Jet pro 6978 stopped printing black after installing new cartridge.

[youngman861]

My hp 6978 has worked fine for about 2 years. I get ink on HP instant ink program. I installed new black cartridge about 10 days ago and printed will NOT print in black. Colors Okay. However, it will Copy in black. But will not print in black. Problem started after installing new black cartridge. HP support tried everything he new but printer still out of commission.

I will have to buy a new printer soon if can't get black printing fixed.

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Officejet Pro 6978.  Go through all the steps in order, but be sure to pay special attention to step 9.

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, leftover 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.

[youngman861]

I went through all the points you mentioned with Dave at HP support. He also controlled my computer/printer remotely. Nothing he did worked. However, I told him the following:

Making copies, (not Word printing), works fine. I can make black ink copies all day long. But cannot print a black Word document. It comes out blank.

This seems to be a command issue with the black ink cartridge.

Another thing, my old black ink cartridge was made in China and it worked fine until it ran out of ink printing Word documents. However the new black ink cartridge is made in Malaysia. Could the electrical connection in the black ink cartridge from Malaysia have a flaw?

Thanks for any help.

[Bob_Headrick]

Very few of the steps can be done remotely, you need to physically inspect the cartridge, checking the vents are clear and check for plastic nubs preventing the cartridge from seating.  Also, did you manually clean the printhead as described in the link I gave above?

If there were an electrical issue with the cartridge the printer would refuse to print or copy and would show an error message on the screen.  There is very little electrical connection to the ink cartridges, the control signals for printing go to the printhead which is not removable in this printer.  The only signals sent to the cartridge interrogate the cartridge type, color, ink levels and ink usage.  If the printer could not communicate with the cartridge there would be an error.

When making a copy the printer uses the color inks even for the very dark gray areas to give better results.  It is likely your black ink is not printing at all, what you see on the paper is due to the color inks.  You may be able to see this with a strong magnifier.

Is your unit under warranty?  If so I would suggest you contact HP for service.  Be aware that there are scammers who pose as HP (and Microsoft, Dell, etc.) Support.  Beware of numbers you find from a search on sites that are not hp.com.

To contact HP Support see the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/
Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect
Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"
Step 4. Scroll down and click on: HP contact options - click on Get phone number
 
Case number and phone number appear.