Officejet 4620 won't print black ink

[mitcho]

I have put in new ink cartridges, done multiple cycles of clean print heads at levels 1 & 2, align print heads, updated the printer software last night, and followed every step I can find in the HP forums, but the black ink will not print consistently. The colored ink prints ok. But even a brand new black ink cartridge will not print. Last night after 4 clean cycles, and trying to print a document 8 times, it finally printed ok in black. Now today, it is again printing extremely poorly with almost no text showing. Since the clean cycles do not discriminate between cleaning the colored and black ink, I have already used half of my brand new colored ink, just from cleaning cycles!!!  I found very involved instructions on the HP forums from 2014 about taking the printer apart to clean ink that has clogged the print heads and solidified shut. This seems very complicated to have to do for me since I am not a mechanic, and especially for a high quality HP printer that is still fairly new. Is there anything else that can be done to fix this? Thanks very much!

Mitch

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Officejet 4620.   

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.

[mitcho]

Thanks Bob! As a 1st step, I trimmed the orange nibs off. That alone improved the printing dramatically!

[mitcho]

Bob,

Here's a postscript. The printer worked fine yesterday. I shut it down last night and turned it on about an hour ago. This time, the black printing was again very poor. So I followed your 2nd step. After pulling the power cord, I removed the black ink cartridge, dribbled 4 drops of warm water into the printer ink port, and a couple into an almost full black ink cartridge I had removed a few days ago when I installed a new cartridge, hoping that would fix it (which it didn't). I also looked into the innards of the printer, below where the cartridge carriage sits before you lift the cover that accesses it. The inside bottom of the printer there is full of sticky black ink! Yuck! What a poor HP design, to just let ink collect and partially dry inside the printer! What a waste of expensive ink and a big mess. Anyway, one step at a time. I put the cartridge back in, plugged in the power cord, and printed something. It printed beautifully! I hope this fix sticks 🙂

Thanks,

Mitch

[Bob_Headrick]

The area you see that looks like a black ink spill is actually called the service station or spittoon.  This is where the printer spits a bit of black and color ink before, during and after print jobs to keep the nozzles from drying out.  While it appears to be black ink it is actually a mixture of black and colors.  The area you see is designed to handle the servicing needs for the life of the printer.

[Pichi]

Hi everyone,

Try switching to thicker paper; this simple action saved my sanity AND MY WALLET.

Raul

[Bob_Headrick]

---

@Pichi wrote:

Hi everyone,

Try switching to thicker paper; this simple action saved my sanity AND MY WALLET.

Raul

---

The only way I could imagine this working is if you have the paper type set to "automatic" and the thicker paper is detected as photo paper.  When photo paper is selected in the driver (or the driver is set to automatic and photo paper is detected) the printer will use color even for text.  While this may appear to be working the black still does not.

[Signslady]

Clipping the orange nibs and dribbling water?  BRILLIANT.  It saved my sanity and my wallet.  I really thought I was going to have to buy a new printer.  And I really like my printer!   Thank you!!!

[etwinsfan]

I followed all the instructions, even put hot water into the ink port and the cartridge but still it didn't fix the issue. My color ink is printing fine but my black won't come out and it's a new black cartridge. please help!

[Bob_Headrick]

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@etwinsfan wrote:

I followed all the instructions, even put hot water into the ink port and the cartridge but still it didn't fix the issue. My color ink is printing fine but my black won't come out and it's a new black cartridge. please help!

---

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Officejet 4620.  

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.