HP Photosmart 6525 cannot print black ink

[amitch18]

Hello,

A few weeks ago, out of nowhere, my HP Photosmart 6525 stopped printing black ink.  I've tried everything I can think of to fix this: repeated clean printhead and align printheads, reset to factory defaults, and replaced all the ink cartridges, but nothing is working.  What can I do to fix this?  I don't want to have to replace this printer since it was working fine up until a few weeks ago, not to mention the money I spent on new ink cartridges to try to fix this to no avail.

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Photosmart 6525.

If the standard troubleshooting did not resolve black not printing I would suggest removing the black cartridge.  Turn it over and examine the area around the ink port.  There are four orange plastic spots, left over from the protective cap.  Make sure these are flush with the cartridge body, if not carefully trim them flush.  If the plastic nubs protrude they can prevent the cartridge from seating properly.  Before replacing the cartridge in the printer dribble a few (maybe four) drops of hot water into the ink port in the printer and two drops into the ink port on the cartridge then snap the cartridge back in position.  

It may also help to manually clean the printhead as described in the post here.

I have also seen cases where leaving the printer overnight after the cleaning cycles allows black to recover.

If none of the above restores black printing your printer will likely require repair or replacement.