cyan not printing with new 7955e printer & cartridge

[photoworks]

Brand new Inspire 7955e printer. Doesn't print cyan. Done the Print Quality Diagnostic several times and each time no cyan, but other colors are fine. Printer utility says almost full on ink. I've done the hard boot procedure. Prints B&W fine. I'm assuming it's a bad color cartridge. Now I'll have to wait until HP sends me new set of cartridges. I saw a notice that they're getting ready to ship my first set on the subscription. Anything else I could try or is it likely a bad color cartridge? Thanks for any advice!

[Nal_NR · Accepted solution]

Hi @photoworks,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

I'd like to help!

Perform the following tasks in the order given. Use the printer after each task to see if the issue is resolved.

Clean the printhead

The printhead could be clogged, and you might need to clean the printhead several times to restore print quality. Use an automated tool from the printer control panel to clean the printhead.

CAUTION:

Never turn off the printer when ink cartridges are not installed. To avoid issues that require cleaning the printhead or that can damage the ink system, always replace ink cartridges as soon as possible, and always turn off the printer using the Power button.

On the printer control panel, touch the tab at the top.

The Dashboard opens.

Touch Setup.

Touch Printer Maintenance > Clean Cartridges, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

After cleaning completes, a Print Quality Diagnostic Report prints.

Examine the Print Quality Diagnostic Report.

If the print quality is unacceptable, touch Clean Again to continue the next level of cleaning. If necessary, repeat these steps for the third cleaning cycle.

NOTE:

If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes before you perform all three levels of cleaning again.

If the print quality is acceptable, touch Done.

Check for ink smears on the back of printouts

If there are smears of ink on the back of your printouts, use an automated tool to resolve the issue.

On the printer control panel, touch the tab at the top.

The Dashboard opens.

Touch Setup.

Touch Printer Maintenance > Clean Smear.

After cleaning completes, the printer ejects a blank sheet of paper.

Click here for the remaining steps

Update the firmware

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
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!

[photoworks]

It turns out the starter color cartridge simply wasn't using the cyan. When I put the next color cartridge in, the printer worked fine. I had tried all the recommended possible solutions, but the cartridge was just defective. Thanks!

[Nal_NR]

Hi @photoworks,

I'm glad to hear that and you're most welcome. Do get back to us in the future for further assistance.

Thanks
Elohi_NR

I am an HP Employee

[jwmeyer]

I have the same problem.  The original set-up cartridge would not print cyan.  I reset and restarted the printer: no joy.  I cleaned the printhead three times.  No joy.  Called Tech Support and they recommended a new cartridge.  I bought one and it worked.  Just installed another new cartridge yesterday and - NO CYAN.  I cleaned printhead three times, NO JOY.  I reinstalled the older cartridge and it worked.  Reinstalled the new cartridge and it still did not work.

I finally called Tech Support and they are replacing the cartridge in "7 to 10 business days".  I went out and bought another cartridge and installed it.  The new cartridge does work.  But they are batting 50% on ink cartridges not working on a specific color in their machine.  There is either a problem within the machine or their cartridge quality stinks.  Either way, I need to figure it out, because with a 50-50 chance of spending good money on an ink cartridge and not getting a working printer, I may need to get rid of this boat anchor and go to another company with better products.

[Dingos]

I'm having the same problem.  I tried to troubleshoot with HP support and it led nowhere.  I returned printer thinking defective and got another one.... same results.  I'm still using ink cartridge that came with printer and haven't tried buying color yet but when I run the Clean cartridge and it prints the diagnostic report... bingo.  NO CYAN!

[jwmeyer]

Hi Dingos.  It seems to be consistent.  I have done some searching on the web and the whole "no cyan" thing keeps popping up.  I thought it was a contact issue.  I looked at the back of both a good cartridge and a "bad" cartridge.  If you look at the contacts in the light, at an angle, you can see bright spots where the printer contacts do make contact with the cartridge.

That leads to a potential cartridge quality issue.  An HP person responded to my post above saying that my info was forwarded to "an appropriate team within HP" and they would likely contact me for more information.  But, as expected, over a week of radio silence.

If I can't get a resolution, I will find a way to jetison this printer and check out other brands.  I need a reliable printer.