HP Officejet 6500 E709n printer - black ink not printing

[omnixboi]

I MADE IT WORK FINALLY!@

Took out the ink cartridges and then took out the PRINTHEAD main compenent by lifting the lever on the right.

Took a bowl and filled it with hot water (not boiling water). Then soaked the PRINTHEAD for 6-10 minutes (you will notice lots of ink oozing out into the water.

Dried it thoroughly (used qtips and a towel). Then put the PRINTHEAD back into the printer and then cartridges.

The printer will then take lots of time to reconfigure. And then it will work! (at least it did for me).

GOODLUCK!@

[csmalltrees]

I has the same issue this week.  I tried all the printhead cleaning options, none of which worked.

Before replacing the printhead with new, I soaked the whole thing in 1/2" of rubbing alcohol, which released a lot of gummed up ink.  I let it dry out, then put back in.  It is now working good as new.  I think the print nozzle was just very gummed up with old ink.

[Wattsst]

Add me to the list for soaking the printhead in warm water fixing the problem. Unless there was an amazingly coincidental simutaneous software or firmware upgrade that happened without my knowledge, soaking the printhead worked for me on my 6500A. Only reason I bought the thing was for eprint. A couple hundred pages and the black ink stops. Give me a break.

[nursmand]

New black ink cartridge installed will not print.  Exchanged it for another and it too does not print. Trouble shooting steps were folowed including cleaning the print heads. Still nothing. Can you help?

[nursmand]

What worked?

[Ldybg522]

I have used cartridge from office depot. Sometimes it will print & sometimes not.

[Bob_Headrick]

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@nursmand wrote:

What worked?

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See the post here.

[Doctor_Dave]

I have tried everything on the official HP troubleshooting site. I've tried everything by the HP troubleshooters here on this website. I've soaked the printhead in water, cleaned it gently on paper towels and let it air dry for hours. I've soaked it in water again, let it air dry and cleaned parts of it with Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. I've soaked the entire printhead in isopropyl alcohol, then gently cleaned parts of it with more Q-tips and alcohol and dried it gently with lint-free towels and let the rest air dry. I even spent more money to buy a brand new printhead and all new color ink cartridges.

Not one thing has worked - even a new printhead and new cartridges, which leads me to think the problem is not with the printhead or cartridges. Unless the problem is with all the printheads and cartridges HP makes. I had to buy a new printer long ago, but I can't bear to throw away a $300+ printer because of some stupid problem that has to be solvable. 

This is ridiculous. HP - any help here at all?

Dr. Dave Hatfield

[LadyIrish]

I have had this problem twice and I fixed it both times with the methods described; candidly I would bypass the whole swab and alcohol thing.  Ok, here we go, step by step:

• Remove ink cartridges from cartridge holder
• Lift gray lever to the right of the cartridge holder which removes the holder
• Remove cartridge holder and submerge, half-way, in a dish of warm water (important note:  you will undoubtedly have to change the water multiple times as it gets very dirty).
• When water is almost clear, rinse the lower, inside portion of print cartridge holder
• Pat dry with a paper towel - no more alcohol needed unless you need some!
• For added measure, use a blow dryer to remove all residue
• Return cartridge holder and cartridges and wait until you've returned from vacation for the &^%$# to reset itself - I'm being facitious, it takes forever!!
• IT WORKS 

For those of you that have received a less than desirable result, I would venture to say you have not left the cartridge holder in the water long enough to clean it (my recent go at this used up at least 4-5 dishes of clean water PLUS a rinse).  

[Doctor_Dave]

LadyIrish

Thank you for your post, and I'm glad you got your printer working. I know I tried some very thorough cleanings, and it sure looked like some others had as well. I also bought a brand new printhead that shouldn't have needed any cleaning at all, since it had never been used, and put brand new ink cartridges in it, and it still didn't work. So that couldn't have been the only problem.

I'm really glad you and a few others have gotten this to work for you, but unfortunately there are still many of us for whom this same advice hasn't worked. I'm still hoping HP might be able to shed some light on this topic, without thinking we're all idiots because we can't just follow your simple advice. That same advice has been posted here a number of times. Not trying to be offensive, but one of the experts has posted this same advice multiple times (actually links to it) and I think everyone has tried it. It's worked for some, but not for others. Your caution to leave long enough and try it multiple times might help some who haven't done that, so your post may be very helpful for them. We're all happy for those it's worked for; the rest of us just keep trying to figure it out, or have bought other printers.

I've bought another printer, but my 6500 E709n is still sitting just outside my office door waiting for me to figure out how to keep from throwing it away. It was fairly expensive and I don't like the thought of expensive disposable printers. I'd just really like to hear from HP about some other options for when cleaning the printhead, or replacing it with a new one, doesn't solve the problem. Thanks again.

Dave