Photosmart 7520 Not Printing Black

[garynb100]

My printer is 4 years old, and all of a sudden the black portion of the print quality report is blank.  i have installed the latest softward and drivers on my windows 7 PC, cleaned cartridges several times and aligned printer.  the black will not print and the alignment fails.  The cartridge is new and showing as full and i even tried a different hp 364xl black with no help.  

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Photosmart 7520.

[garynb100]

Thanks for your reply Bob

I had already tried evrything on that link but to no avail.

Do you have any other ideas?

Gary

[Bob_Headrick]

Did you go through all the steps, including soaking the printhead as described in step 8?  Are there any error messages?

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.   

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.

[garynb100]

Thanks again for your reply Bob

Success temporarily

I did thoroughly clean the printhead but did not soak it as I had nothing suitable to hand to put it in. I had already made sure the four plastic nubs were flush.

I was getting a printer alignment error message every time I tried printer alignment but this time it took a lot longer and no error message. The black is a bit faint. I then ran the clean cartridges option and got the printer alignment  error message again and no black printing.

I am now getting a 'Printer Failure' error message 'There is a problem with the printer or ink system' I switched it off and on again as instructed but no change.

Maybe it's time to replace the printer

Gary 

[Bob_Headrick]

The alignment will fail if either black or cyan are not printing properly.

I would certainly try soaking the printhead before I would toss the printer.  If you do not have a disposable dish to soak the printhead in you could use a glass bowl or similar item.  Wash the dish thoroughly after the soak.

[garynb100]

I flushed the print head through rather than soak it until no more ink came out, dried it thoroughly. Once I had put it all back in the printer it started the initialisation which it hadn’t done previously but half way through I got the Printer Failure message again

[Bob_Headrick]

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@garynb100 wrote:
I flushed the print head through rather than soak it until no more ink came out, dried it thoroughly. Once I had put it all back in the printer it started the initialisation which it hadn’t done previously but half way through I got the Printer Failure message again

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Soaking the printhead is safe.  Forcing water through the printhead can damage it, causing delamination of the internal structures.

At this point I do not have any more suggestions.

[garynb100]

Thank you Bob
I think I’ll replace the printer. May go for a laser this time.
Thanks again for your help

[Rayborn1]

Thank you @Bob_Headrick.  My HP Photosmart 7520 printer stopped printing black a month ago.  I went through all of the steps recommended by HP's troubleshooting.  I ended up purchasing a new printhead and my printer worked for a month and then stopped printing black again.  I once again went through all of the steps I could find online!  I really didn't want to purchase another printhead for $80.  Nothing worked until I found your suggestion to make sure the "four orange plastic spots, left over from the protective cap" were flush and the dribbling a few drops of hot water into the ink port of the printer and cartridge.  I did that and then did one "clean cartridge" cycle and IT WORKED!!!!  Thank you, thank you!  I was about ready to buy a new printer!  You MADE MY DAY!!!