Printer not printing black? No problem. If your HP printer is out of black ink there's a good chance you can still print with it. The same goes for other brands of printers. I'll show you how. But first let's eat a cookie.
I ate 9 cookies this week. That might not sound like a terrible amount when you first hear it, but that's because I haven't yet disclosed the fact that each chocolate chip cookie was the size of a dinner plate at the Olive Garden. And it wasn't a full week. It was 3 days.
Stress brings out my back fat. So from here on in I'm going to have to work at not eating clown sized cookies and walking even more than normal. I assume your situation has been similar so in an effort to minimize the stress you're dealing with I have a tip on a big stressor everyone has experienced at least once in their life.
I want you to search far back into the depths of your memory for a time when - your printer actually printed. When you could click "print", tapdance your way over to the printer and it would spit out a a beautiful white page filled with black text.
Wasn't it nice back in the olden days when your printer worked?
If your printer is working and is printing, I suggest you read this post anyway as a form of preparation for the inevitable day that will come.
Printer Not Printing Black?
You can fix that. Here's how.
- Turn the printer on and open up the door so you can get to the ink cartridges.
2. You found the ink cartridges. Good.
3. REMOVE THE BLACK INK CARTRIDGE. Now you can print black. Honestly!
As long as your printer also has a colour cartridge, all the colours from the colour cartridge will print together to make ... BLACK.
I figured this little trick out when I was preparing for a screen printing course that I was taking at my local art school. (you can learn how to screen print at home here)
I was supposed to bring a half tone screen printing image to the class. But an hour before the class when I printed my image a sad kind of faded blue image printed out. I needed BLACK for the screen printing process to work properly.
Probably something just got screwed up. So I tried printing it again and again until eventually nothing printed out onto the page. Not even the sad, faded blue.
Not to be deterred (I am the one who brought you How to remove sharpie from your walls, after all) I kept trying.
I tried the thing where you fill up your old ink with even older ink you bought at Costco 10 years ago but ... it didn't work. (you can learn how to refill your old ink cartridges here)
So there I was. An important almost-graduate from a highly esteemed small town night course about to walk into class without her assignment done. In high school I could have talked my way out of it, but at night school?? No, no night school is serious stuff I'd never get away with it.
So I did what any desperate girl looking for a way out would. I ate a cookie. And then I got to work figuring it out.
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WOW! I can't believe this worked! I was desperate to get something printed yesterday but realised I would have to wait until Tesco's opened! I found this on here and tried it - amazing.
Thank you so much for this trick, which has let me print - shops later today.
IT WORKED! Thank you!
I have a hp deskjet 6940 and had been using it with only a black ink cartridge for years since the colour cartridge has 1/3 less ink and costs way more.
When the black ink died I sadly learned that hp has discontinued it (hp 96 black) but is fine to keep selling the hp 97 tri-color (for now) so I bought it.
But then I realized it may not print black text and then gladly found this post.
I was nervous to try your method since once opened, ink cartridges are not returnable.
But I had no choice at the time so took a chance and am so thankful it worked!
I will say the black text comes out more dark grey/blue but it's readable and dark enough and will tie me over until I can try out getting my hp 96 black cartridge refilled at Peacock refill
(or my last resort - buying a new printer that's supported - what a scam...)
As soon as I started reading this I wanted to tell you how I enjoy your writing , even if it’s an instruction manual on current life’s greatest hack . You write very well you have a talent I like how you took me on a tiny personal journey , with a tiny excerpt of your day to day . That’s was koo on top of that u helped me simply with something I e been searching for the past 9.5622 minutes
Thank you!
Worked fine with my HP printer
Thanks, you saved my day! Worked perfectly on my HP 3630
You just saved my visa application! Thank you!!
Excellent, lol!! Good luck! ~ karen
Thank you! Worked fine with my HP F2050!
Greetings from Natal, Brazil!
That's great! ~ karen
I had something I HAD to print before my new ink cartridges were to arrive. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to do so on my HP1112 DeskJet printer with the black cartridge empty. Other sites mentioned about going into printer properties and changing to grayscale and while that may work for some other HP printers, it didn't for mine. Your simple solution worked perfectly and enabled me to print. Thanks so much!!
Hey! That's great, thanks for letting me know! ~ karen
That is awesome
Holy shiiii this actually worked!! Thank you! <3 <3 <3
I have a HP deskjet 2710, by the way, worked beautifully
Excellent! Yeah, it's always surprising to me too when an Internet how-to works.🤣 ~ karen!
Does not work with HP 5500 :(
Lifesaver! Thank you so much :)
I was alittle skeptical at first. A too good to be true scenario played out in my head. I have a HP printer. So I gave it ago. I was absolutely amazed when in fact it did work. Thank you so much for this. I never knew!
thank you so much brother... it worked
*from indonesia
you are a life saver!!!!!!
it worked
I had already cursed out my printer multiple times
thank you :)))))))
Excellent! I'm happy for you. ~ karen!
Thank you! it worked
Excellent! ~ karen
Article never did say what to do
It says to remove the black printer ink cartridge completely. The printer will then print "black" by using the colour cartridge. ~ karen!
After doing a lot of research and reading articles found this great piece of content which solves my issue. Love how you explain each point in detail. Thank you
Just want to add a little more solution so we can save our color cartridge for color printing.
1. If you are not using an aftermarket cartridge, you can check your printer ink level from the settings to confirm if the ink is finish.
2. if the vent of your cartridge is clogged, clean it by a pin and reuse it.
3. if your cartridge is new or you refill it with ink, make sure that the tape is removed from the vent.
4. make sure your ink cartridge is proper installed in their place.
5. If you have a new black ink cartridge, try to use it to determine if the old one is faulty.
Found these from https://www.workaroundtc.com/why-is-my-epson-printer-not-printing-black/
Thank you so much!!!!! It worked like magic!
Doesnt work on Canon Pixma... wont let you print at all if no black cartridge is inserted.