Printing black, HP inkjet

[Richard Fangnail]

I have an older Deskjet 630C which takes a 49 cartridge and an
optional 20 cartridge. I started printing every color but black so I
replaced the 49 cartridge with a cheap remanned one. It still does
not print black. I completely removed the 20 cartridge.

I thought the 20 cartridge was optional and if the 49-compatible
cartridge was new, it should print okay, shouldn't it?

Or could it be the printer?

 

[Richard Fangnail]

I have an older Deskjet 630C which takes a 49 cartridge and an
optional 20 cartridge. I started printing every color but black so I
replaced the 49 cartridge with a cheap remanned one. It still does
not print black. I completely removed the 20 cartridge.

I thought the 20 cartridge was optional and if the 49-compatible
cartridge was new, it should print okay, shouldn't it?

Or could it be the printer?

Update: I tried a second 20 cartridge but have exactly the same
problem - black is appearing as a weak gray, but all other colors are
normal.

When I first had the problem this morning, two sheets accidentally
were fed in at the same time, so that it printed the image onto the
middle of the first sheet, and some of it at the very top of the
second sheet, yet the colors were all normal.

I checked the printer for shards of paper and there are none.

If it's printing black poorly and all other colors okay, what else
could the problem be?? It's happend with two different 49 (color)
carts and two different 20 (black) carts!

Thanks.

 

[Richard Fangnail]

I have an older Deskjet 630C which takes a 49 cartridge and an
optional 20 cartridge. I started printing every color but black so I
replaced the 49 cartridge with a cheap remanned one. It still does
not print black. I completely removed the 20 cartridge.

I thought the 20 cartridge was optional and if the 49-compatible
cartridge was new, it should print okay, shouldn't it?

Or could it be the printer?

Update: I tried a second 20 cartridge but have exactly the same
problem - black is appearing as a weak gray, but all other colors are
normal.

When I first had the problem this morning, two sheets accidentally
were fed in at the same time, so that it printed the image onto the
middle of the first sheet, and some of it at the very top of the
second sheet, yet the colors were all normal.

I checked the printer for shards of paper and there are none.

If it's printing black poorly and all other colors okay, what else
could the problem be?? It's happend with two different 49 (color)
carts and two different 20 (black) carts!

Thanks.

 

[Richard Fangnail]

Update: I printed a few test sheets, and each time, the black got
better and better and now it's back to normal. Why would that
happen??

 

[Tony]

Update: I printed a few test sheets, and each time, the black got
better and better and now it's back to normal. Why would that
happen??

The cartridge was almost certainly at fault in that case. Maybe you got two bad
cartridges!
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[TJ]

Update: I printed a few test sheets, and each time, the black got
better and better and now it's back to normal. Why would that
happen??

I've never used this printer or these cartridges, so I know few
specifics. However, going on general HP tendencies, if each color of
your 49 cart prints OK, the cart is OK. They can be combined to produce
black, and if it is indeed optional for you to have the #20 cart
installed, that's the way black would be produced. It's also often the
way light grays are produced when you have both carts installed, unless
you specify black-only.

The #20 cart produces most of your black, especially when printing text
and on plain paper. When your black printing suddenly stopped, that was
probably the culprit, and when replacing the #20 cart didn't restore it,
that cart too was probably bad. It is possible to get remanufactured
carts that are faulty, especially if you go for the cheapest ones you
can find. As with any products and services, the quality control of some
vendors leaves much to be desired. Others are much better.

The cart that eventually worked may have been slightly clogged from
sitting around too long, or it may have needed some priming to get the
ink to flow. Using it cleared the problem.

TJ

 

[measekite]

I have an older Deskjet 630C which takes a 49 cartridge and an
optional 20 cartridge. I started printing every color but black so I
replaced the 49 cartridge with a cheap remanned one. It still does
not print black. I completely removed the 20 cartridge.

Based on what is available today at inexpensive prices this printer
model can be classified as junk. It has been that way since the 990
came out. The HP 700 and 800 series had paper feed problems but the
print quality was ok.