HP Photosmart 5520 missing black ink

[tecknobandit96]

Hey, this has been a long time since I posted last, which has been a while. Anyways, I did some troubleshooting into what could be the issue with my printer. And did all of the recommended cleaning protocols by HP, turns out my black is not printing properly. It's printing text out on the page correctly, color in all but is not doing that. I've cleaned it multiple times by aligning it and the problem has not been resolved. I dunno what is wrong with this.

Here's a link to the HP webpage I used to double-check myself with: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03955472

 

[kathin]

ensure you correctly installed your Printer cartridges. because many time there is a human error in installing Printer cartridges that effects the printing a lot. if your hardware process is correct please check the function through software.

 

[tecknobandit96]

ensure you correctly installed your Printer cartridges. because many time there is a human error in installing Printer cartridges that effects the printing a lot. if your hardware process is correct please check the function through software.

yep, i even made sure the vents on the cartridges were free of debris. I even tried cleaning the print head for good measure and aligning the printer head afterwards.

 

[tecknobandit96]

yep, i even made sure the vents on the cartridges were free of debris. I even tried cleaning the print head for good measure and aligning the printer head afterwards.

Now it's printing very light or not at all. Gave the printheads new and fresh ink with a new cartridge to go with it. still don't know what is wrong with this sucker.

 

[PeterBJ]

Could you please scan and upload the Print Quality diagnostic report?

​

 

[tecknobandit96]

if there is a faint thing in the background, I understand. This was a tracking slip that didn't come out all the way.

 

[PeterBJ]

The printer uses 3 dye colour cartridges and one pigment black cartridge. The pigment black is only used for printing plain paper documents, for other other media like photo paper black is printed as a mixture of the three colours. This "mixed black" is not true black but a dark grey.

The quality report shows that the pigment black is not printing and the text is not black but dark grey. I wonder if the media type is set to photo paper? But the diagnostic test should be independent of media and quality settings?

Two things can cause the missing black print. One is a printer defect in the printhead or the main board, the other is a cartridge not delivering ink.

You can test the black cartridge by comparing tit to one of the colour cartridges: Hold the colour cartridge over a sink or hold a paper handkerchief under the ink outlet and blow gently into the vent. Notice how much effort it takes to expel a drop of ink. Now repeat the test with the black cartridge, it should be just as easy to expel a drop of ink.

I have worked with this model or similar model printer and IIRC the printhead is not user replaceable. You can't even take it out for cleaning outside the printer. So if the black cartridge is OK, sadly I think it is time for a new printer.

 

[tecknobandit96]

The printer uses 3 dye colour cartridges and one pigment black cartridge. The pigment black is only used for printing plain paper documents, for other other media like photo paper black is printed as a mixture of the three colours. This "mixed black" is not true black but a dark grey.

The quality report shows that the pigment black is not printing and the text is not black but dark grey. I wonder if the media type is set to photo paper? But the diagnostic test should be independent of media and quality settings?

Two things can cause the missing black print. One is a printer defect in the printhead or the main board, the other is a cartridge not delivering ink.

You can test the black cartridge by comparing tit to one of the colour cartridges: Hold the colour cartridge over a sink or hold a paper handkerchief under the ink outlet and blow gently into the vent. Notice how much effort it takes to expel a drop of ink. Now repeat the test with the black cartridge, it should be just as easy to expel a drop of ink.

I have worked with this model or similar model printer and IIRC the printhead is not user replaceable. You can't even take it out for cleaning outside the printer. So if the black cartridge is OK, sadly I think it is time for a new printer.

very informative advice. I'll just use it as a scanner for now until the scanning gives out and then I might not need one due to the wide range of the printer market out there. I wish I could fix everything, but nothing last forever.