Print Quality

[Frankie262]

Very frustrated with my 6525 printer. I buy only HP original (564 XL) and never refill. Still Black is not recognized. I run a cleaning alignment which prints out except for the black block. No errors on the machine and the ink level is full. Any ideas?

See below

This may be the last time I buy an HP product.

[Bob_Headrick]

Despite appearances, your Photosmart 6525 is not printingg black.  The areas that appear to be printed in black in the test page are actually printing in a mixture of black and ccolor inks to they wil be readable even if black is not printing.  You could have a simlar result by selecting photo paper in the driver (even if printing on plain paper), this would force use of the color ink rather than black.

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Photosmart 6525.  

If the standard troubleshooting did not resolve black not printing I would suggest removing the black cartridge.  Turn it over and examine the area around the ink port.  There are four orange plastic spots, left over from the protective cap.  Make sure these are flush with the cartridge body, if not carefully trim them flush.  If the plastic nubs protrude they can prevent the cartridge from seating properly.  Before replacing the cartridge in the printer dribble a few (maybe four) drops of hot water into the ink port in the printer and two drops into the ink port on the cartridge then snap the cartridge back in position.  

It may also help to manually clean the printhead as described in the post here. 

I have also seen cases where leaving the printer overnight after the cleaning cycles allows black to recover.

If none of the above restores black printing your printer will likely require repair or replacement.