ink levels show sufficient amount but does not print black and only faintly prints color

[sandywilder]

Hi!  I've had this printer for about 10 months, and I hardly ever use it.  It just started to not print well, very faintly showing anything.  Black doesn't show up, but if I print in color, then that shows up faintly.  The ink levels show that there is sufficient ink.  I've gone through the settings - tools - clean cartridges and tried to troubleshoot as best as I could without luck.  Any suggestions?  I tried to ignore the bad reviews when I purchased this, but I'm scared that this might be another case of a bad product.  Hopefully someone has a suggestion! The last expensive HP printer I had, I purchased new ink cartridges (also expensive) and that didn't solve the problem.  Thanks for any suggestions!

[8lives]

Get a plastic dish and put 1/4" of hot water in it.  
Remove the cartridge(s) and put the printhead down into the water.  
Soak for five minutes, then remove and clean/dry the contacts with a lint free wipe.  (coffee filter)
Install back in the printer.
Try printing.

[sandywilder]

Thank you for your suggestion!  I tried this, but sadly, it did not help.  Perhaps I should just order new ink cartridges and see if that works?

[8lives]

Start with the black cartridge first.

Inkjets need to be used at least once a week.

[sandywilder]

Oh, interesting.  I didn't realize this.  Thank you.  So, if I purchase new cartridges and make sure to print a test page at least once per week, then will this resolve my issue?  Or did I ruin something internally by not using it regularly? 

[8lives · Accepted solution]

New cartridges should fix your problem as the ink dries out in the printhead from lack of use.

[sandywilder]

Thank you for all your help.

[Rufels]

OfficeJet 3830 ink levels are full but suddenly does not print black and only prints color; There are no error messages; I have cleaned the heads etc etc

[8lives]

@Rufels, how long since you printed in black?

[Rufels]

Last week the print was partially missing on documents; this week absolutely no printing appears.  I tried to print in color and it prints perfectly.  Both the cartridges are full - recently changed (original HPs).  I have gone through all the stages of cleaning etc, except for manually cleaning the heads.  I suppose I should just put in another new black ink cartrirde - but was loathe to do so immediately - it costs a lot.