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Check out our Black or Color Ink Not Printing, Other Print Quality Issues info about: Print quality and Cartridge Issues.
HP Recommended

I done all the steps described, but still not printing in black. Now what?

HP Recommended

@STruitt106, Welcome to HP Support Community!

 

If you have already performed the steps from the document HP OfficeJet 6900 Printers - Black or Color Ink Not Printing, Other Print Quality Issues and the issue persists, it could be a hardware failure.

 

Please reach out to the HP Support in your region regarding the service options for your printer.

 

Hope this helps!

 

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

TEJ1602
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

Soft reset didn't work. Replacing with brand new HP Genuine ink didn't work, Hard reset didn't work. Clean print heads didn't work. Clean smear didn't work. All other colors printing ok, but black not working.

HP Recommended

Tried all steps...nothing works...your Support Team sent me a new black ink cartridge which I install and it didn't work. Now what...my thought is throwing it away and getting a Canon printer...perhaps it'll work better than HP...HELP!

HP Recommended

If the advice from the HP technicians doesn't work, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycc1zFQs3EA

This appears to be known problem with these printers. When printing with a cartridge that is near empty, the printer simply stops printing and won't print that color again even if you replace with a new ink cartridge.

 

I tried everything that these technicians recommended to no avail. Even replaced with a new ink cartridge after my printer stopped printing black ink. I watched the video above and then bought at $15 print head cleaner kit from Amazon. After using the cleaning kit and running 2 x print head cleaning cycles on the printer, the black ink started to work again.

 

This appears to be a design flaw with these printers that they won't acknowledge. 

Printhead Cleaning Kit (Click Link!): https://geni.us/wArXsZT HP 902XL INK: https://geni.us/zbogf Hp Officejet Pro 6978: https://geni.us/iIzX3o Website: http://bestprinterstech.com Disclaimer Some links may be linked to an affiliate marketing account and Best Printers may take a small commission ...
HP Recommended

Had the same problem, ran the clean printer heads once and it didn't work, ran it for a 2nd time and BLAM! it worked!

HP Recommended

First, the printer tells you to NOT close it without the cartridges installed to “avoid damage.”

Your link for step 4 is bad. It leads to an error page. 
very unhelpful. 

HP Recommended

Yes

HP Recommended

Followed all tips.  Still not working.  Followed all tips the next day.  Still not working.  Cleaned print heads again.  Not working.  Cleaned print heads for a 3rd time and FINALLY it prints black again.  Thanks.

HP Recommended

I did everything on the forum to try to get the black ink to work - hard reset, removing cords/power/cartridges and resetting, cleaning print head, etc.   All other sites/forums had same solutions posted except Techwala (https://www.techwalla.com/articles/troubleshooting-hp-printer-that-is-not-printing-black-ink) mentioned doing a calibrating the print head "every time there is a need for a new printer cartridge, calibration is one of the steps to perform right after loading".  I decided to give it a try (on the printer menu under Setup - Printer Maintenance - Align Printhead) and bingo! I see a lot of black printing, although the squares and rectangles still had some faded areas.  A few more printouts and the black ink seems to be working fine.  I am very relieved since the Officejet Pro 6978 has excellent features even for a few years old that the newer printers don't offer at the same price range (USB port, double sided scanning, 1GB memory) and really wanted to keep this one going.

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