HP OfficeJet issues?

Hey there
I really need some serious help here. I’ve got an HP OfficeJet inkjet printer that’s about 8 years old, and honestly, it’s been a total workhorse until now. Lately, though, I haven't been buying fresh cartridges; instead, I've just been taking them to a local shop to get them refilled. I actually did that just over a month ago.
But since yesterday, things have gone south. It won't print anything in black—like, at all. The black ink just isn't sticking to the paper. If I switch my font color to red, it prints perfectly fine. But if I try to print in black, nothing happens. I already tried pulling all the cartridges out and popping them back in, but no luck.
What should I do? Is it time to just toss this thing in the trash? (Talking about the printer, obviously)

Amanda Evans56 said:Hey guys
I really need some major help here. I’ve got an old HP OfficeJet inkjet—it’s about 8 years old and has been a total workhorse until now. Lately, instead of buying brand new cartridges, I’ve been taking them to get refilled, which is what I did just over a month ago.
But since yesterday, the black ink just isn't showing up on the page. Like, at all. If I change my text color to red, it prints perfectly fine, but if I try to print in black, nothing happens. I already tried pulling all the cartridges out and popping them back in, but no luck.
What should I do? Is this thing ready for the trash yet? (Talking about the printer, obviously)

Toss it, or tell it to try printing on glossy paper.

rustysurfer79 said:Just toss it or tell him to use glossy paper instead.

He’ll print in color just fine, but black? Total dead end. I honestly can't tell if the ink is dried up or just gone, but I literally just refilled them recently. It was my first time printing that day and this stupid thing just refuses to work.

Amanda Evans56 said:It prints in color, but black just won't work. I can't tell if the ink dried up or if it's just gone, but I refilled them pretty recently. It was my first time printing after doing that, and now this thing is acting up.

Man, you clearly weren't listening.

rustysurfer79 said:You’re clearly out of your mind here.

I'm kidding. I wasn't even printing yesterday. But last time I tried, half the text was missing. And then the next time around, the black ink just straight up refused to show up.

Amanda Evans56 said:Actually, I'm lying. It wasn't the first time I printed yesterday. But last time, half the text was missing. And then the next time, the black ink just wouldn't print at all.

Just give you a nice nozzle check scan and send it over.

If you want a helpful answer...

So I did a little digging and found out the worst part of this whole mess is that the print head is totally clogged—specifically the black ink cartridge area. If I actually go through with trying to fix it, is it even worth my time? Like, given how bad the damage might be, am I just throwing money down the drain if it ends up being a total bust

Amanda Evans56 said:I did some digging and found out the worst part of my problem is a clogged printhead—specifically the black ink. If I try to get it fixed, is it even worth it considering the risk of things going wrong?

It’s not worth it.

Why?

Because

Fixing a printhead
== $50 == takes about an hour of work.
Why so long?

Because when you deal with HP OfficeJet heads, you might get lucky with one, but usually, you end up wasting a ton of time trying to clear two others that just won't budge.

Why is that?

Because before you even start cleaning, there's no way to tell if the head is just clogged or if the electronics for that specific color are fried.

Bottom line: don't bother.

Plus, you'll have to buy a new black ink cartridge anyway.

== $17

Why?

Because if you put the same old cartridge back in that caused the clog in the first place, don't expect anyone to fix it for free again in $50.

So yeah, seriously, DON'T DO IT.