Printer printing black characters in outline only

[Scottie12]

Printer stopped printing black clearly.  Although it was a relatively new cartridge, I replaced it thinking it had run low, but exactly the same problem still exists.  On closer inspection, it looks as if any image or letter that should print as solid black is now printing as an outline only, no black infill, no solid black colour for an object, or no black background colour where it should be.  Any ideas why this is happening, is there a setting I can change?.  Other colours are fine

[Jeet_singh]

@Scottie12,

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. For you to have the best experience on the HP forum, you could also visit our HP Forums Guide for First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More. I see from your post that you're having issues while printing in black from your HP DeskJet printer. Don't worry we'll work together to help you find a solution.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes before the issue started?

Did you try to update the printer firmware? Have you tried to align the cartridges?

Have you tried to check the print settings?

Have you tried to print the print quality test diagnostics report or print the self test page.

In the meantime, let's try these steps here: 

Let's start off by updating the printer firmware. If your printer connected wirelessly, make sure to temporary connect the device with USB and then follow the link to install the latest firmware update on your printer from our HP support website. Alternatively you can also try to update the printer firmware directly from the printer control panel.

For more details on how to update, please use this link: HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

If the issue persists, I would suggest here is to do a hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Next thing, I would suggest here is to print the print quality diagnostic report from the printer. 

For more details, please follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP DeskJet 3630, 4720 Printers - Fixing Poor Print Quality

Could you please respond to this post with the details and with the results of the troubleshooting as this will help me in further assisting you.

Eagerly waiting for your response!

that said, If the information I've provided was helpful, 

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[Scottie12]

I have checked alignment, downloaded latest firmware, hard reboot.  Now no black is printing at all so diagnostic report is not readable.  The ink levels show nearly full.  I am still at a loss.

Scottie12