The colour ink cartridge is not being identified. I have tried taking them out and putting them in again. I have powered it off and on but nothing is working. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hi Please follow the the steps given below Make sure that the printer's power cord is connected to the walljack (Avoid if there is any surge protector or extension cord) Take out all the ink cartridges Take a clean cloth, dampen it in distilled water and with that cloth clean copper contacts of the cartridges firmly Let them dry for 2 minutes Unplug all the cables from the back of the printer while printer is turned on (After closing all the doors that are open and also keep the cartridges out) After 2 minutes, plug in the power cable Put the ink cartridges in one by one, then close all the doors again Printer would start going through some maintence and then would start aligning the ink cartridges All the best!! Regards

Try to clean the cartridges by taking them out and trying aligning the cartridges again... try the alignment if you have any software named as image zone or solution center

Many printers always use a small amount of each color even if you are only printing black, to prevent the color nozzles from drying out and getting clogged (and, it forces you to buy more ink, which is a profit center for printer manufacturers)

For this reason, some printers will not work if ANY of the cartridges are empty.

It should work again if you replace the color cartridge. Make sure to select "black ink only" or the option to print in black and white or grayscale to minimize color ink usage. It may still use a little, but that's OK.

I got a new print head @ "staples" office supplies. It didnt cost me anything!!! Kodak had probs with the head, & gave a bunch to staples.....i changed the head, put in new inks, again...got a calibration to run...& things printed np!!! 

take the cartridges out and clean them also clean where they go with a lint free cloth then replace them.

Have you tried

1. Taking out all the cartridges
2. Power down the power
3. Power up the printer
4. Open the scanner Cover
5. Close the scanner cover
6. Message will ask you to put the ink.
7. Put in Black
8. Close scanner cover
9. It may ask you whether the Black is being changed.
10. Open the cover.
11. Install Cyan.
12. Repeat step 8-10 for the rest of the 2 colours.
13. It should resolve the Black ink empty message.

Let us know if this works.

Thank you.

Check your printer preferences and be sure that you're printing in the right way. Select grayscale and see what's happen.

Delete all printer pending jobs.
Take out the cartridge, turn off the printer and wait 5 min.
Turn on the printer, insert the cartridge and try again.
If nothing happens, replace the cartridge

You will find more info here:

http://www.lexmark.com/lexmark/sequentialem/home/0,6959,204816596_652569478_0_en,00.html

its ok I solved it! I didn't realise that all the photo cartridge does is gloss over the colour picture produced by the colour cartridge. I simply had to replace the colour cartridge which had run out, so now its all working perfectly!!

Hi Paddy,
It sounds like the color ink cartridge is clogged. You can try taking the color cartridge out, and take a paper towel and some windex with amonia. Spray the paper towel with the windex and then take the color cartridge, and wipe the bottom of the ink cartridge. After wiping the bottom of the cartridge, try pressing on the bottom of the cartridge (Print head) with the paper towel...You should start seeing some ink soaking into the paper towel. If you do not see any ink on the paper towel, then try wiping it again with the windex/paper towel. If after a couple tries, you can not get the ink to flow from the print head, then I would suggest getting a new cartridge.
The HP ink cartridges can get a bit tricky and the print heads will clog when the printer is left sitting for a long period of time.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.
If you have any other questions, feel free to post them.
IF I have helped answer your question, please remember to leave a feedback and or rating for my suggestion.
Mac =)

When this happened to me, I beat my head against the wall until I finally figured out that the waste ink absorber on the right side (spongy looking thing), was overflowing, and clogging the nozzles. I took a piece of paper towel and absorbed some of the ink. Make sure to wipe the colored ink absorber as well.

Neal Moilanen
AAA Virtual Assistants
http://www.aaava.net