HP Photosmart C7280 Black Ink won't print

[1-4-theteam]

**Risky**

     One of my clients has had a nightmare of a time trying to get his C7280 to print black.  After 2 cartridge changes and days of frustration with the issue he went out and bought another HP printer (Photosmart of Officejet 6500 series) and gave me the C7280 (just yesterday).  After cleaning the printhead a few times and going thorough all the troubleshooting methods recommended, I felt like there was nothing to loose, so working on intuition, I tried something different...  I don't recommend you guys try this unless you're willing to risk damaging your printer!!!...  I straightened and slowly inserted a small paperclip into the two cartridge penetration tubes of the printer until they stopped, about 1.5 inches.  I slowly worked the wire around inside the tiny hole until the potential blockage was broken. The same can probably be done with compressed air but idk...  It didn't print right after that so I ran the print head cleaner to vac the tube and VOILA!!!  REMEMBER:  I had nothing to lose...

[grahamt]

I've got this one as well.  Surprise, surprise, it happened just out of guarantee.  Now, who would have thought!!!!!  To be honest, then printer had been acting up for a while.  Sometimes it would miss bands of black ink, especially on pages with dense black print or when using the photocopier function, where the printer seemed to be trying to print faster than the ink could be delivered.  Now the black ink delivery system has failed completely.

Currently in a battle with PC World.  They are trying to get out of their responsibilities as it's [just] over one year old.  I'm hitting them with UK Consumer Purchasing law which gives me up to 6 years to claim.

[bundy]

Dont know if this thread is still running......but i read somewhere that the inks are not compatable between countries....was just thinking that maybe there was some mix up along those lines seeing as tho it seems allways to be black that stuffs up

Anyway what I wanted to know is how to get parts...ive been through all the aust site for a 3310 all in one and there is no mention of being able to get parts anywhere, I presumed I might need to replace the black printhead, i'll ring them later during business hours.....but how rediculous not to have at least some reference to parts availability on a website???????????

[Hallmark]

I'm having the same problem with the L7650 as all of you are.  Seems like a sytematic flaw to me.  frustrating that HP doesnt have anything on thier troubleshooting that helps. Quite frankly after reviewing 6 pages of frustrated users and not seeing anyone from HP stepping up to help the group Im ready to say bye bye to HP printers for good.  Seems like they dont really give a ___ about any of us

[RedOhio]

Had same problem on C7280.  After installing new cartridge, still wouldn't print.  Did a reset by pressing # and 6 during boot...it went through it's setup gyrations, and all was well.

This also fixed an issue I had where it wouldn't display correct ink levels, all were 0%.  (FWIW, I had been printing everything in grayscales, black cartridge only...when it ran out and then the new one didn't print, I thought I had big issues, but no worries, the #+6 reset fixed it all.

Give it a try....

[Geronimo]

PROBLEM SOLVED

I had the same problem with a HP Photosmart 3310 All in One with black ink not printing at all.

Pressing # - 6 during boot solved the issue for me also...

after replacing almost all cartridges this was the solution and black ink is printing again

hope this will be the solution for you also

[lawford]

Had same with C5180 - would not print black.

Following a previous sugestion. I dismantled the printer and cleaned ink lines with my air line.

Printer now works fine

[Rodneyrepose]

Cleaning the printerhead through tools made it better,  I was able to print out black, with some mess ups.  I ran the process a few more times and now its fluently able to print black.  I have a HP OfficejetPro L7580

[TheCru]

Duh!  Do you think I have not already tried that a bazillion times.  Get real.  I solved it by injecting alcohol into the small narrow heads at the top and bottom where the black cart sits.  Thanks for the no-help answer eons later.  Brilliant.  Bottom line:  HP sucks and they're update back in Feb seemed to make many HP printers not print black.  Could it be they came out with a newer model to this one and different cartridges for it?  HP SUPPORT SUX!!!

[squirrelnutz]

I have a C7280 and have been experiencing the no black ink while printing like everyone else on here. I did what 1-4-theteam suggested by taking a small paper clip the inserting it into the 2 cartridge penetration tubes and after about 10-15 or so print head cleanings and alignments my printer began to print black again. I'm not sure if this will work for everyone, but I dont think you have anything to loose if you are at all ends and about to go buy another printer.