Black ink no longer works on Photosmart 6520 printer

[spikefrog]

I also have an HP Photosmart 6520 that suddenly quit printing in black ink. Luckily I had finished a large print job before that happened but after replacing the balck ink cartridge twice it still won't print in black ink even though it shows the cartridge has ink. Another wrinkle is that it is running the "demo" on and off on the screen even though it's not a new printer. Very weird.

[MarcelusWallace]

Hi @spikefrog,

Welcome to the HP Community.

I understand you are unable to print black ink with your HP Photosmart 6520. I will be happy to help.

I recommend starting with a hard reset.

Hard Reset

Turn the printer on.
With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the unit.
Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.
Wait at least 15 seconds.
Plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.
Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the unit.
If the printer does not turn on by itself, press the Power button to turn it on. 

Once you have completed the hard reset, try the troubleshooting steps posted in the link below. Please try out all of the steps, in order and get back to me with the results. 

HP Deskjet 6520, HP Photosmart 6520 Printers - Printer Prints a Blank Page or Does Not Print in Blac...

If this helps, show appreciation for my reply by hitting the “thumbs up” below, or click the "Accept as Solution" button if I have helped you reach a solution.

I hope this helps, and have a great day.

[spikefrog]

Unfortunately it did not work. I always use HP ink cartridges. The ink level was almost full so I did not try the solution that said to insert a new black ink cartridge because I've already replaced it with 2 new ones trying to get it to print in black ink and I'm not about to go buy another one - too expensive.  I checked the ink cartridge vent and it seems fine.  I've run the tools many many times hoping that woud fix it. It just wasted a lot of paper and color ink.  It is out of warranty so I'm not really all that interested in paying to have it fixed. I guess now I need to figure out what kind of printer I want to replace it with 😞

Thanks for trying.