Brand New Black Ink Cartridge Prints in Light Grey Instead of Black

[KathrynM92]

I recently purchased a brand new black ink cartridge from HP and installed it in my printer.  I noticed some printing issues so also replaced all color ink cartridges.  Now, when I print in color, it's very light and when I print in black and white, the black ink is grey rather than black.  Things I've done:

- Cleaned printhead multiple times

- Cleaned ink smear

- Aligned printer multiple times

- Ran a quality report (the black ink came back completely blank while colored ink all looked great)

- Cleaned the ink cartridge vent and made sure all packaging was completely removed

Like I said, these are all brand new cartridges, so I'm hoping that someone has a solution!  Thanks in advance!

[senan6806]

@KathrynM92

Thank you for being a part of HP Forums. This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips to your technical queries.

Power resetting the printer, cleaning the cartridge electrical contacts and updating the printer firmware may resolve the issue. Please try these steps:

1) Make sure this printer is plugged into a direct wall, not a surge protector

2) Remove all of your ink cartridges from the printer and close the door

3) Remove the power cord from the back of the printer (Do no press the power button)

4) Clean the electrical contacts, refer to solution 4 from this document.

5) Plug the power cord back into the printer

6) Wait for the printer to turn on completely, then install the ink cartridges.

7) Download and update the printer firmware from here.

Let me know how it goes!

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Accepted Solution and Kudos buttons, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!
Have a great day!

[KathrynM92]

Thanks so much for your response!

I followed all the instructions but that didn't fix the problem.  The printer was working perfectly until I put in the new black ink cartridge - could there be something faulty with the cartridge?  Is there a way to exchange it for a new one?

[DavidSMP]

@KathrynM92

I' reviewed the post. Thanks for the update. Your great commitment and awesome efforts are amply appreciated.

Try inserting the old cartridge and check if that gets accepted. If it gets accepted then the new cartridge is faulty and needs to be replaced. This should work as long as the printer's hardware is fully functional.

I will send you a private message to assist you with the next course of action. Check your forum private message box in the upper right corner next to the bell icon. 

Good luck and keep me posted about the developments. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue and give the post a Kudos for my efforts to help. Thank you and have a great week ahead. 🙂