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- HP Community
- Printers
- Printing Errors or Lights & Stuck Print Jobs
- Cannot clean the printheads and the black ink won't print

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02-20-2022 05:53 AM
My printer does not print black ink, I believe the problem in simply that the printhead needs cleaned because it hasn't been used in a while.
When I use that stupid HP Smart app to Clean Printheads the popup appears that says "Cleaning" but nothing else happens. The printer does not make any sound, and the popup does not go away. If I quit out of HP Smart and try again then I get a different popup that says "Device is busy try again later" and that is all that happens.
I've tried doing the hard reset on the printer but it didn't make any difference. Is there a way for me to manually clean the printheads?
02-23-2022 07:24 AM
@RSDFGFGDS, Welcome to the HP Support Community! I’m here to help.
I see that the printer is not printing in black. yes, if the printer is not used for more than a couple of weeks, the ink could have dried up and needs cleaning.
I also see that you have tried the cleaning process via the HP Smart app but it was not successful as it got stuck.
As you have already tried a hard reset, unplug the power cable and hold the power button down for 10-15 seconds and release it. Power on the printer and check.
Make sure the HP smart app is up to date. You may check for updates in App Store.
Follow the steps mentioned in this document - Black Ink Not Printing, Other Print Quality Issues
This document also shows how to clean the ink cartridge manually.
Update the printer firmware
Click here to download and install the latest printer firmware from your Mac.
Click here to know different methods of updating printer firmware.
Also, check for any software updates on Mac
Click the Apple icon > About This Mac > Software Update and install any available update.
Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes.
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Have a great day!
KUMAR0307
I am an HP Employee