Black ink smudges when touched

[Fraoch]

I have just bought an envy as I wanted to join the ink scheme. The black print does not seem to dry and yes it smudges. My last printer was an Epson which had a photo black cartridge I had no problem with that. the only reason I got rid of it was the high cost of the ink.

[atharva_gp]

@Fraoch,

Thank you for reaching out to the HP Support community!

Please provide the below information to assist you with an accurate resolution.

• What is the model of your printer?
• What are the ink levels on the cartridges?
• Is the smudging happening while printing a regular document or a photograph? 

[Fraoch]

I have just installed the new printer today. I have used good quality  glossy photo paper 260 g/m. I have printed a lot of pages toay. The black ink on the printed photograph will not dry and I get ink all over my fingers. Even after a few hours the ink is not dry. I have been researching this on the internet and it seem a lot of people have the same problem. HP seems to have changed the ink not for the better either. My trial ink has run out so I cant print any more. My last printer (Epson) had a black cartridge and also a photo black cartridge I had no problem with it. If I have the same problem when I print again the printer will be returned.

[Fraoch]

My printer is the Envy 5010.

[atharva_gp]

@Fraoch,

Thank you for reaching out to the HP Support community!

Let's try these steps:

Step 1: Clean the Printhead

• On the printer control panel, swipe the screen from right to left to go to the Set-Up menu
• Touch Tools
• Touch clean cartridges
  • once the cleaning is complete, the printer would print a quality report.
  • check the report, if the quality is unsatisfactory, proceed to the next cycle of cleaning
  • perform up to 3 cycles of cleaning if necessary
• Try printing the photo again
• If the issue persists, proceed to the next step

Step 2: Clean the area around the cartridge nozzles

• Gather cleaning supplies:

  • Clean distilled, filtered, or bottled water. Tap water may contain contaminants which could damage the cartridge.

  • Clean cotton swabs or any soft, lint-free material that will not stick to the cartridges (coffee filters work well).

  • Sheets of paper or paper towel to rest the cartridges on during cleaning.

• Remove the ink cartridges

• Lightly moisten the lint-free cleaning material with clean water

• Use the swab to wipe clean the faces and edges around the nozzle plate. The area to be cleaned is cross-hatched in the picture below. Replace the cleaning material if it gets dirty.

         

• Either let the cartridge sit for five minutes or use a new swab to dry the cleaned areas before you reinsert the cartridges.
• Re-insert the ink cartridges
• Try to print again
• If the issue persists, proceed to the next step

Step 3: Check the Paper and Print Settings

Check the Paper settings

• Make sure you are selecting the correct paper settings on the printer and on the PC
• Open and close the paper tray, you would get a prompt to change the paper settings.
  • Select the correct paper settings

Check the print settings

• Open the image that you would like to print.
• Click on print > go to the printing preferences and try changing the print quality

Print the image and check the quality.

Let me know if this helps.