HP Photosmart C7280 Black Ink won't print

[miima]

Don`t ask me why, but try: Change in setings PAPER TYPE to "HP Premium..". By me worked. I had same problem.

[Hellenart]

I was frustrated too...

Did many things including changing all my ink--color and black--ink is expensive; it wasn't the ink.  Removed the print head after reviewing instructions on various websites, wiped off all old ink--there was a lot of it!  Didn't work.  Then discovered I could oreder a new print head--these are offered on Amazon, but I chose to purchase one directly from HP's website; the price was the same...

Today I received a new print head--it worked!  I love this printer and since I just purchased new ink (from Costco; color & black is near $150, I was hoping this would do the trick.  HP sent a return label/package for the old print head.

Simple, effective, satisfying!

[Hellenart]

I was frustrated too...

Did many things including changing all my ink--color and black--ink is expensive; it wasn't the ink.  Removed the print head after reviewing instructions on various websites, wiped off all old ink--there was a lot of it!  Didn't work.  Then rinsed the print head under running water as instructed on another forum; didn't work.

Then discovered I could oreder a new print head--these are offered on Amazon, but I chose to purchase one directly from HP's website; the price was the same...It's odd that many forums didn't suggest replacement of print head--these go bad frequently and cost near $40 after shipping.

Today I received a new print head--it worked!  I love this printer and since I just purchased new ink (from Costco; color & black is near $150, I was hoping this would do the trick.  HP sent a return label/package for the old print head--if it's not returned they'll charge an additional $34.

Simple, effective, satisfying!

[miima]

Do not ask why, but try, in setings, to change type of paper to HP Premium. By me worked.

[Tom1940]

I have a HP Photosmart 6520 which has suddenly stopped printing in black ink. I have replaced all the ink cartridges with new genuine ones, and fitted them correctly, making sure that the vent holes are not blocked.

           If I attempt to print a document in black it at first failed to do so. but now it prints black faintly. 

                   When after running a test print however, and printing a report, it shows the colours clearly, but not the black. 

                  the strange thing however is that the headings of the report a quite clearly printed in black.  I therefore think that whatever the problem is, it is not in the print heads or the cartridges, but probably lie in the way the computer sends instructions to the printer.  

Could this be right?

[nowayhead]

I have had trouble with this printer on and off, but it has been a reliable workhorse so I have kept it around.  However I think the root of the black ink problems are software, not hardware related (at least for some of us). And it seems to be somewhat fixable.

The first problem I had was that the printer began spitting out a blank sheet after each time it printed. I changed to a different driver and it stopped, but then it stopped printing (black) shipping labels. Then it stopped printing any word documents (in black). Again I changed the driver and I was able to print out shipping labels again (PDFs), but not word documents.

One day I noticed that the shipping labels were missing certain letters, uppercase "i"s and lowercase "L"s - which when printed on a label look the same. However everything else came out fine. Then it also began declaring it had a paper jam after any time it finished a printing session.

So once again I changed the driver and it started printing out labels perfectly, but still would not print word documents. Even when I would save word documents as PDFs, they would still print out blank.

I just hooked up my old (2008) macbook to the printer and found it would also not print. I deleted the printer and installed the hp software for the c7200 series for OS 10.4 which was last updated in 2008. I am currently running OS 10.10
Now the printer appears to be printing completely fine from my mac. COMPLETELY fine. In color and black and white.
I am not sure if it will last, but I am going to try a similar tactic on my desktop PC's and install the oldest firmware I can find, though unfortunately a lot of them seem to have been written over. 

My guess is HP changed to a universal driver for their printers and decided not to care about compatibility tests with these older machines.