Printer only prints in color? light grey?

[Shanon]

My printer was out of regular and photo black ink. I replaced BOTH with new OEM inks. Suddenly when I print it only prints color and grey, nothing comes black! 

What is wrong? I tried taking the inks out and reinstalling them, I took the printer head thing out, nothing in there, All color prints fine. Just plack is really really light grey.

[priyaS]

>> please specify the printer model number and name

Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking all this from my own experience and not for HP

[OrneryKid]

I have the same problem...what was the solution?

[priyaS]

>> please specify the printer model number and name

Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking all this from my own experience and not for HP

[IanTaylor]

Printer started printing grey and colour.

Changed black cartridge - still only prints grey

[Shirlzz1]

@ Ian Taylor- I will be happy to help with your print quality issue, but I will need a little more information first. What is the model of printer that you own? Are you using genuine HP non refilled ink Cartridges?  If you make a color copy from the scanner glass of the printer, do you still get the same defect? 

[mcl922]

I have the same issue. I have a Hp C3180 all in one device. I am using new hp cartridges. I can print or copy in color, but cannot print or copy in black.

[Shirlzz1]

@ mcl922- I would start by cleaning to contacts on the cartridges and the contacts in the printer chute to ensure that build up is not the source of the issue with the printer's output.  Pages 22-23 of the product's user manual will show one how to clean the contacts. After that is complete, I would look at the troubleshooting steps offered in this document here. I hope that this helps. 

[mcl922]

I have tried all the steps in both the users manual (cleaning off all the parts, replacing cartidges, etc.) as well as all the steps of the online troubleshooting. This has helped the tri color print nicely, but the black still refuses to print a single drop of ink. Anything else I could try?

Thank you for your help!

[Shirlzz1]

@mcl922-  Thank you for the response. Did you run the clean cartridge utility after the manual cleaning as shown below? I woud repeat that process at least twice to ensure that the nozzles have been properly flushed.

 Run the clean print cartridges utility  (HP Photosmart C3180)

1. Load letter, A4, or legal unused plain white paper into the input tray.
2. In the HP Solution Center, click Settings , point to Print Settings , and then click Printer Toolbox .

   NOTE:You can also open the Printer Toolbox from the Print Properties dialog box. In the Print Properties dialog box, click the Services tab, and then clickService this device .
   The Printer Toolbox appears.
3. Click the Device Services tab.
4. Click Clean the Print Cartridges .
5. Follow the prompts until you are satisfied with the quality of the output, and then click Done.

Do you have another black cartridge that you can try in the machine? The cartridge could be faulty and to rule that out one would need to place another in the machine.