How Do I Fix Epson Printer Not Printing Black Ink?

When you are using the Epson inkjet printer in the winter season, you may have an issue related to the black ink printing if you give the command to print color to the printer. So it prints all colors except black Ink. 

Surprisingly, their printer has a full black cartridge; then, when they print black colored text, their Epson printer Prints Blank Pages Only .

Which bothers them so much that some even decide to replace the current printer. 

But frankly speaking, Replacing a printer is not a permanent solution because this problem can also appear in the new machine.

In this article, I will share a complete guide about How to fix Epson printer not printing black.

Epson printer not printing black ink

Why is my Epson printer not printing black Ink? 

Often an Epson printer does not print black Ink when its nozzle or print head is clogged. Apart from this, there can be many other reasons for not printing black color. 

  • Black Ink is not available to print. 
  • The printer does not detect the cartridge. 
  • Nozzle or print heads are blocked. 
  • Driver or Firmware-related issues. 
  • The waste tank is full. 
  • Spooler services are not functioning correctly. 

How do I Get My Epson Printer To Print Black? 

When the Epson printer does not print black Ink, you should make the following changes to resolve the Not printing black issue.

Check the Ink level- 

When the Epson printer is not printing the black Ink, you should start with inspecting the Black ink level on the Epson machine

  • Power on the Epson printer
  • Press the home, menu, or ok button. 
  • Go to the setup
  • Select ink levels.
  • Press the ok button. 

Clean the Print head- 

If the Epson printer is not printing black while the Ink cartridge is full, you have to clean the printhead of the Epson printer. The print head is probably jammed or clogged with the chunk of ink. due to this, the Epson printer cannot print the documents in black colors correctly. 

If you are using a Windows computer, 

Print Head Cleaning

For Windows 10/ Windows 11 Users- 

  • Press Windows + R to launch the Run box. 
  • Type Control in the box. 
  • Press the Ok button. 
  • Click on the Devices and printers. 
  • Right-click on the Epson printer
  • Click on the Printer preference
  • Now Click on the maintenance option. 
  • Click on the Head cleaning option. 
  • Click on the start button. 

For Mac Users- 

  • Open The system preference
  • Select Printers & Scanners
  • Select the Epson printer
  • Click on the options and supplies
  • Go to the utility
  • Click on the open printer utility
  • Press the head cleaning option. 
  • Click on the start button. 

If these steps don’t help you clean the printer, you can clean the Epson printer head manually. 

Turn off the printer For over a Night- 

When you keep the printer on for a long time, don’t use it for printing purposes. Its components will get heated. Due to this, The Ink will be dried on the printer. Due to this, The Nozzle and printhead will be seized with the dried ink. To fix that error, you have to Switch off the printer for over a night. Now Power on the printer in the next morning, and then print something. 

Clean The Nozzle-

If you don’t find any kind of problem with the printhead, Still Epson printer doesn’t print black. The nozzle might be jammed because of the dried Ink. That’s why it won’t print properly. So you need to clean up the nozzle and then retry to reaccess the Epson printer. 

For Windows Users- 

  • Open control panel
  • Press Devices and printers. 
  • Right-click on the Epson printer
  • Click on the preferences
  • Go to the maintenance
  • Click on the Nozzle check
  • Press the Start button. 

For Mac Users- 

  • Open the system preferences
  • Click on the printers & scanners
  • Pick the Epson printer
  • Click on the Options & supplies
  • Click on the utility Tab. 
  • Press The Open printer utility
  • Click on the clean nozzle
  • Press the start button. 

Replace The Ink Cartridge On Epson Printer- 

Some users cannot print black Ink from the Epson printer due to the cartridge issue. Most probably, cartridge is running out of ink, or it is damaged. 

So you need to replace the ink cartridge on the Epson machine and then retry to print something in black Ink. It should be working now. 

When you buy a new cartridge, always prefer to have a branded cartridge, and It should not be refilled one.  

  • Power off the printer
  • Open the print header
  • Now remove the black cartridge from the printer. 
  • Now unpack the new cartridge
  • Install the new cartridge into the Epson machine. 

Now restart the printer, and then print something in black text. 

Clear the Waste tank- 

When too much Ink gets into the printhead when you print from the printer, your head stores it in the waste tank. So that the Ink does not get stuck on the printhead or other equipment.

If the waste tank gets full, you might have printing issues. In this case, you have to empty the waste tank of the printer; only then will your device work properly.

Reboot the print spooler settings- 

If Windows computers cannot print the black text from the Epson printer, There might be an issue with the print spooler settings. Most probably, the printer spooler settings do not respond in Windows computers. So you need to reboot them and then give new print command. 

  • Open the RUN box. 
  • Type Services.msc
  • Press The Ok button. 
  • Select the print spool
  • Click on the print spooler. 
  • Press the restart button. 

Re-add the printer – 

If the Epson printer is not printing black from computers but Copying fine. It means there is something wrong with the printer settings. So you need to remove the printer from the computer. Now re-add it again. 

Add/remove the Epson printer on windows 10/ windows 11 computer- 

  • Open settings
  • Go to the Bluetooth & devices. 
  • Click on the printers & Scanners
  • Click on the Epson printer
  • Now Press the remove button
  • Now reboot the computer
  • Go back to the printers & scanners
  • Click on the Add a device button. 
  • Select your printer
  • Click on the next or done button. 

For mac users- 

  1. Go to the system preferences
  2. Click on the printers & scanners
  3. Select the Epson printer
  4. Press the button. 
  5. Now press the + button. 
  6. Select the Epson printer
  7. Click on the add button. 

Uninstall & reinstall the printer driver- 

If you have re-added the Epson printer, but it won’t solve the black print issue. Please uninstall the Epson driver from the computer. Now install a new driver into the computer. 

  1. Open The Run Window.
  2. Type Appwiz.cpl 
  3. Press the Ok button. 
  4. Select the Epson printer
  5. Click on the Uninstall button. 
  6. Now reboot the Epson printer
  7. Download the Epson printer. 
  8. Run The printer setup
  9. Accept the installation terms
  10. Follow the process to install the driver. 

Reset The Epson Printer-

After trying the above steps If your Epson printer won’t print black, you need to reset the printer. Now reconfigure it on your device. Also, Update the Epson printer firmware.

Other Questions Related To Epson Printer Printing Issues? 

Why Is My Epson Printer Printing the documents in black Ink only?

 When you have turned on the black/grayscale printing from the printer preferences, your printer will only print the documents in the black color. So you have to disable it by turning off the grayscale/black Ink feature. 

  • Open the settings
  • Click on the Bluetooth & devices
  • Choose printers & scanners
  • Select the Epson printer from the list. 
  • Click on the printing preferences
  • Select the grayscale/Black Option. 
  • Now Click on the Ok Button. 

Why is my Epson printer not printing black when Ink Is full? 

If the Epson printer is not printing black when Ink is full. You need to clean up the print head and nozzle. Most probably, they are seized up with the ink particles. Due to this, you are unable to get the proper print.

Shawn M. Vaillancourt

I am a computer engineer. Who is always passionate to right about gadget troubleshooting. I have more than 5+ years of experience in the tech industry.

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