What To Do If Printer Is Not Printing Black Ink

Table of Contents

Why does black ink stop printing?

This is a very common issue that occurs when you decide to print an important document your hp printer cartridge which is black in color suddenly becomes colorless and does not give you a qualitative print. There could be several reasons for this issue to occur; some of the reasons are given below. 

One of the common reasons could be the cartridge is not properly installed in the system. The second reason could be the available cartridge in your system belongs to a cheap quality which was ok to use only a few times and now it has dried up. Dust particles in the printer head can also result to solve hp printer not printing black in the cartridge not printing correctly. 

Steps for printing only through black ink:

In order to ensure that your black cartridge prints securely, as a user you can ensure the following steps for the cartridge to smoothly function. Please replace the ink cartridge if your system detects its low ink or it’s empty. As soon as the cartridge reaches the low ink level it will give an error message on your system, the ink levels are running out please replace a cartridge. 

As a user, you must ensure that the black cartridge is installed in the appropriate cartridge slot. This step would ensure smooth printing at all times. In all PC’s and laptops you must go into hp printer settings as mark black cartridge as default cartridge this will allow you to print in black ink. Unless you change the setting to print in color or print in grayscale. 

It may also interest you to note that HP printer not printing black comes with a setting in the print itself which is print in black only this setting allows the user to print in black ink only. Excessive use and heavy-duty printing lead to clogging of vents the user can treat the clogged cartridges by using a simple pin so that ink blockages are removed and printouts can be taken smoothly and efficiently.

In order to carry out your printing work, it is essential to hp printer, not printing black ensure that the hp printer recognizes the cartridges you can reinstall the old cartridge to ensure that hp printer is giving out a proper output or not. Then post this you can install a fresh cartridge of the same brand to carry out the rest of the printing. 

If the old cartridge prints successfully then this determines that either the new cartridge installed is not appropriately installed or it’s faulty in nature and needs to be replaced with immediate effect. 

Print heads can be clogged there are two ways to fix this issue, most of the times the printers with the advancement of technology have a self-print head cleaning and maintenance feature. The other way is print head can be cleaned by you by manually detaching it from the hp printer. However, there is a disadvantage in the automatic print head cleaning it uses up a lot of ink. Manually cleaning the print head works out more cost-effective. 

Another Method to Sort Out Hp Printer Not Printing Error

Another way for fixing the hp printer not printing black ink is the kind of paper it’s using. The black ink comes in two kinds dye-based and pigment-based. The first kind works well on glossy paper, the second one works well on normal paper. The quantity of ink used in printing depends on the kind of paper selected. Timely maintenance, updating of drivers, and keeping a close check of the hp printer cartridge ink levels are extremely essential to avoid this recurring issue. Also please note every printer has a life cycle we must replace the printer also in a timely manner after 4 to 5 years so that these issues do not occur and cause a hindrance in the printing and day to day work activities. 

Printers use a color called “photo black” these prints gray when you print in color. You can insert your hp printer head into warm water and then reinstall the cartridge if the hp printer not printing black text does not print the test reports will print blank this shows that new cartridge is empty and faulty. The best way to determine your cartridge is accurate is the test report resulting in black color. While purchasing a cartridge always purchase a branded and a sealed one this will help eradicate this recurrent issue again and again. Please also ensure that realignment is done when the cartridge is newly installed this will help in smooth and efficient printing always.