Colors photos lacking any black ink

[Medrod]

I have an Envy 7155 inkjet printer that has worked properly for a couple of years. Suddenly, a few months ago, it began printing color photos without using the black ink cartridge, therefore, they all look washed out and faded. I have uninstalled, then reinstalled the printer, but it still won't use the black cartridge when printing photos.

Black and colored text prints perfectly. If I print a document that contains black & colored text, it prints properly even if there is black mixed into the color. If I include a photo, the text is still properly printed but the photo is washed out.

Both cartridges have ink and I have cleaned and aligned them in addition to uninstalling and re-installing the printer.

Help would be appreciated.

[sandytechy20]

@Medrod 

Welcome to the HP support community.

I understand that the blank ink is not printing, I am glad to assist you.

Manually clean the area around the ink nozzles

• Gather the following materials:
• A clean, lint-free cloth or a clean, dry cotton swab
• Distilled or bottled water
• CAUTION: Do not use tap water because it might contain contaminants that can damage the printhead.
• Open the ink cartridge access door.
• 
• Wait until the printer is idle and silent before you continue.
• Lightly press down on the ink cartridge to release it, and then pull the ink cartridge out of its slot.
• 
• CAUTION:Do not remove both ink cartridges at the same time. Remove and then clean each ink cartridge one at a time. Do not leave an ink cartridge outside the printer for more than 30 minutes.
• Hold the ink cartridge by its sides.
• 
• Lightly dampen a clean, lint-free cloth or swab with bottled or distilled water.
• Clean the face and edges around the ink nozzle with the cloth or swab.
• CAUTION:Do not clean the ink nozzle plate.
• 
• Nozzle plate - Do not clean
• Area surrounding ink nozzle - Do clean
• Ink cartridge contacts - Do not clean
• Wait 10 minutes for the cleaned area to dry before you continue.
• Hold the ink cartridge by its sides with the contacts toward the printer, insert the ink cartridge into its slot, and then gently push the ink cartridge until it snaps into place.
• 
• Repeat these steps to clean around the nozzles on the other ink cartridge.
• Close the ink cartridge access door.

Refer to this HP document for further assistance:- Click here

Keep me posted.

If this helps, please mark the public post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others. 

Cheers.

[Medrod]

That's not correct. As I said, the black ink prints properly when printing text, even text mixed with colors both pure and dithered with black. However, when printing graphics, e.g. jpg files, the black ink is not mixed with color so the resulting image lacks contrast and saturation.

If a document is a mixture of all sorts of fonts & colors surrounding an imbedded photo jpg, the entire text prints properly. BUT, the photo lacks any (i.e. has none, zero) black ink mixed in. So again, the photo lacks contrast, shadows, and density, but the rest of the document is perfect in both colors and black.

I have cleaned, changed, hand cleaned, and calibrated the cartridges, all to no avail.

[sandytechy20]

@Medrod 

This might require one on one interaction to fix the issue, I am sending you a private message with the steps to talk to HP support.

Please check the mailbox icon at the top-right corner of this screen.

I hope this helps resolve this issue completely.

If this helps, please mark the public post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers