My HP OfficeJet 6962 suddenly quit printing black, although it will (sometimes) print gray). I

[mullettgen]

No error messages; indeed, every troubleshooting program (whether HP or Windows) says everything is fine.  It is NOT the Black cartridge, because I have tried three different cartridges with black ink, two of them brand new, one XL the other one regular size.  Is it the printhead gone bad but only with black?  Is there a "fix" if it is a bad printhead?

[sandytechy20]

@mullettgen

Welcome to the HP support community.

Clean the printhead

1. From the printer control panel, open the Setup  menu.

2. Open the Printer Maintenance menu.

3. If necessary, open the Tools menu, and then touch Clean Printhead.

   A test page prints.

   

4. Examine the test page.

   • If the print quality is unacceptable, touch Clean Again to continue the next level of cleaning. If necessary, repeat these steps for the third cleaning cycle.

     NOTE: 

     If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes before you perform all three levels of cleaning again.

   • If the print quality is acceptable, touch Done.

You can refer this HP document for more assistance:- Click here

I hope that helps.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[F1aKk]

I'm guessing after a month you've given up and bought a new printer, or you fixed it, but just in case...

If the cleaning cycles don't work, you could try the process in this YouTube video.  It worked for me after I was told my printhead was bad and I needed a new printer. So I'm hitting all the threads complaining of this problem to save people a few $$s if possible. it's not my video and I'm not affiliated with the person, I just hate when good solutions aren't offered by manufacturers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDdTHa38vBw&t=35s

Here's the basic steps:

1. Remove the ink cartridges
2. slide the printhead all the way to the left
3. place a slightly damp paper towel underneath where the printhead moves, press down firmly to get it flush so the head can pass over it.  (I struggled with this, and ended up just holding the corner of it until I could get the head over it)
4. manually slide the printhead back and forth several times.  I had to use 2 paper towels and refolded both because the black ink covered them quickly.
5. replace the ink cartridges.
6. my step 6. run the clean print-head cycle a few times. I still had some fading/streaking so I think I did the 3 cleaning cycles twice before I was satisfied. Black in and color prints look perfect again

The video says you have 5 minutes before the printhead returns to "maintenance mode", so watch your fingers and get it done in 5 minutes. I didn't have any problems and my printer prints just fine now.

Hope this helps!