How to replace carrier

This is a common issue with semi-modern integrated head (tricolor/black) HPs with the small tricolor cart, and has been a problem for at least 10 years (at least with this degree of occurrence). The HP 6X machines are the most often affected, and this is within that range of bad printers. Older machines like the ones that used the HP 26/27 and 56/57 carts are less problematic, but it still (sometimes) occurs. The problem is there's no fix for it short of replacing the entire print mech if it has permanent damage :-(.

First off, I'm not going to pretend you're a war criminal for using aftermarket carts and not using genuine HP supplies - to hell with that on a printer that's 10 years old and the cost of OEM was always as much as the machine. You ALWAYS take your chances and risk the warranty on budget printers, or refill the ink yourself (that said, refilling is usually cheaper and once you do 4-5 refills, the carts usually need to be replaced and even if you buy OEM and refill an OEM core, you still come out ahead). As long as you use GOOD aftermarket ink if you choose not to DIY the refill, you'll be fine; the issue is no-name Amazon garbage. If you use those, it could be a genuinely defective ink cartridge. Go out and buy a known brand of 3rd party ink and stick with 1 or 2 known good brands. If you have access to a store like Walmart, see what they have and evaluate it for quality - if it's good, stick to them and stock up. As much as HP disgusts me today due to the HP DS firmware, if people are still willing to buy them, the good thing is HP doesn't exactly retaliate against 3rd paty ink manufacturers so that stores can cut the wait and put it on the shelf when there's a strong supply. Canon is the same without the DRM - so that's my go-to for people who buy cheap printers and DIY the refill procedure, or buy remanufactured from day one. I don't recommend HP, but if someone is going to do it, I advise them NOT to ENABLE HP+ (this is in general) and to buy 3rd party ink if the printer was cheap to purchase initially. Once you pull a cartridge from an HP+ machine it may be blacklisted - I don't know and frankly put HP on my blacklist after that "feature" was announced.

If it's a good brand ink cartridge, look at the printer's contacts for any ink or burn marks. Use an eyeglass wipe or IPA and a napkin if you see ink. You don't need to be fancy and use a lint-free cloth or microfiber on these; they're designed to work, assuming dust will get on the contacts over time. If that fixes it, it came from the waste ink service station. You can potentially take it apart and clean the service station up. The issue is that the way they design them is that they have such little capacity, which you will do so often, it's generally better just to clean the contacts with alcohol and a napkin with every cartridge change to avoid problems. If the pads are burned on the printer end, the printer is effectively junk as it will never work right again once you get this message.