Photosmart 6515 not printing black ink

[JoeW10]

I'm located in the United States region. After several years of great use and many ink cartridge replacements, I am haivng problems with my HP Photosmart 6515 printer. I have always only used genuine HP ink cartridges, After following all the troubleshooting suggestions and using the clean print heads tool over 10 times, the 3 color heads print out fine with all three shade bars for each color. However, the black head does not print the full black shade bar, but does print the medium and light shade bars. Instead of the full black it prints a very light shade of gray. Even though my print is long past any warranty, I sure would appreciate any help resolving this issue. Thanks

[DocCottle · Accepted solution]

Hey @JoeW10,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I see that you are having issues with printing in black from your Photosmart 6515 e-All-in-One Printer. I can help you with that.

To start, make sure the printer is plugged directly into a wall outlet and not a surge protector. Once done, this document outlines how to troubleshoot print quality issues with your printer.

If after following the above the printer still does not print in black, the printer needs to be replaced. You can contact HP Support by clicking on this link and filling out the form at the bottom to see what replacement options are available.

Please let me know the results after following the above. If you are able to resolve your issue, please click on Accept Solution. If you appreciate my help, please click on the thumbs up icon. Both icons are below this post.

[JoeW10]

Unfortunately, my printer still does not print black, and it looks like I will have to replace my printer.  I have many unused  HP 564 ink cartridges left. Are there any new printers that still use the HP 564 cartridges? Thanks.

[DocCottle]

That would be a good question to ask HP Support when you contact them, as they would know that answer.

[Nigell]

Great, you have repeated the information on the help page.  It still does not print black, so how can it be FIXED, simply replacing it a couple of months out of warranty is costly and suspiciously convenient to HP!?

[Sunshyn2005]

Assuming you have completed all of the HP suggested solutions, my own personal recommendation, not one of HPs, is to use the solution offered in the following video.  I only suggest doing this if the printer is out of warranty; How to fix a HP Printer, not printing black ink and missing colours 

Based on the comments, it looks like this could help 

King_Zog wrote:

I tried most of the suggestions in this thread, but stopped short of disassembling the print head. Nothing worked until I saw the video referenced in Sunshyn2005's message. That did work, but not on my first try. For the second attempt, I left the wet paper towels in place for a couple of hours to really soak the print heads. That did the trick.

So, thank you Sunshyn2005, for pointing me to the solution.   - Source

Although the printer might be out of warranty, if the issue persists, HP may be able to offer you something. Maybe they can offer you a discount on an alternate model. What you can do, is 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 on: HP contact options - click on Get phone number

Case number and phone number appear.

If this resolves the issue, please let me know so we can help others who may be experiencing the same issue.

[James_D-X5]

I suffered thru this problem for half the day today, and finally got it solved. IT ALL STARTED AFTER A PAPER JAM---Cleaned the head multiple times, tried the wet/soapy paper towel in the online video, having FOUR new black cartridges on the shelf, I was getting desperate. I used the wet soapy paper towels on the ink heads as described in the video, left them on for over an hour, still nothing. I tried blowing thru the vent "T" on the cartridge top, holding it over a waste can to catch the black ink spilling. FINALLY, READY TO BUY A NEW PRINTER AND THROW OUT THE OLD HP6515, I CUT THE PROTECTIVE BAR FROM OVER THE PRINTER CARRIAGE. Careful not to cut the transfer belt below.... because this is just a cosmetic protective cover, and using plier/dike cutters, it was a quick job. This exposed the cartridges while they were on the carriage. I blew hard on the BLACK cartridge venting "T" (arrow vent) with a paper towl folded beneath to see the black ink passing thru, 3 times as described by "DaHawiian" in the discussions about another HP4620 printer, and FINALLY the ink began to flow! See-

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-Archive-Read-Only/Officejet-4620-will-not-print-black-after-r...

[mindy58]

What part of the solution worked for you? I have followed all of the steps.. Black ink prints extremely (unreadably) faint.