Black ink skipping lines when trying to print or copy from HP OfficeJet 4650

[TK164]

I just installed two new 63 XL tri-color & black ink cartridges (which are not cheap to purchase) into my HP OfficeJet 4650 printer; however, when I go through the alignment process that the printer automatically prompts on the printer's screen, some of the black lines are skipped over. After putting the alignment sheet into the printer to be scanned and copied as directed by the printer to finish the cartridge alignment process, it says that the cartridges are set to "default" instead of correcting the skipped line issue. I am very frustrated as this has happened before. The ink XL cartridges were bought at Staples and are genuine HP products, again they are a very expensive purchase as well. Why are lines being skipped when I either try to copy or print something? Thank you in advance

[TK164 · Accepted solution]

Problem solved: I cleaned out the interior area where the black ink cartridge sits with Q-tips and tissues - it seems there was a huge glob of black ink all around the base of the ink cartridge cradle area that had accumulated over time (why and how this had occurred in the first place, is something alarming to say the least).

Once all this old black ink gunk was peeled off the bottom area of the cartridge cradle area and cleaned up, I placed both the color & black ink cartridges back in again and ran the alignment set-up program which set everything up properly and printed perfectly and sharply.

For anybody else out there with black ink issues, give this a try before you are told to junk your 2 or 3-year-old printer for another one!