Problem with black ink not printing

[Dorrie57]

I cannot get my black ink to print. I've looked at related discussions and have tried what has been recommended -running the print head cleaning program (3 times), manually cleaning the print head nozzle, and soaking cartridge for a few minutes in warm water. Ink comes out of the cartridge when I run a clean paper towel over it, so I believe the ink is running, but still can't get any black ink when I try to print a document. What other things can I try - or do I just need to buy a new printer. UGH. I even bought a new black ink cartridge, but that one doesn't work either - so I think it must be something with the printer and not the cartridge.

[Pallipurath]

Hi @Dorrie57 

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query.

I understand that you are facing issues with the black cartridge which is not printing and  you have performed several standard troubleshooting steps for resolving black ink printing issues with the printer and still not printing. I would request you to perform the below steps and also share me the Printer model.

Align the Printheads

Improperly aligned printheads can cause print quality issues:
 

1. Use the printer control panel: Navigate to Menu > Tools > Troubleshooting > Align Printhead.
2. Follow on-screen prompts to print an alignment page and scan it to complete alignment.

Print a Print Quality Diagnostic Page

1. On the printer control panel, select Menu > Tools > Troubleshooting > Print Quality.
2. A diagnostic page will print with test patterns; inspect these for defects like missing colors or white lines.

Print Job Settings: 

1. Verify that the color, paper type, paper size, and quality settings match your print job requirements through your software application's print settings menu.

Clean Ink Smears

If there are ink smears on the back of printouts, use an automated tool to clean them:

1. Access the printer's control panel.
2. Navigate to Setup > Tools > Clean Page Smears

Hope this helps, Please revert if the issue persists.

Take care and have an amazing day!