OK so I have scientifically proven - by taking out the black cartridge - forcing the printer to use "back up" black ink - which turned out to be DARKER than the NEW black cartridge ink - that indeed the "printhead" nozzles need to be cleaned.
So you can ACTUALLY SEE the difference! the lower print is DARKER and yet that's WITHOUT the black cartridge (using the "back up" black ink from the color cartridge)....
And yet the NEW black cartridge (top) is lighter color.
OK so then I had to "capture" the printhead carrier cartridge in the CENTER of the printer. This proved quite difficult because the ONLY way to do it is to turn the printer off - pull out the cable - precisely when the cartridge is sliding past the center. It took me about six or maybe ten tries?
PERFECTLY CENTERED!!
OK so luckily I found a "star" screwdriver small enough to fit the printer. I had been saving that tool thinking I would never use it and what would need it? haha. It probably came with the printer some 14 years ago...
So now I need to figure out how to take the printer apart to remove the top cover to get at the printhead to soak the nozzles. I'm not sure it's technically "removable."
And then there's the OTHER problem. Sure enough Windows 10 upgrades shut out this printer since it's no longer "serviced" with driver software. So I discovered another driver that IS upgraded for Windows 10 and I installed that driver. So far it works!! Only again - I have to "fool" the computer to realizing that the printer is actually the same (yet different) than the driver.
And so I've had to "remove" the printer from some parts of the computer while keep the driver installed, etc. Again it WORKS but it still only prints BLANK pages due to the printhead being clogged - for black text.
So now onto the real part of the repair...
It could still be a Windows Driver glitch that prevents NO ink for black text. When I print as an IMAGE then it prints black ink because an IMAGE is a different driver and so uses the color cartridge. And that is part of the Windows USB print "glitch" as reported by printer technicians for printer dealers!! So even if I clean the printhead - it still could be a glitch that it doesn't print at all for black text.
People reported the SAME problem as me - newer updates made the problem come back, etc. The supposed "fixes" didn't work, etc. Windows mess.
During my research I found that the ink cartridges for this printer have been discontinued by HP.
No wonder the "new" black ink cartridge had the ink all dried on....
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