Most of the people prefer to use HP Photosmart printers for fast printing and obtain printouts with laser-quality black texts. However, there are times when users can experience various errors while operating this HP printing machine. One such issue includes HP Photosmart not printing black printouts. When this error takes place, it can occur out of the blue while carrying out a printing task. If you are currently experiencing this error in your HP Photosmart printer, there can be many reasons behind this issue. Hence, you can have problems with the entire ink system, which doesn’t allow to print anything at all. Also, your printer can generate faded printouts that can’t be considered as a black ink printing. Sometimes, the color ink cartridge can work just fine but the black one may not produce any print. All these issues can occur due to various technical reasons in HP Photosmart printers. So, if you are looking for some troubleshooting methods to resolve this printer’s black ink error, go through this article.
Methods To Resolve HP Photosmart Not Printing Black Problem
In order to fix HP printer black ink not working issue on the Photosmart products, you can apply these following methods.
Method 1: Install Original HP Cartridges In Photosmart Printers
Most printer users can fix this black ink issue easily just by installing genuine toner supplies from HP. As the printer is manufactured from original HP developers, it may not print correctly with non-HP black cartridges. In case you are getting this printer problem after installing other brand or low-quality cartridge, replace it immediately with a new HP cartridge.
Method 2: Run Automatic Servicing Of Your HP Printer
HP printers run an automatic servicing and maintenance routine to keep the device problem free. So, whenever you experience this issue of HP printer black ink not working properly, wait for the automatic servicing to finish correctly. However, if the issue is with the cartridge, you must try method 1 or re-install the cartridge using technical instructions. Once the printer accepts the new black HP toner, select the option of ‘allow automatic servicing to complete’.
In case you don’t want to wait (up to a few hours), clean the printheads and cartridges properly. Next, go to the HP printer control panel and reach to the left by swiping the display. Select the ‘Setup’ menu and touch the option of ‘Printer Maintenance’.
Next, you have to touch on ‘Clean Cartridges’ and wait for the printer to generate the Print Quality Diagnostic report. You must study this printer report carefully and check if the print quality is acceptable or not.
In case it’s unacceptable, touch the option of ‘Proceed’ to go to the next phase of cleaning the printer. Then you have to wait until all the stages of cleaning cycle completes. Once the Print Diagnostic report shows that the quality of printout is acceptable, it means the black ink problem is resolved.
Method 3: Check Print Settings And Paper Type In The Tray
There is a specific type of paper needed for every print job. Hence, any mismatch in the pages can cause this black print not working error in HP Photosmart printers. Also, it is important to check the paper settings to obtain correct printouts using the black/color cartridges. So, to try this method, you need to follow a few instructions as mentioned below.
Paper Type And Loading
Always load the pages into the paper tray by keeping the printing side in below/down position. especially, if you want to print something on photo paper using the HP Photosmart printer.
Avoid using curled or wrinkled pages to feed into the paper tray in HP printer. Also, make sure to use paper that can work with ColorLok technology and suitable for HP black ink.
If you want to print documents that requires intense printing, select ‘HP advanced photo paper’. Also, you must store these papers into the original package and not out of it. Try to load 15 to 20 sheets of photo paper at a time while taking the printouts using HP printer.
Print Settings
This parameter is also necessary to generate appropriate printouts using the black cartridges. So, open the ‘File’ tab on the document page and click on ‘Print’. As the dialog box of ‘Properties’ appears, go to ‘Options’ and go to ‘Printer Setup’. Next, you have to click on the ‘Preferences’ and select the paper type, paper size, print quality, black and white settings. So, make sure to choose the appropriate values or options in these above parameters (for example, black color print) and click ‘OK’ to save them. Hopefully, now you can take printouts with a black font from the HP Photosmart printer.
Method 4: Replace Empty Black Ink Cartridge With New One
An easy and convenient method to check the level of ink (black and white) is by using the HP Solution Center. So, if you are getting this printer error due to an empty black ink cartridge, open the HP Solution Center. To access this feature, click on the Start menu and select ‘All Programs’. Then choose ‘HP’ and navigate to the option of ‘HP Solution Center’. As it opens a new window, hit on the tab of ‘Settings’ and click on ‘Printer Toolbox’ from the Print Settings option. In the toolbox settings, you can view all the information by clicking ‘Estimated Ink Levels’. Hence, if you see the level of black ink is too low, you can follow technical instructions to install a replacement cartridge.
In case the above methods don’t fix the HP Photosmart not printing black problem, you must apply technical solutions to fix printer components including both hardware and software. Also, you must keep the printhead clean and fix ink leakage problems to resolve this printer error.
