Why do Photosmart 6510 printers usually fail to print black (even after trying all ideas)?Help!

[halbhh]

Photosmart 6510, new.

new cartridges.  Prints colors great.  Black -- a bit of spotty black then nothing.  Replaced the new black with another new black cartridge (HP 564).

Result: Colors still work great.  Black -- blank pages, nothing.  Did all ideas in forums.  All.  Clean from the menu, you name it.

Judging from the many, many people having the same trouble. HP should recall this printer!

Or will we have to conclude (after owning a dozen) that HP no longer makes good stuff??

[KennyB3]

halbhh,

The cleaning tool is for freeing up any dried ink on the printhead.  After spotty black then nothing, replacing the ink cartridge, and running the clean printhead tool there may be an issue with the vent on the ink cartridge.  Click here to see a detailed description of the following steps for Troubleshooting Print Quality Issues on the HP Photosmart 6510 printer.  Solution 6 has a step for checking the vent on top of the ink cartridge to be sure there are no obstructions.

Solution one: Use genuine HP cartridges
Solution two: Allow automatic servicing to complete
Solution three: Check the paper
Solution four: Check the print settings
Solution five: Check ink levels and replace low or empty cartridges
Solution six: Print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostic Report
Solution seven: Replace the problem cartridge
Solution eight: Service the All-in-One

Are there any kind of printing messages coming up on the printer or computer?

[koskhandeh]

Same thing here... And they alway take you through time wasting twists and turns again and again 😞 Let's get to the point: This and apparently many other HP models have grave print head clotting/clogging/getting obstructed problems, for models with removable printer heads, you can remove it, soak the nozzles in hot water and they'll get un-clogged it seems, but what about 6510's un-removable printer head ?! Thumbs up if you think this is an under-par product which should be recalled. People have bought printers TO PRINT! not to do kitchen work with boiling waters...

[dkmcsm]

apparently this is a common problem, after trying the recommended HP solutions and searching all over the web and trying some other solutions, I found the answer on a blog that discusses this printer and this specific problem: Buy a new printer as this one is unrepairable if the print head clogs. Ouch

[IainGrainger]

I have the same problem.printer bought in August 2013, 3 days ago black ink stopped printing, all four inks showing approx 20% left, only black not working. Changed over with ink with new HP product, still not working. Used cleaning utility 3 times, still not working. Bought 2 printers from HP website, the other is a 7510, wondering if that will fail next!!!!!! I have a service call via an email out to fix this. Everything with HP takes such a long time..... Has any1 managed to fix this or am I going to have to throw it away.

Regards to you all

Iain

[Kyle_W]

More than likely the print head has gone bad. I would have recommended calling HP support to have this issue taken care of, as it is a lot faster. I don't know if things have changed recently, but when I did phone support and we needed to send a replacement, we would send the replacement first (5-7 Business Days for free, extra for 2-day or next day). That is assuming that the printer is in warranty. The replacement printer would be shipped first and then you would use that box to send the malfunctioning printer back. However, things do change and I'm not sure that is the policy anymore. 

My only quick recommendation would be this.

Take all the cartridges out and then perform a hard reset on the printer. 

Follow these steps to perform a hard reset.

1. Press the Power button to turn on the product.

2. With the product turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the product.

3. Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

4. Wait at least 15 seconds.

5. Plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.

6. Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the product.

7. If the product does not turn on by itself, press the power button to turn it on.

8. Put the cartridges back in when the printer boots back up and asks for them.

Try that and let me know if it helps!

Best of luck,

Kyle

[dollefientje]

tried it didn't work but thx 🙂

[Kyle_W]

You may need to do either a partial or semi-full reset on the printer. However I cannot post these steps in the forums as it is against HP policy. If you would like, you can either send me a private message asking for the steps or you can let me know in this thread and I will send them to you.

Thanks,

Kyle

[IainGrainger]

Hi Kyle,
I tried that did not work,
Regards
Iain

[IainGrainger]

I would like the info please Kyle. Thanks