Oh I am so mad I could smash my printer to pieces I had an HP printer but the ink was so expensive we bought a Kodak all in one about 18mths ago the ink for them is much cheaper and I loved it ,simple to use and never let me down , till now.
I needed a new black cartridge so thought I'd try Tesco compatible one put it in and printed a test page , perfect.
Then I needed to print something out and it printed all the coloured bits but no black text. So thinks I maybe it doesn't like the Tesco ink so I go and buy Kodak ink , no it still won't print black text. Then I tried again today and it tells me the colour ink needs renewing even though its fairly new . So off I go and buy a new colour ink and it still won't print any black text by now I want to throw the damn thing out the window. I've uninstalled and reinstalled it , I've cleaned the print head with surgical spirit as suggested and nothing , nada, zilch .
I need to print out some boarding passes for a trip in two weeks and am now looking at having to buy a new printer even though I just paid out for new inks... I could cry.
Sorry this really is a rant rather than a cry for help.. feel free to ignore me.
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I've had an hp printer for five years and it's never let me down. I always buy hp ink cartridges but shop around to get the cheapest deal (double packs are sometimes very good value).
I suppose it depends how much you need to print. I don't do a lot of printing myself but when the DGDs are let loose on my computer their printing activities do have to be limited to three or four each or my ink supplies would be down to zero within half an hour! 
I've had the same HP for about 6 years and although I haven't printed off reams of stuff, it's never let me down. Now, however, it won't print and tells me there's something wrong with the colour cartridge (same age as the black). I took the colour one out, and am using the black on its own, and now it's printing. 
I am similarly Marelli.. but also 
Grannyknot I was going to have one more go tomorrow so I might try your trick.. 
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