HP Photosmart 309g all of a sudden does not print black ink

Hey all. I have a HP Photosmart 309g, that has been working well for a number of years. It sees periodic use, but not much. I have a W7 64-bit Ult. SP1 machine, fully up to date.

Yesterday, I tried to print a doc, which is black ink on white paper. The printer went through it's motions, sounded like it was printing, but spat out a blank page. I know printers don't last forever, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions before I run out and buy a new one.

I have:

Aligned the printheads
Cleaned the printheads
Tried using a different computer (Vista, where it used to work as well), but have the same result
Printed a test page - there was color, but no black ink at all
Checked ink levels, which are fine

Anything else I can look into? Thanks in advance.

Hi did you check to see it the ink was dried up on the cartridge itself or try another ink cartridge?

Ink carts don't last forever and you should print at least once a week to keep the printhead clear. I think that all HP carts combine the ink with a new printhead. Suggest you buy a new black cartridge and try that. Be aware that the carts have a best before date so look for a fresh one that will give around one year. Also look on the net for a colour test print to download and print a copy every week if you don't have any other printing to do.
Art.

Thanks for the replies.

I really didn't think to get new cartridges prior to me posting, as the ones I have installed are only about a month old, and the ink levels were practically maxed out.

I went out and got a new black cartridge - and now it prints just fine. This, after the printer went through a 10-min. initialization process. Now I wonder if the cartridge was the problem, or something funky happened with the printer that the initialization process cleared up. Later on, I will swap the cart for the old one and see what happens.

Thanks again.

ok let us know if the other cartrage works