HP Photosmart 5510 Printer Black prints as light grey or blue-grey

[JimIron]

Printer started to print black text as very faint grey text. HP Print Scan Doctor indicated everything is correct, but test print page showed that the test bands which should have been Black/ Medium Grey/ Light Grey were instead Very Light Grey/ Medium Grey/ Light Grey. When printed with Best quality rather than Normal quality, the black band came out bluish grey. If the Print in Greyscale attribute was set to Black Ink Only, nothing was printed at all.  Copying a black print document from the printer control panel gave a blank page. Scanning black and colours to a file did work correctly.

I have changed the black cartridge; cleaned the printhead many times; uninstalled and reinstalled all the software and updates; and did a hard printer reset as suggested in another post. Nothing has corrected the problem.

OS: Win7 Professional. Printer connected wireless. No updates between printer working and not working. Same results when printing from a notebook with Vista.

Is the printer toast?

Jim

[Rainbow7000]

Hello Jim, 

I am sorry to hear about your issue with your Photosmart 5510 not printing in black ink. I can see you have tried many steps to help resolve the problem with no luck. I would like to help. I have looked into this specific issue and I have found a guide that I suggest you follow. I understand you have tried the majority at this point.

Printer Does Not Print Black Ink or Color Ink, or Prints Blank Pages

If this does not resolve the issue and you have already tried another black ink cartridge, I suggest calling HP's Technical Support to see if there are any other options for you. If you are within your warranty period, you may qualify for a replacement unit.

Good luck!

[JimIron]

Rainbow7000.

Thanks. I found that process and did it before, no result. I suspect the print head is not working, and repair is not economical. It is one year eleven months old, so out of warranty. I bought a new Brother printer, two year warranty.

Jim