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- HP Community
- Printers
- Printing Errors or Lights & Stuck Print Jobs
- Re: no black ink - printhead cleaning loop

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02-11-2017 04:32 AM
Hi there,
Printer: 6830 all-in-one-thing
The symptom is simple - no black ink printing.
Attempted solutions:
1) clean printhead test 1
2) clean printhead test 2
3) clean printhead test 3
outcome: minor streaks of black ink
Things you need to know:
1) estimated ink 50%
2) enrolled on Instant Ink service
Attempted communication
1) HP Knowledge base for dummies
2) HP support eternal loop of despair (find product, input serial no, fill out form in contact info and symptoms, go to page saying nothing helpful at all
Current communiction:
Registering here and see if I can get the communities help (probably better than HP support)
Next communication:
Take to Twitter and shout loudly
Guys, this is urgent as I only have 5 months of my warranty left and with all the will in the world HP seem to be stonewalling me past my warranty.
please HELP!!! (Okay the post is a little sarcastic but the corporate stonewalling is just AMAZING)
Solved! Go to Solution.
Accepted Solutions
02-11-2017 08:02 AM
What country are you located in?
There are a few other things you can try in the meantime while waiting for availability of support: some users have reported results removing the black cartridge and carefully dripping a few drops of hot water into the ink inlet hole in the printer. Also, while you have the black cartridge out turn it over and look at the ink outlet port. There are four orange plastic spots near the ink outlet hole, these are remnants from the cap that was used to protect the port during shipping and storage. Make sure there are no plastic nibs protruding, these could prevent the cartridge from seating properly. If there are protrusions carefully trim them flush with the cartridge body.
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
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02-11-2017 07:40 AM
The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve black ink not printing on your Officejet 6830 printer. Be sure to check the vent and seating as shown in step three.
Are there any error messages on the printer screen?
If you get through the troubleshooting steps without resolution please post back here.
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button
If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.
02-11-2017 07:53 AM
HI Bob,
thank you for your reply - much appreciated!
All vents are open (I've even peeled back the label on the black to make sure it was not in anyway getting blocked.
I've done all the troubleshooting steps multiple times and there are no error messages relating to this on the printer (especially not the known printhead problem)
Whats next do you think?
(All real life support options are only available 9am to 6pm in the week)
02-11-2017 08:02 AM
What country are you located in?
There are a few other things you can try in the meantime while waiting for availability of support: some users have reported results removing the black cartridge and carefully dripping a few drops of hot water into the ink inlet hole in the printer. Also, while you have the black cartridge out turn it over and look at the ink outlet port. There are four orange plastic spots near the ink outlet hole, these are remnants from the cap that was used to protect the port during shipping and storage. Make sure there are no plastic nibs protruding, these could prevent the cartridge from seating properly. If there are protrusions carefully trim them flush with the cartridge body.
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button
If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.
02-11-2017 08:26 AM
Thanks Bob - I am in the UK
I have trimmed the small potrusions flush and did as you said regarding the hot water on the print head, then carefully soaked up the two water droplets afterwards (and repeated the sequence)
The printer still thinks its printing black, its just that no ink comes out. Logically I can think of three things
1) the black printhead has malfunctioned (need to speak to HP direct)
2) the black printhead is blocked (will try once more with the water drops)
3) the ink cartridge has blocked (Insta ink thinks all is well and no ink needs to be sent, no way of communicating with them directly)
Any other options.
(Your help is very gratefully received)
02-11-2017 08:51 AM
Update, after dropping hot water on the printhead, then soaking it up and repeating several times I ran the full three tier clean printhead routines.
I've got black ink back but on a full page of text 1/3 of the lines (randomly interspersed on the page) seem lighter and bit smudgy.
Definitely getting somewhere, what are your thoughts?
02-11-2017 08:59 AM
The list you have looks about right. There is actually an HP Instant Ink support line available, I do not know about the hours:
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button
If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.
02-11-2017 09:26 AM
@Fredduhrick wrote:Update, after dropping hot water on the printhead, then soaking it up and repeating several times I ran the full three tier clean printhead routines.
I've got black ink back but on a full page of text 1/3 of the lines (randomly interspersed on the page) seem lighter and bit smudgy.
Definitely getting somewhere, what are your thoughts?
[Sorry, I missed this post when making my last reply.] It does sound like things are recovering. You might let the printer sit for an hour and try printing a full page text again.
You say the defects are random on the page - for a line that has a defect is it the entire line or does it vary across the page?
Is it possible the printer was shut down from an external switch such as an outlet switch? This can leave the printhead uncapped, allowing it to dry out. In this case the cleaning cycles and water drops may recover. It is best to leave the printer always plugged into a live outlet. Using an external switch, even if the printer was properly turned off from its switch, can cause issues.
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button
If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.
02-11-2017 12:35 PM
I am glad your issue is resolved. Keep the HP forums in mind if you have any issues in the future.
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button
If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.