Can a printhead fail for one colour, or generally for all colours at once?

[rgmcd]

Got zero response on this on 1st posting, so trying again with a more direct subject line.

My OJ 6500 e709a suddenly stopped printing black, even though the original HP cartridge is 80% full. The 3 other colours print fine. Auto cleanings did nothing, so I removed and cleaned the printhead as per HP's instructions. No change. It was printing fine until now with no quality issues. The printer doesn't sit unused for long periods.

Also reinstalled the driver and did a hard unplug/ reset. Zero change. After reinstalling the head and cartridges, it was leaving smudges of black ink along one edge of paper, as if it was on a roller. No idea where that came from, but wondering if that's from the cartridge releasing ink and the printhead not dispensing it. 

On an older printer, really don't want to spend $50 to replace an almost full Black 920XL cartridge if that's not the problem. Can a printhead fail for just one colour? Or could this be a cartridge issue?

[TEJ1602]

@rgmcd, Welcome to HP Support Community!

Have you tried using a different black ink cartridge? It could be the cartridge or the ink system itself.

If you have already performed the steps from the document Color or Black Ink Not Printing and the issue persists, it could be a hardware failure.

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

Hope this helps!

Please click “Accepted 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!

[rgmcd · Accepted solution]

Appreciate the response, but that ship has now sailed. None of the prescribed steps worked and, as noted in my post, I wasn't going to waste money on a replacement cartridge when this one is nearly new and had shown no signs of problems until it suddenly quit. 

Through research on OTHER SITES I found the answer I couldn't find on HP's site or in this community, such as the fact that a single colour CAN fail, as well as other instances of the same symptoms with the same printer.  That led me to buy a refurbished printhead for CDN$34, which solved the problem immediately using the same black cartridge. 

So truthfully, I had to find the solution myself; but again, I appreciate the response.

[HarryMc]

I have the same problem. Would you like to share your fix please?

[rgmcd]

Sure Harry. As stated above, I replaced the printhead with a rebuilt/ refurbed one I found on Amazon. 

In my lay-terms, apparently there's a heating element (?) for each printhead nozzle, which are known to fail individually in some cases. This is specifically about the 920 heads & cartridges as used in the HP 6500 series, which fortunately has a removable printhead. 

Repeated cleanings & even removal & soaking (as per HP) didn't change mine at all. Actually saw signs that there was ink getting out of the black cartridge, as blotches started showing up on a page margin. Other colours printed perfectly. I'd doubted that it was the cartridge, as the vent hole wasn't plugged, it had worked great just a couple days before & was still 80+% full. I wasted so much ink of the other colours that it was time to move on.

The printer was finicky at first, wanting to realign printheads. I just hit Cancel and it now prints fine. 

I found several replacement options on Amazon with prices starting around CDN$23 to $35; higher for brand new ones. 

Hope this helps.

[HarryMc]

Thanks Rgmcd.

I think my problem goes deeper!!

Each time I put in a cartridge I get this error on the printer screen   " Remove and reinstall the indicated cartridge. If this message continues to reappear, replace the indicated cartridge"

The message reappears every time I replace the cartridge - even with a brand new one. 

To make matters worse the printer will no longer scan!! It is a HP Office jet 3831.

Like yourself I have found HP help of no use.