HP Photosmart Plus B209a-m Black Ink won't print

[meg_deck]

My HP photosmart Plus 209a-m stopped printing black ink. I've had it for less than a year and it worked perfectly up until last night when all of a sudden it stopped printing black ink.. All other colors work fine. I've taken every action suggested by HP support site, I've cleaned the print heads, ran alignments, changed cartridges twice to new one (have never used anything but HP new cartridges) and still no black ink. So I searched for an answer outside the HP site and tried every suggestion I came across but still to no avail. I did find, however, that there are a lot of people with the same problem but I've yet to find one person that has solved it. Please somebody help me!

[jhnrse]

I am in the same boat. Black stopped printing, changed cartridge, no black print. Cleaned head. nothing. I saw on other post about different printers that they had to "hard boot...re-set" the printer but the controls were different. I have not been able to figure out the reset process  yet. Not sure if that will work. 

[klfalk]

I'm having the same problem.  Black ink just stopped working.  Also changed cartridges and did every quality print check I could find.  Does anyone have a solution?

[jhnrse]

Mine mysteriously started printing black again. I am not sure what did it. I tried several of the things recommended like unplug for 30 seconds or more, cleaned the print head. I could never figure out how to hard boot it or restore factory defaults. I gave up and then a week or so later my wife needed something printed. I told her it was not working so she tried anyway and it worked! Then she gave me that look, somewhere between you idiot, i should expect nothing more and your a genius and my hero.  

[yousefmz]

my printer starts printing halfway through the first page it shouts down automatically and starts again prints again shuts down ! it repeats this process until all of your paper is wasted!

what should i do ive tried everything Im hopeless??

[wenzelaj]

I am annoyed with HP!

Just got a new HP Photosmart Plus printer. When I purchased the first replacement for the black ink cartridge it didn't tell me anywhere that HP has two different black cartridges: Black and Photo Black. I got the Photo Black which sounded right but when I tried to install it I realized that it was a wrong size. I now have to return it and might not get a refund since I tore open the package.

Dumb engineering - what a nuisance!

[jhnrse]

The same thing happened to me with the black. I still get confused, can't remember which one to buy when i have to replace one. I was lucky when it happened to me. A manager at Office Depot actually let me exchange for the correct ink even though the package was opened and the seal broken. So here is a plug for Office Depot. 

[Ciara_B]

Hi wenzelaj and jhnrse

The PS b209a does not accept the Photo cartridge (CB317 / CB322). It is a 4 ink system (Black, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta). If you have purchased the Photo instead of regular Black, contact Phone Support and they may be able to replace it for you.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01839024

https://h30042.www3.hp.com/SureSupply/#3: https://h30042.www3.hp.com/SureSupply/#3

[Ciara_B]

Hi klfalk,

Did you follow this document ?

When you changed the black cartridge, did the issue persist?

Thanks, Ciara

[NFSlugger13]

Add me to the list of people who have had the same issue with the black ink.  Earlier today, I printed out a calendar in black ink, which worked fine.  Later on, I tried to print something else, and the black faded away mid-page!  I tried all of the troubleshooting tips, and the black simply refuses to print, no matter what the setting or object printed. 

The other colors work fine, which is strange, and none of the cartridges are low on ink -- in fact, they're all practically full! 

I have to say that I am extremely disappointed with this printer.  It was my first HP model, and likely my last unless I can figure out how to get this fixed.  It's likely something internal within the printer -- such failures are unacceptable for what is essentially a brand-new printer. 

If anyone figures out how to solve this, post a solution.  I know I won't be the only one happy to hear it.