My HP Deskjet 4645 printer suddenly stopped printing black - it prints color ok, but not black

[LarryB5]

Help!  I was in the middle of copying documents in B&W.  It was working fine, then it just stopped printing black.  I thoutht maybe the cartidge suddenly ran out of ink.  The level check told me it was low, though the previous print didn't indicate it was running low - that print came out fine.

So, I changed the print cartridge to a new one.

When I did, the alingment page it printed was missing the black parts, and it couldn't allign.  It also wouldn't print a small black text I had from a document.

Help!

LarryB5

[LarryB5]

Hi, does anyone have any suggestions to help here?  Why my desktop 4645 printer suddenly stopped printing out black (color isok)?

Thanks,
LarryB5

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @LarryB5,

Thank you for showing your interest in HP Support Forums. It is a great place to find the help you need, from other users, HP experts, and other support personnel. For you to have the best experience on the HP forum, you could also visit our HP Forums Guide for the First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.

I understand you are having printing issues on your HP DeskJet 4645 printer. I'll be really glad to help you with this,

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

• Did you make any changes to the printer before the issue started?
• Is the printer able to make a copy?
• Is it a genuine original HP cartridge?
• Did you try using another cartridge and check?

In the meantime, let's try these steps here:

Please 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.

Please follow these steps:

Solution one: Remove the black cartridge

Solution two: Use genuine HP cartridges

Solution three: Allow the printer to rest

Solution four: Check the paper

Solution five: Check the print settings

Solution Six: Try with a different set of cartridges

Solution seven: Print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostic report and troubleshoot any defects

For more details, please visit this link - Fixing Print Quality issues - Click here

If the issue persists, I would suggest this could be a printer hardware. I would recommend you contact our HP phone support for available service options. Please fill in the product details to get the tech support number.

Please use 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: HP contact options - click on Get phone numberCase number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted for any other assistance,

If I have helped you resolve the issue, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" from the drop-down menu on the upper right corner,

Thank you for posting in the HP Support Forum.  Have a great day!

Regards,

[LarryB5]

Hi Biswajeet,

THank you for your detailed instructions.  I followed them and I think they helped.  Just so you are aware, here are the answers to the initial questions you asked:

• Did you make any changes to the printer before the issue started?  No
• Is the printer able to make a copy?  it was, just didn't print the black parts as I had written
• Is it a genuine original HP cartridge?  Yes
• Did you try using another cartridge and check?  Yes, I switched to a new cartridge and the problem was still there.

So, basically, I turned it off and on, etc. as you instructed and that seemed to help......

Except for one little detail....

The black print quality is still not perfect.  It's like it was before - a tiny bit smeared on the first and last letters of a document.  And it's slightly worse when I print using quick economical mode.

I'll live with it, but would appreciate if you have any thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Larry

[Jeet_singh · Accepted solution]

Hi @LarryB5,

Thank you for replying,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

If you have followed the steps suggested in the Print Quality issue, I would suggest this could be an issue with the cartridges. I would recommend you contact our HP phone support for further assistance. Please fill in the product details to get the tech support number.

Please use 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: HP contact options - click on Get phone numberCase number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted for any other assistance,

If I have helped you resolve the issue, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" from the drop-down menu on the upper right corner,

Thank you for posting in the HP Support Forum.  Have a great day!

Regards,