Photosmart 6510 not printing in black

[cmtatanka]

What an adventure.

I'll start by saying that I tried all of this stuff to no avail....then I tried taking out the printer head on my 6510 (note:  not all HP printers can have the head taken out).  Mostly bad news (for me) but maybe a shread of hope for everyone who has been down this nice journey (thanks HP!).

Things I've tried...new cartridges, all vented (blow very very very softly and over a garbage can if you are checking this....not kidding...ink floods out), cleaned printer head, did the double clean from the PC, alignments always failed, used alcohol on the ink ports on the top of the printer head (these are the grey screens you can see when you take a cartidge out), blah blah blah...

So, I was going to take out the printer head to see what it looked like.  Easier said than done and that's the start of my bad news...but, it didn't print black, so what the heck.  Anyway, to take off the cover, first disengage the hinge by prying it toward the front of the printer.  It will be a little hard, but just put a screw driver right next to the round pivot and twist the arm away.  Next, take out 8 screws with a torx screwdriver (T10, I think) - there are 2 right behind the on-screen module and the module must be all the way out away from the printer to access them.  Take the cover off and be careful not to mess up the scanner tape cable.  Take out all the cartridges; then start to take the stuff off the back of the printer head.  This is where I messed up and everything after this is just a guess because I screwed up.  There are 4 tapes on the back of the printhead that should just pull out.  I pulled one of the connectors itself off by listening to another individual on the forum (my fault for listening).  Anyway, if I had just pulled out the tapes, I think this would have worked....I was able to reinsert the other 2 tapes easily, so I think that's the way it's supposed to come off.  Anyway, when I got the print head off, it had TONS of black ink on the bottom side.  I put the printhead in very warm water and the water turned black instantly.  I then ran the printhead under warm/hot water and it ran black for about 15 seconds, maybe more.  The color side of the printhead didn't have much ink buildup at all (the color side did work fine for me), but the black was totally clogged.  After running under water, all I could do was imagine....busting off one of the connectors ruined my chances of seeing if this worked, but hopefully it might help someone else.  I guess to try to show how confident I am that this was the fix.....if I was in the same boat again, I would try this fix again...but would be more careful.

Happy hunting and hope this helps.  Off to buy another printer for me....and ironically, it will be an HP.  The 6510 served me good up until this fun, and I think I know enough about them now to help me fix it if it does break again; I will be getting the service plan for sure though.

Peter

[Poleaxed1]

After 11 months the black ink of my 6515 stopped working.  Color all works fine.  Replaced the cartridges, ran print head cleaning and others several times (killed most of my paper and ink doing this,) and did all the soft resets and other troubleshooting options and still black ink does not print.  After all this the heads also fail to align.  I was getting the ink printing with big splotches at one point then bam - no ink period.

I wanted to take out the print head like stated in many other articles but my particular 6515 has no lever to pull out the print heads.  It looks like it is screwed in and with the big bar running through the middle and a ridiculously tiny screw holding it getting it out is an impossibility.  Now seeing that the warrantly is a fabulous 4 months long, it looks like this printer will go the way of my last Epson, on the top of a heap at the next recycling event.  Such a waste and so dissapointing.  

[TitleGirl]

I have a new cartridge and cleaned the heads and still not printing.

[morecowbell]

Same issue 2 months out of warranty & no black print.  Did all the troubleshooting to no avail.  Was ready to buy a new printer when I realized that I had $50 of new ink cartridges in the broken printer.  HP offers HP Care Pack service that you must call 866 234-1377 (Option 2) to order  - info & price not posted on website.  For $64.99 you can get 1 year free tech support for out-of-warranty printers plus they will replace the printer at no charge if they cannot resolve the problem.  I figured this was far less expensive than buying a new printer & tossing the ink even though I was upset that I had to shell out $65 when the printer was just barely out of warranty.  I spent the money and called tech support.  Spent about 30 minutes troubleshooting before they moved me up to the next level.  I was immediately told this was a hardware issue and they would replace my printer.  I received a new/reconditioned printer within one day.  It came with all brand new ink cartridges as well as a full one year warranty.  Works perfectly.  Not happy with HP, but this was a reasonably option to a 'life is not perfect' situation.

[DickKLINE]

Morecowbell

You are fortunate.  HP has sent me two replacement printers and neither has worked.  Thank goodness I am still under warranty.  Glad you got your problem resolved.  Me thinks there is a major issue with the 6510.  We started working on my issue in December and then I had to take a hiatis since I was leaving for Florida for 3.5 months and we didn't have it resolved before we left.

I sort of am dreading picking it back up when I get home. 

**bleep** K

[Barry_N]

I'm in England - same problem - no black ink printing.
I tried the JustinNS solution of a partial reset and it worked perfectly.
Thanks for that.
However, as it was corrected by a reset from the menu this is clearly a non-hardware problem - so why hasn't HP issued a firmware or software correction ? They probably just don't give a **bleep**. Thanks for that, HP...........

[morecowbell]

I did the reset as well, but it did not work for me.  HP had me do it again during troubleshooting with no results.  So it could be software and hardware issue.  Who know?  Apparently not HP!

[jtknep]

After trying several of the solutions mentioned in previous posts, the following process worked for me:

1. Lift the access lid so the cartridges move to the replacement position. 

2. Unplug the power and remove all cartridges.

3. Cut out a piece of a household sponge about the size of a gumball.

4. Grasp the sponge with a pair of tweezers and saturate it with the hottest water available.

5. Lift the front edge of the cartridge carriage with one hand while positioning the wet, hot sponge directly under the black ink nozzle with the tweezers and other hand.  Release the front edge and allow a few seconds for the hot water to dissolve the ink clogging the nozzle. 

6. Remove the wet sponge with the tweezers and rinse the black ink from it.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 a few times.  Then soak up any water in the bottom of the printer with a paper towell.

8. Reinstall the ink cartridges, power up the printer and run the printhead cleaning process from the tools menu.

[jimwiz]

My 6510 is not printing in black. This appears to be a flaw in the printer. What is the solution.? This seems to be a widespread problem.

[morecowbell]

It is a widespread problem and there appears to be quite a few different solutions that work to resolve the issue.  I just tried all the different solutions offered by others with the same problem.  None worked for me, so I ended up getting an extended warranty from HP.  See my message posted on 4-4-13.  Good luck!