Canon has a wide range of printers that serve different purposes. Starting from black and white to colour, Canon printers produce great quality pictures and documents. This doesn’t mean that the printers are free from glitches. Amongst all the printer issues you face, Canon printer won’t print black is a common one. 

There are obvious reasons behind it. Some of them are low ink levels, clogged cartridges, corrupted drivers, improper settings and many more. So, you need to take care of the issue at the earliest in order to bring the printer back to its normal functioning state. 

Things to Consider 

You must check whether the printer is properly and is connected to the system or not. In case the printer is in sleep mode, bring it back to normal working mode. Now, check the paper tray. If it is empty, insert papers and perform a test print. Observe the quality of the print, and then move on to the solutions. 

Fix Canon Printer won’t Print Black

Here are some of the best and effective ways that will help you to fix the issue. So, go through all of them. 

Method 1: Clean the Entire Printer

Dust and debris can be responsible for the reason why Canon printer won’t print black. In order to clean the printer, you must have papers in the paper tray. Navigate to the printer control panel and tap on Setup. After that, move forward to the Tools option. Here you will find the option ‘Maintenance’. 

Select Deep Cleaning, and the printer will start a spare print on the pages. This will remove any debris on the printing nozzle. Before that, you may have to select the pattern. After the operation is complete, select any document and print it in black and white. When you see no black prints on the paper, cleaning the printer is not the solution. Now, get to the next method.

Method 2: Is your Printer Ready?

It seems that you have turned on the printer and it is not ready. If you still provide instructions, the Canon printer won’t print black. In this type of scenario, you have to wait for some time after turning on the machine. Before printing any main document, always print a test page to check the quality of the print. 

Method 3: Update the Printer Drivers

Outdated printer drivers installed on your system can be one of the reasons. That is why there is a high chance that a Canon printer won’t print black. So, navigate to the official website of Cannon. After that, open the printer support page. Fill in the model number, and the necessary driver download links will appear. Download and install all the drivers one after another. On the other hand, check whether your device has a driver disc. If it has, then insert the disc in the DVD drive and install the drivers. 

Method 4: Resolve Cartridge Issues

Malfunctions in the cartridge will not help in injecting the black ink into the printer. That is why the Canon printer won’t print black. So, check whether the cartridge is empty or not. If it is empty, bring a new one and replace it. If issues are going on with the cartridge, then unplug it from the printer and examine it. For a better understanding, you can take it to a Canon printer expert. 

Method 5: Align the Printer Cartridges Properly

Improper alignment of the printer cartridges can lead to the Canon printer won’t print black. So, a proper alignment is necessary. First you need to turn on the printer and put papers in the paper tray. After that, navigate to the Setup button, tap on it to open the list of options. Select Tools and tap on the Align printer. The printer will print an align page. Once again, tap on OK to complete the alignment. 

None of the Above Process Worked? What now?

If none of the above methods fix the Canon printer won’t print black issues, then seeking professional help is the last option. 

If the Canon primer is out of warranty, then you might have to carry the device as well as all the documentation to the authorized service center. After the detailed analysis, you may have to pay repair and replacement charges. 

Important Points to Remember

Always use original Canon wires and cables if you need to change any. On the other hand, you must opt for genuine Canon ink cartridges for quality printing. Go through the user-manual carefully. You will witness that the quality of paper that you should use is written there. Do as the user manual says. Hopefully, you will not face the Canon printer won’t print black again.