HP Officejet 4622 Black ink printing faded or not printing at all

[WhiteknightJN]

I bought & installed new cartridges on 4/6/18.  When I printed a document it was faded.  I performed the printhead cleaning proceedure, and only the color blocks printed.  I opened up HP Support assistant for help, downloaded the HP print and scan doctor, updated the software as needed.   I went through the troubleshooting procedures on HP support which lead me to believe I had a bad black ink cartridge.  I returned the ink cartridge and bought another one.  Black print was faded, so I checked/cleaned the vent, which didn't solve the problem.  HP Support stated there's 3 levels for cleaning the printhead, but after the 2nd, I get the message to contact hp support.  I've used up 75% of all 3 color cartridges doing the Printhead cleaning procedure and/or printing test pages.  I'm guessing the port for the black ink is clogged too severly for the printhead cleaning to clear it.  

[Jeet_singh]

@WhiteknightJN,

Thanks for engaging in HP support Forums! This is a wonderful location to converse with the community, get assistance and find tips! I understand you are having issues printing from your HP OfficeJet printer. Don't worry as I have a few suggestions which should help you resolve this issue.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?

Are you using genuine HP Ink cartridges or refilled cartridges?

Have you tried to clean the ink cartridge contacts?

Are you able to make a copy from the printer?

After reviewing your case, this looks like a possible hardware failure. Before you could contact our HP phone support for further assistance. I would personally suggest you try these steps here: 

Perform a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

.

Remove all the ink cartridges and then try to perform a hard reset on the printer.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Now insert the ink cartridges and then try to print a test page and check if it works.

Let’s first try and make a “photocopy” to determine whether the issue is with the printer or not. Place a document on the scanner glass and choose “Copy” option. If the printer is making a good copy, then the printer hardware is fine.

If the copy comes out bad, then I would suggest here is to follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP Officejet, Deskjet 4600 Printers - Black Ink Not Printing and other Print Quality Issues

Step four: Use an automated tool to clean the printhead

Follow these steps to run an automated tool to clean the printhead.

   CAUTION:

Never turn off the printer when ink cartridges are missing. Make sure you replace any missing ink cartridges as soon as possible to avoid print quality issues and possible extra ink usage or damage to the ink system. To avoid issues that require cleaning the printhead, always turn the printer off with the Power button on the printer itself.

1. Load plain, white U.S. letter or A4 size paper in the input tray.

2. On the printer control panel, press the Setup icon .

3. Press the button  next to the arrow  until Tools displays next to OK.

4. Press the button next to OK to select Tools, and then press the button next to the arrow  until Clean Printhead displays next to OK.

5. Press the button next to OK to clean the printheads.

   The printer cleans the printheads and then prints a test page.

6. Evaluate the test page for print quality.

   Figure : Example of the printhead cleaning test page

   

   • If the print quality on the test page is satisfactory, touch No to return to the current print job.

   • If the print quality on the test page is unsatisfactory, touch Yes to perform a secondary cleaning of the printhead.

     There are three printhead cleaning stages. Complete all three stages if necessary. If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes after the last (third) cleaning stage to start the first stage of the cleaning process over again.

If the issue, persists, then contact HP phone support for further assistance as they will help you in real time in this regard.

HP Technical Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: http://hp.care/2r9wSvP

• Once the support page opens please select the country in which you're located. Next, enter your HP model number on the right.
• Next, choose the 'Contact Support' tab at the top and scroll down to the bottom of the 'HP Support- Contact' page to fill out the form provided with your contact information.
• Once completed click the 'Show Options' icon on the bottom right.
• Lastly, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select 'Get phone number.' A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

If the unit is under warranty, the manufacturer’s warranty should take care of it for you.

Please perform all these steps patiently as it is critical to resolving the issue. The trick is to remain patient.

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great. 🙂 Please reach out for any issues and I'll be there to assist you. 🙂

If the information I've provided was helpful,

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[WhiteknightJN]

Update:  I can print copies in color, anything that is supposed to be black is blank though.

[WhiteknightJN]

---

@Jeet_singhwrote:

@WhiteknightJN,

Thanks for engaging in HP support Forums! This is a wonderful location to converse with the community, get assistance and find tips! I understand you are having issues printing from your HP OfficeJet printer. Don't worry as I have a few suggestions which should help you resolve this issue.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?   No

Are you using genuine HP Ink cartridges or refilled cartridges?  Yes

Have you tried to clean the ink cartridge contacts?  No, wasn't in the troubleshooting steps

Are you able to make a copy from the printer?  Yes, but only in color.  Anything black is blank.

After reviewing your case, this looks like a possible hardware failure. Before you could contact our HP phone support for further assistance. I would personally suggest you try these steps here: 

Perform a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.  

.

Remove all the ink cartridges and then try to perform a hard reset on the printer.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Now insert the ink cartridges and then try to print a test page and check if it works.

 Hard reset didn't resolve the problem.

Let’s first try and make a “photocopy” to determine whether the issue is with the printer or not. Place a document on the scanner glass and choose “Copy” option. If the printer is making a good copy, then the printer hardware is fine.  Copy in color works, copy in black doesn't.

If the copy comes out bad, then I would suggest here is to follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP Officejet, Deskjet 4600 Printers - Black Ink Not Printing and other Print Quality Issues  

Step four: Use an automated tool to clean the printhead

Follow these steps to run an automated tool to clean the printhead.

   CAUTION:

Never turn off the printer when ink cartridges are missing. Make sure you replace any missing ink cartridges as soon as possible to avoid print quality issues and possible extra ink usage or damage to the ink system. To avoid issues that require cleaning the printhead, always turn the printer off with the Power button on the printer itself.

1. Load plain, white U.S. letter or A4 size paper in the input tray.

2. On the printer control panel, press the Setup icon .

3. Press the button  next to the arrow  until Tools displays next to OK.

4. Press the button next to OK to select Tools, and then press the button next to the arrow  until Clean Printhead displays next to OK.

5. Press the button next to OK to clean the printheads.

   The printer cleans the printheads and then prints a test page.

6. Evaluate the test page for print quality.

   Figure : Example of the printhead cleaning test page

7. • If the print quality on the test page is satisfactory, touch No to return to the current print job.

   • If the print quality on the test page is unsatisfactory, touch Yes to perform a secondary cleaning of the printhead.

     There are three printhead cleaning stages. Complete all three stages if necessary. If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes after the last (third) cleaning stage to start the first stage of the cleaning process over again.

   • If the issue, persists, then contact HP phone support for further assistance as they will help you in real time in this regard.

I only get the colored blocks, the rest of the page is blank, same thing happens printing the report test page.

HP Technical Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: http://hp.care/2r9wSvP

• Once the support page opens please select the country in which you're located. Next, enter your HP model number on the right.
• Next, choose the 'Contact Support' tab at the top and scroll down to the bottom of the 'HP Support- Contact' page to fill out the form provided with your contact information.
• Once completed click the 'Show Options' icon on the bottom right.
• Lastly, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select 'Get phone number.' A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

If the unit is under warranty, the manufacturer’s warranty should take care of it for you.

Please perform all these steps patiently as it is critical to resolving the issue. The trick is to remain patient.

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great. 🙂 Please reach out for any issues and I'll be there to assist you. 🙂

If the information I've provided was helpful,

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

---

[Jeet_singh]

@WhiteknightJN,

Thank you for replying,

As I understand you are having issues making a copy from the printer, this clearly indicates this could be a possible hardware failure with the printer. Please follow the link from the previous post to contact HP phone support. Let me know if you encounter any difficulties contacting them. 

Keep me posted,

If the information I've provided was helpful,

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[WhiteknightJN]

Anything that is supposed to print in black ink is blank, that includes printhead cleaning pages.  I bought all 4 cartrides on 4/6/18, now all 3 color ink cartridges are low on ink (less than 10% left), from doing the printhead cleaning, report test pages, and print doctor test pages.  I either have another defective black ink cartridge, or a severly clogged printhead.  I need to try manually cleaning the printhead, but I don't know what liguid/chemicals to use that won't damage the printhead.  What does HP recommend using to manually clean the printhead?

[Jeet_singh]

@WhiteknightJN,

Thank you for replying,

As I understand you have followed the steps suggested and you would like to know how to manually clean the printhead. Don't worry I'll do my best to help you with this.

After going through your post, I did check and found that it's not recommended to clean the print head manually as the print head nozzle is very delicate, I would suggest you not to clean it manually and request you to contact phone support for further assistance.

Please use the link from the previous post to contact our HP phone support. I'm sure they should be able to take care of your Issue.

If you come across any issues, please don't hesitate to get back to us. I'll be more than happy to help.

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts,

mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,