they told me I could bring it back for a refund. I did that today. Given that this is my second HP printer "fail," I will be using my refund to buy a different brand of printer (from Costco, of course, since they back what they sell). I just can't afford the price of ink at CDN$184 for 2 XL black cartridges and one set of XL colour.

[whatever19]

Good choice. I made the mistake of not using Costco for this purchase. I won't make that mistake again, but I also won't be buying an HP. They must realize the printer was crap as they send me emails offering me a discount since they stopped servicing my printer 6 months after the warranty expired.