HP 6500 Office jet E709a - Black printer cartridge HP 920 not working

[dasaborner]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll try soaking it again. Perhaps drying it with a cool hair dryer might dry it out faster.

[LadyIrish]

Make sure you keep changing the paper towel in the bottom of the warm soapy bowl.  I did this three times.  After that I ran it under warm water and was amazed how the black ink kept coming.  It had been very badly clogged.  I carefully patted (not rubbed) the unit dry.  A hairdryer sounds good too.  You could also use a few swabs for the crevices.

When I put the device back in the machine it too FOREVER to realign.  I never did the 'clean the heads' thing.  In fact, I went and did something else while it was realigning.   When I went back and try it out it was set to go and it worked.  

I so hope this works for you.  I was so thrilled it worked for me.  

[dasaborner]

Thank you for your feedback. I am encouraged to try again, (and again).

[LadyIrish]

Do you have a 6500?

[dasaborner]

Yes. Wish I didn't.

[LadyIrish]

Me too.

[Bob_Headrick]

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@dde0apb wrote:

Bob, do you have any bright ideas about the 920 series printers as in the problem I outlined above? Essentially tried new print head to no avail, different cartridges, both XL and non XL for the black, and still it will not print in black. (Yes, I have cleaned the contacts where the print head connects) A friend says his business has had lots of trouble with the 6500 series printers, with them randomly not printing some colours / black.  The only bright spot was after putting in a different head and the 920 black, It printed - lightly - half a page of black and then went back to the earlier non-black behaviour.

Any advice appreciated.  Thanks

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The post here may help.  Make sure to check the vents in the ink supply.

[Bob_Headrick]

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@dasaborner wrote:

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll try soaking it again. Perhaps drying it with a cool hair dryer might dry it out faster.

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A hair dryer, even on the cool setting would not be a good idea.  I would suggest gently patting the electrical contacts with a lint free cloth (a fresh coffee filter would work).  Do not disturb the nozzle plate, it is fragile and can be damaged.  Blowing air on the nozzles may cause the nozzles to dry out (and clog) or air to be ingested into the printhead (also causes clogging).

I would also suggest not using soapy water, use only clean water, preferably distilled.

[dasaborner]

Thanks for all the help. I have just completed the second round of 5 minute soaking in (non-soapy) hot water, dried it, and after attempts at allignment (2) and 3 rounds of cleaning the printheads, still no black. Starting to run out of the colors, so I'll wait to try again tomorrow. I may have to buy another printer. Probably will avoid the HP series as this is the second HP printer in two years that has failed.

Do we have any clue if the engineers at HP (or in China) have addressed this malfunction that so many of us are experiencing?

[Sha5555]

I had to soak my printhead 4 times (15 min each) and I ran it under a slow steady stream after each soak. Then I cleaned the contacts on the printhead and the printer with a Q-tip dipped in a lens/LCD screen cleaning solution (probably not recommended, but it worked for me) - very gently and in one direction only (read that somewhere). And it finally worked. I stopped running the Clean Printhead utility because it was just wasting ink. I think it was especially important to clean all the contacts AFTER the printhead finally ran clear because every time I tested the printer, it was depositing ink on the contacts, especially black (which was being depleted but not being deposited on the paper). What a mess! But it's been working fine for a couple of weeks now. Good luck!