Printer says there are cartridge problems - it lies!

[MyDHhasnomemory]

I have an hp printer. Bought a new black cartridge last week and it didn't seem to want to work at first - almost as if the printer didn't recognise the cartridge. Luckily after coaxing it a bit, it did work.

Now it is back to not working but says it is the colour cartridge - the ink level picture comes up showing empty. But I have not used the colour ink that much and last time I used it it was not fading or running out of colour.

Do I have to buy a new colour cartridge? what if that doesn't work either?

Why can't I print with just a full black cartridge? I would like to be able to use it up then buy a new printer frankly.

It is not uncommon for printers to insist that there is ink in all the cartridges before attempting to print. Anything else would involve analysing the information they are being asked to print and figuring out whether or not the missing colour is required - not as simple as it sounds. It may be obvious to you that the job is entirely black and white but it isn't so obvious to the printer software.

Are you using HP cartridges or HP-compatibles produced by someone else. The "compatible" cartridges are cheaper but in my experience they can cause problems. Even recycled HP cartridges are not as reliable as brand new ones.

Many printers these days are able to prevent colours fading before the cartridge runs out. That is a good thing in that you get consistent results but it also means there is nothing in the printed output to alert you to a colour running out.

Another common feature is that when black ink is running low printers will use the coloured ink when printing black. That lengthens the life of the black cartridge but means you are using coloured ink without being aware of it. It is therefore quite possible that this is the reason the colour cartridge is now empty. So it may be that there is nothing wrong and you simply need to replace the colour cartridge. I would certainly try that before rushing out and buying a new printer.

Thanks for your reply. Yes they are genuine new HP cartridges. I looked at a new colour one today - £27! Tempted to look at prices of laser printers...