HP Photosmart 7260

[Eugene1101]

I have an HP Photosmart 7260 printer with brand new HP cartridges. It prints all colors except black: no black font is printed; instead of black background it prints green. Is there any chance to fix this? To clean the head? Where can I find instructions how to clean the head?

[Jeet_singh]

@Eugene1101,

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. For you to have the best experience on the HP forum, you could also visit our HP Forums Guide for First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More. I see from your post that you are having issues while printing in black from your HP photosmart printer. Don't worry we'll work together to help you find a solution.

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

What is the exact model of the printer? Is it Photosmart D7260 or something else.

Are you using genuine HP Ink cartridge or refilled ink cartridges?

Have you tried to clean the ink cartridge?

Have you tried to print the diagnostic page?

In the meantime, let's 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.

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.

Step one: Check the ink cartridges

HP cannot guarantee the quality or reliability of non-HP ink. If the ink cartridges have been refilled, try replacing them with genuine HP ink cartridges.

Step two: Clean the printhead

1. Open the Printer Toolbox:

   1. Open HP Solution Center (click Start, All Programs, HP, and then HP Solution Center).

   2. If you have more than one printer installed, make sure to select the correct printer tab in HP Solution Center.

   3. Click Settings.

   4. Click Printer Toolbox.

2. On the Device Services tab, click Clean the Print Head. Follow the prompts until you are satisfied with the quality of the output, and then click Done.

Step three: Align the print head

The HP Photosmart automatically aligns the print head when you install the ink cartridges during the initial setup. The HP Photosmart also aligns the print head during periodic maintenance to ensure excellent print quality.

To align printer from the control panel

1. Load letter, A4, or legal unused plain white paper into the input tray.

2. Touch the Setup icon on the display.

3. Touch Tools.

4. Touch Align Printer.

5. The HP Photosmart prints a test page, aligns the print head, and calibrates the printer. A success or failure message appears.

To align printer from the HP Photosmart Software

1. Load letter, A4, or legal unused plain white paper into the input tray.

2. In the HP Solution Center, click Settings, and then click Printer Toolbox. The Printer Toolbox appears.

   NOTE: 

   You can also open the Printer Toolbox from the Print Properties window. In the Print Properties window, click the Services Tab, and then click Service this device.

3. Click the Device Services tab.

4. Click Align the Printer.The HP Photosmart prints a test page, aligns the print head, and calibrates the printer. Recycle or discard the page.

For more details, please follow this link .

Alternatively, you can also go through this support document for - Click here (Though the header is for different issue, but the steps are the same, so request you to try these steps and get back to us with the results for further assistance).

Please let me know if this resolves the issue, or if you require further assistance!

Eagerly waiting for your response!

that said, 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.

[Eugene1101]

I have performed everything. Nothing worked. No black font printed. After alignment the printer showed an error message: Print cartridge alignment failed. See the product documentation for details.

[Jeet_singh]

@Eugene1101,

Thank you for replying,

After reviewing your post thoroughly, I suspect this to be a possible hardware failure with the printer. 

In this scenario, I will share you a private message with details. Please watch your inbox for more information.

Let me know if this helps!

Have a great day ahead! 🙂