Fixing my OfficeJet Pro 6970

[Whitemonk]

My 6970 decided that it did not want to print in colour reliably anymore (blue finally disappeared). Had several calls with support without success. IMHO, it seems to be an ink supply problem. Their take is that it is out of warranty it was time to replace it. As repair by HP is out of the question, I thought I'd have a go myself - nothing to loose - and investigate if the print-head assembly (the side that faces the paper - out of view) needed cleaning.

Has anyone had a go at this or shall I forget it and either recycle it or throw it in the tip?

At the moment, it prints okay in black only and the ADF and scanning works fine, so it is great as a photocopier but it takes up valuable desk space.

[Betty0610]

@Whitemonk

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

If you're able to copy in black, this could be an issue with the color cartridge itself.

Let me know how the colors look on this report:

1. Load plain white paper in the input tray.

2. From the printer control panel, open the Setup  menu.

3. Open the Reports or Tools menu.

4. Touch Print Quality Report.

The printhead could be clogged, and you might need to clean the printhead several times to restore print quality. Use an automated tool from the printer control panel to clean the printhead.

   CAUTION: 

Never turn off the printer when ink cartridges are not installed. To avoid issues that require cleaning the printhead or that can damage the ink system, always replace ink cartridges as soon as possible, and always turn off the printer using the Power button.

1. From the printer control panel, open the Setup  menu.

2. Open the Printer Maintenance menu.

3. If necessary, open the Tools menu, and then touch Clean Printhead.

   A test page prints.

4. If the print quality is unacceptable, touch Clean Again to continue the next level of cleaning. If necessary, repeat these steps for the third cleaning cycle.

   NOTE: 

   If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes before you perform all three levels of cleaning again.

5. If the print quality is acceptable, touch Done.

If the issue persists, please perform the remaining steps from this document: If the issue persists, please perform the remaining steps from this document:

Let me know if this helps.

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

Thanks!

Have a great day!

[Whitemonk]

@Betty0610 - Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, I've lost count of the number of times I've run the triple print cleaning cycle with my 6970. I use far more ink running the cleaning cycle than actual printing! Thank goodness for the Instant Ink program. One thing I've noticed is the 69xx series aren't eligible for extended warranty. I think that speaks volumes for the product. I bought an ENVY 7134 and immediately got it on extended warranty for 20 GBP.