Same thing... Just replaced the black ink cartridge and now it won't print black ink. Sounds like it is printing, but nothing. I"ve tried the blotting the bottom and everything, but still nothing. Getting really tired of all of the problems with my Lexmark!! The last issue was that it didn't work with Vista on my new computer!

The printer requires both cartridges to have ink before the printer will initialize and operational. Even if you are only printing black and white both cartridge have to contain ink or the printer will error out. This is standard on all ink jet printers from every manufacturer. You will have to get ink before you can print.

I have used "refill" kits in the past and for the time and effort involved you might just try finding a local retailer that will give you credit for the empty cartridge to replace with a professionally refilled one.

The problem with refilling the same cartridge over and over again is that they will, eventually, need to be replaced. I would suggest that you

1 - Make sure there is nothing plugging the hole at the top of the cartridge to allow air in, which is needed to let the ink flow out.

2- Install another cartridge and you get the same problem, then it narrows your fix to something with the printer.

3 - If it is the printer, I were rubber gloves and use "denatured alcohol" and a rag (no not use anything with paper as it can tear and leave pieces inside causing the printer to jamb) and after removing all of the cartridges wipe down anything that I can reach inside the printer.

4 - Although you have tried the DEEP CLEAN, if the none of the above works for you, try the NOZZLE CLEAN. If you are still having a problem then either re-post the problem or doe a Google Search listing the model of the printer you have, you may find out it is a problem that others have experienced and there is no solution.

Good Luck

Problem is with carriage unit.

You can only use the black ink cartridge without the color ink. But no need to replace them in your printer.
When you print just choose black and white for the printed text must be black not colored. But if you still received such notification...just try to replace the color ink cartridge to continue printing
Note: As per my experience. printer with exclusive black ink alone will damage the printer easily due to unbalance printing of ink

I have the same problem. Everything on the printer is working just fine. It'll do a test page just fine, so everything's working right. The %$^ thing just won't print. It makes noise like it's printing when you give it a print job, but it spits out blank pages.

The problem is not with the ink-cartridges. You've proved that, by swapping BLACK cartridges.

The problem is that the ink-jets that spray the BLACK ink onto the paper are clogged.
Thus, no BLACK ink reaches the paper.

Open the HP Printing Assistant, and open Utilities, and run a few "print-head-cleaning" cycles, to try to unclog the print-head.

Most likely this is a print head issue. The print head is what the cartridges sit in inside of the printer. To attempt to resolve it, do the following:

(1) Open the printer
(2) Remove the ink cartridges from the print head.
(3) Use cotton swabs dipped in hot water to thoroughly clean the print head and each ink cartridge.
(4) Repeat this until there is no ink residue coming off on the cotton swab.
(5) Once finished, allow to dry and replace the cartridges
(6) Try to print something now

If that does not work then you have one of two possibilities:
(1) One of the ink cartridges is defective and causing the error
(2) If it's definitely not that, then the print head will need to be replaced.

Be sure you are using genuine epson ink. Epson printers are "smart" and will not allow generic ink to work properly. Even after you replace a generic with a genuine it may take several print outs and alignments to get it to print again.

Fix ink cartridge
I had same problem. I must have ran the clean cycle more than 30-50 times over a period of days. That never made any difference. I was about to toss the whole thing but figured I would try one more thing. If it didn't work I would be in no worse shape. Here is what I did.
Took an almost empty black cartridge and inject a lot of 100% Acetone to dilute ink. Left some black in it since I didn't want to think it was empty. Inserted this cartridge and ran the cleaning a few time. IT WORKED. I used my word processor program and filled a page with large bold font characters and printed a page or two. Each page cleared more nozzles. After doing this cleaning/printing a number of time, I put in the full good cartridge. Ran the cleaning a few time to eject any of the Acetone diluted ink. Ran the printed page a few time to remove more of the diluted ink.
Everything seems to work now.