Blue ink not printing

[Mogman]

My printer suddenly stopped printing.  Windows and HP troubleshooters did not work.  HP Smart and HP print and scan doctor didn't either.  In the end, I uninstalled a the printer and it now prints in black, red and yellow but not blue.

I have tried cleaning print heads several times, aligning heads and adding more blue ink but these have had no effect.

Can anyone suggest a fix please?

[Irfan_06]

Hi @Mogman,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to assist you.

I understand you're experiencing an issue with missing colors on your printer.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, I'm here to help you today.

Do you have the same issue when you make a color copy on the printer standalone? (Place an original color document that has blue on the scanner glass and make a copy to confirm hardware is working fine)

To understand the issue and help you, please share the details listed below:

- Exact model number/product number(SKU number) of your HP Product (Click herefor information on how to find the model number/product number).

- May I know which application are you using to print?

- When was the last time your printer was working fine?

- Were there any changes made to your printer ecently?

- Are you using genuine HP ink cartridges?

- May I know which devices are you using to print eg: Windows PC, Mac, or Smartphone (Android or iPhone)?

Note: Do not share any of your personal information such as serial, phone number, email ID, etc.

Take care and have a great day ahead!

Irwin6

HP Support

[Mogman]

Irwin

Thank you for your positive response.  This printer has worked well for several years and I have appreciated its good print quality and ease of use.

Details of the printer, an HP Smart Tank Plus 555 are shown on the attached screen shot taken from HP Smart.

A few days ago, the printer refused to print but would still scan. It had recently been printing a significant number of photos and documents and I had made no changes to the printer or my PC, which is running on Windows 10 32-bit.

 I tried using the Windows, HP Smart and HP Print and Scan Doctor troubleshooters with no effect.  These told me that no problems were detected.  I also tried cleaning the print heads and re-aligning them with no effect. 

In the end I deleted the printer from my PC and attempted to reload it.   Unfortunately, I was unable to load drivers from the HP website hp.co/en/drivers as I received an “Access denied” error message.  When I went to the HP Support home page, when I attempted to enter my printer details the web page just flashed on and off and I was unable to proceed.  After several attempts, I eventually reloaded the printer using HP Smart and HP Print and Scan Doctor and, although it would scan and print, it was obvious that the blue print head was not printing.  This printer does not have replaceable ink cartridges as it has ink reservoirs instead and, although the blue ink reservoir was half full, I added more ink but this did not cure the problem.

If I print a test page, the black, red and yellow print fine but the blue bars are printed in pink.

I have tried printing documents and photos using MS Word, Outlook, Paint shop Pro, Paint and HP Smart and all show that the blue print head isn’t working as all blue areas are pink and green areas come out yellow.

I tried realigning and deep cleaning the print heads three times with no effect.  I.have also updated the firmware via HP Print and Scan Doctor and its troubleshooter tells me that no faults have been found.

Are you able to suggest how I might correct this problem.  Any assistance would be much appreciated.

   Dave

[Mogman]

Thank you for your attention but I think i have cured my problem.  At the same time the printer stopped working, for some reason the blue print head must have blocked.

Although head cleans did not cure this and nor did removing the head and wiping the face and contacts with isopropyl alcohol, while looking for something else, I stumbled on this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXhtJ4eFdaI 

This is a bit crude and suggests removing the print head and blowing through it but it seems to have worked for me.......

[Irfan_06 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mogman,

That's great! Happy to hear that the issue has been resolved. I appreciate your efforts in contacting HP community support and If you need any assistance in the future, feel free to reach out to us.

Take care and have a great day ahead!

Irwin6

HP Support

[ChillyShe]

This is happening to me now SO FUSTRATED  ive tried everything 

[Mogman]

I did as suggested in the you tube video on youtube.com/watch?v=jXhtJ4eFdaI , connected a small piece of pipe to my print head and blew gently (holding it over some tissue).  Blue ink then came out, and, when I put it back in the printer, it worked fine.

I hope this helps.

[ChillyShe]

Thats happened to me so annoying ive tried everything 🙄