Photosmart 7525 Stopped Printing After Few Weeks With New Cartridge

[JerryInILL]

Replaced the black cartridge (HP 564XL) a few weeks ago and it worked fine.  Suddenly it sounds like it is printing and paper feeds normally, but there is no print, no test prints either.  Diagnostics all say it is fine.  Cleaned the nozzles.  Any ideas?  TIA

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black not printing on your Photosmart 7525 printer.  Go through the steps in order, and be sure to check the vents as described.

[JerryInILL]

Our color cartridges have been empty for at least a year as we only use black ink.  Why would it  suddenly stop printing now?  So I need $50 of color cartridges that I don't need just to make the black cartridge work?  

Can I just install 4 small black cartridges in addition to the large catridge?

[Bob_Headrick]

The Photosmart 7525 has separate ink cartridges and printhead.  Some printers with this design would block printing if ink were out in one or more colors, but this would show up on the printer as an error message if it were the case for this printer.  (Note that running the printer without ink in the color cartridges will probably result in the color portion of the printhead being clogged.  It is likely that even replacing the color cartridges at this point might not resolve color printing without soaking the printhead.)

I would suggest going through the troubleshooting steps in the document I gave above, ignore the low ink indications for the color cartridges and proceed past the steps about replacing low cartridges.  Continue on, and make sure the vents are clear, and also soak the printhead as described in the later steps if the solution is not reached before that.

One other thing to check - make sure you have selected "plain paper" as the media type in the driver.  The black cartridge uses pigmented ink which is not compatible with photo paper.  If photo paper were selected the printer would use the (empty) color cartridges to print even the black portions of a document.

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.  

[JerryInILL]

Looks like I will have to buy the 3 color cartridges.  Do I need to also replace the empty 564 black setup cartridge if the 564XL cartridge still has ink?

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

Replacing the color and photo cartridges will not help the issue you are having with black not printing.

The cartridge on the left end, the same size as the color cartridges, is the Photo cartridge, not the Black cartridge.  You can buy it in the store or from HP or others online.  

The 564 black cartridge has a pentagon on the cartridge but a circle on the box....  The Photo cartridge has a bow tie on the cartridge and a camera on the box.   

The document here may help.   It is available in the standard or XL size.

Figure : Photo ink cartridge with camera logo

Figure : Black ink cartridge

Black and Photo cartridges also have different label icons:

Figure : Photo ink cartridge

Figure : Black ink cartridge

Replacing the color and photo cartridges will not likely have any effect on black not printing, as long as you have plain paper selected in the driver.  In the troubleshooting steps in the document here  is the test page printed in step 5 blank?  If so, is it still blank after three levels of cleaning cycles?  Have you soaked the printhead as described in step 8?