HP 6525 will not print black

[murrman88]

Sounds like I am having the same issue that others have experienced.  My HP Photosmart won't print black ink even though I have changed the black ink cartridge, with a genuine HP cartridge.

I have followed all of the diagnostic steps (cleaned the printheads, aligned the printheads, changed the cartridge, etc.).

I am getting very frustrated as my kid uses the printer for school and this is getting to be a big problem as he needs to turn in papers almost every other day. 

This is my second HP printer that appears to be failing within 2 years of ownership and I am starting to lose faith in the brand.

Any suggestions?

[Drakster]

Hi @murrman88,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I understand that you're experiencing print quality issue with your HP Photosmart 6525 Printer. I would be happy to help you and please remember to return to this thread and mark 'Accept as Solution', if I have successfully helped you resolve the issue. If you wish to say 'thanks' for my effort to help, click the 'thumbs up' to give me a Kudos. 

I see that you have replaced the black in cartridge which did not resolve the issue. I understand your frustration and I would like to clarify what is happening. The printhead in the printer is likely clogged. This printhead is not customer removable, however if the printer is out of warranty you could try the solutions offered in the videos below.

It sounds like you have done a lot of good troubleshooting already. Have you followed this guide: HP Deskjet 6520, HP Photosmart 6520 Printers - Printer Prints a Blank Page or Does Not Print in Blac...? 

You could always try a manual printhead cleaning by removing and flushing it out. I suggest you watch both videos before proceeding and use at your own discretion.

Video: HP 5510 won't print black and colors - printhead removal and cleaning.

NOTE: HP Photosmart 5510 does not have a removable printhead like your HP Photosmart 6525, however I would follow the same cleaning steps suggested in this video.

Also, the video below shows how to gain access to the printhead on the HP Photosmart 6510, which should be simliar to the HP Photosmart 6525. End the video at 4:42.  

Video: (Disassembly HP Photosmart 6510). 

If you completed all the preceding steps and your product still has an issue, service the product

Contacting HP for service in all countries/regions except Asia Pacific.
First, go to Check your product warranty to check your printer warranty status, and then go to Contact HP Support to find an authorized service dealer or to schedule a repair.
Repair fees might apply for out-of-warranty printers.
What you can do, is use the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:
Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/
Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect
Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"
Step 4. Scroll down and click on: HP contact options - click on Get phone number
Case number and phone number appear.

I hope the helps. Please respond to this post with the result of your troubleshooting. I look forward to hearing from you. Good Luck!

[murrman88]

Thank you so much for the detailed response.  I am very impressed.  I will try your recommendations and let you know how it turns out.  Thanks again for taking the time to assist me with my issue!!

The one thing I don't understand is how the words on the printer quality test page print in black, but the box that is supposed to be colored black won't show black.  I would think that it would either print everything black or nothing black.

[Drakster]

Hi @murrman88,

Thanks for getting back to me. 

You're welcome. I hope those steps help resolve the issue.

In addition, it looks like the colour cartridges are making a composite black colour and this is why you're seeing black text on the test page, but the black bar is blank.

Please respond to this post with the results. Good Luck! 🙂

[fmharder]

I've spent an entire day repeatedly cleaning the print cartridges, aligning the print cartridges, even manually cleaning the printhead, and still can't get the **bleep** printer to print.  Put in four brand new HP cartridges.  I've given up on HP.  Nothing but problems, printers never last, ink is very costly (should have been doing refills instead of buying 'genuine' HP products, doing my homework to avoid ever using HP again.