Deskjet F4480: black cartridge full yet doesn't print black. Colors OK.

[ststststst]

What the title says. All of a sudden my Deskjet F4480 will not print black anymore. All the cartridges are almost new (changed recently, bought at Staples). Color printing is OK. Printing a page with black text and color images results in only the images being printed. I have gone through all the stages of cartridge cleaning several times, no difference. There is no error message, just black not showing up at all.

[ststststst · Accepted solution]

And... here's the solution.

Funny how I found an explanation of the problem and the way to fix it on another printer manufacturer's website, but not on HP's... But I digress.

The black cartridge was clogged. The way to fix it is:

1. take the defective cartridge out of the printer.

2. Put a small amount of boiling water in a cup (about 1/4 inch) and dunk the print head (the part where the ink comes out) in the hot water for a minute. Do not submerge the whole cartridge in hot water, just the print head.

3. Take it out, pat against a paper towel, observe the ink pattern left by the cartridge on the towel. If too little/interrupted, dunk again in hot water for another minute, pat again. You want to get an uninterrupted line of ink across the whole length of the print head. Repeat as needed (I did it 4 times total).

4. Pat cartridge dry all over, put back in printer, run cleaning cycles (1-2).

5. If still not looking good, take cartridge out and repeat from 2 (I had to do it again).

You'll lose some ink, not only from the bad cartridge but from the good one as well (you can't run cleaning cycles with only 1 cartridge in), but at least you won't have to throw away an almost full cartridge.

[FoxWolf87]

I was amazed this actually worked. 

Same problem, but with color cartridge for Deskjet f4480...

Black cartridge replacement worked fine, but color replacement would not. Thought it was defective, returned to Staples for new cartridge, same problem.

Saw this post, used plain old hot tap water, dipped just the tip for about thirty seconds, 

Dried off and stuck in printer and it worked just fine.

Don't be alarmed if ink comes out a bit in water. It just means it's not jammed anymore.

Thanks for the post!

I hate it when companies make you go through tech support instead of trying home solutions like this.

[pamiu70]

Your suggestion worked perfectly.  I'll be bookmarking this!

[gmak03]

Ink cartridges clogging is bound to happen to any printer that stays unused for a long period of time. shame on HP. they never have solutions for any problems their users face on day to day basis.

[Calisun]

Tried the boiling water and it worked temporarily.  Great idea.  I bought 2 XL black ink cartridges from Costco - HP brand with the expiration date of 8/2013 and it's only June.  Both cartridges turned out to be too dried up.  Had a newer package with the expiration date of 7/2014.  Printer is working great again with black and color.  What pissed me off was the indian guy from tech support spent more time trying to sell me a reconditioned printer instead of suggesting I try a different cartridge from another package.  Total idiots that work these foreign support centers.  So frustrating to think so much U.S. money floats overseas for this kind of service.  Disgraceful.  I've gotten more help from the consumers than from the HP employees.

[Suzanneabm]

Thanks for saving me time and frustration. It seemed like a bold proposition (no pun intended), but it worked for me as well. As another user mentioned, printer doesn't see a lot of action. Took 2 or 3 dips in hot water. (Left is after 2 dips, right is after 3). Before that, the pages were coming out blank.