My printer, a Lexmark 1300 series USB printer, will not print in black ink. It has plenty. The ink is proper lexmark ink. It just appears to not be looking at it's black ink cartridge at all as when I put a new one in it tells me it has the amount the old one had in. It will print in colour e.g. 80% grey. I don't want blue lecture notes anymore. please help.

Bad cartridge.
Clogged ink jet.

Try to re-seat the cartridges in the printer. Open the printer cover > remove the cartridges > close the printer cover > re-brick you printer by pulling out the power supply - black box behind the printer where the power cord is plugged in, and re-plug after 10 seconds. When the printer turns on, reinsert the cartridges and close the cover. Try to print a document again to verify that the problem is fixed.

If that doesn't help, the problem could be due to a clogged print cartridge nozzle. Please follow the steps below to fix print quality issues with your model:

1. On your computer, go to Start menu.
2. Go to Programs.
3. Go to Lexmark 1300 Series folder.
4. Select Lexmark Solution Center / All-In-One Center.

From the Maintenance tab, select Clean to fix horizontal streaks. Your printer will then print a page forcing ink through to clean the print cartridge nozzles.

After printing the test page, try to print a document again to verify that the problem is fixed.

Make sure you are inserting genuine Lexmark cartridges.
Try to clean the cartridge nozzles. Refer to the steps below:

Cleaning the Print Cartridge Nozzles:

1. Open the Lexmark Solution Center. Click Start > Programs or All Programs > Lexmark 1300 Series. Select Solution Center.

2. From the Maintenance tab, click Clean to fix horizontal streaks.

3. Click Print. A nozzle page prints, forcing ink through the nozzles to clean the clogged nozzles.

4. Print the document again to verify that print quality has improved.

Using the control panel

1. Press Menu.

2. Press the down arrow button until you highlight Clean Cartridge.

3. Press Select. A nozzle page prints, forcing ink through the nozzles to clean the clogged nozzles.

4. Print the document again to verify that print quality has improved.

If your color ink is already empty or not substantial for printing, then you must replace it with a new cartridge. The Lexmark printer will continue to print when there's substantial ink in the cartridges.
If you prefer to print in black and white as your default print setting, please follow the steps below: (make sure your black and color cartridges ink levels are good)

For Windows OS:

1. Go to Control Panel.

2. Open Printers and Faxes.

3. Right-click on Lexmark 3600-4600 Series print object and click on Properties.

4. In the Lexmark 3600-4600 Series Properties window, go to Advanced tab. Click on Printing Defaults.

5. In the Lexmark 3600-4600 Series Printing Preferences window, under Ink Use, select Print using black ink only. Click OK.

6. Click OK button in the Lexmark 3600-4600 Series Properties window to save the changes.

Your printer will print in black and white draft mode the next time you send a print job to the printer.

For Mac OS:

1. With the file (you wish to print) open, go to Print. A window will pop up.

2. Select the Lexmark printer.

3. Expand the arrow pointing down beside printer name if you're not able to see other options for printing. Look for Quality and Media.

4. Under Paper tab, select Print in Black and White.

5. Save this as your default print setting. Click Presets option and choose Save as. You can personalize the name for this default print setting (e.g. Black and White Draft or My Setting).

Select this Preset name every time you print your files/documents.

Please follow the steps below on how to print using black ink only on your Lexmark S305 printer:
For Windows:

1. With your document/file open, click File.
2. Click Print.
3. Click Printing Preferences/ Properties.
4. In the Lexmark S300 Series Printing Preferences window, select print using black ink only.
5. Click OK to save the settings.
6. Click Ok again to print your file.

For Mac operating system:

1. With your document/file open, click File.
2. Click Print.
3. Expand the arrow pointing down beside printer name if you're not able to see other options for printing. Look for Quality and Media in a drop down box and select print in black and white.

If you wish to set this as your default print setting, please follow steps below:
For Windows:

1. Go to Control Panel.
2. Open Printers and Faxes.
3. Right-click on Lexmark S300 Series print object and click on Properties.
4. In the Lexmark S300 Series Properties window, go to Advanced tab. Click on Printing Defaults.
5. Under Ink Use, select Print using black ink only. Click OK.
6. Click OK button in the Lexmark S300 Series Properties window to save the changes.

Your printer will print in black only the next time you send a print job to the printer.

For Mac:

1. With the file (you wish to print) open, click File.
2. Click Print.
3. Expand the arrow pointing down beside printer name if you're not able to see other options for printing. Look for Quality and Media in a drop down box and select print in black and white.
4. Save this as your default print setting. Click Presets option and choose Save as. You can personalize the name for this default print setting (e.g. Black and White Draft or My Setting).

Select this Preset name every time you print your files/documents.
Note: The 100 standard cartridges yield around 175 ISO Pages. You can also save on ink and stretch your ink investment if you use only 100XL high yield cartridges. These contain almost 3x as much ink as a standard cartridge for a small increment in price.

It could be that your cartridge needs cleaning. On your computer, go to Start menu > Programs / All Programs > Lexmark 6100 Series > Lexmark Solution Center. Go to Maintenance tab > select Clean to fix horizontal streaks. Your printer will then print a page forcing ink through the cartridge nozzles and clean them. Try to print your document again and determine if the problem is fixed.

Try to clean the cartridge nozzles using the Lexmark Solution Center on your computer. Launch the application from All Programs > Lexmark 1200 Series Printer > Tools > Lexmark Solution Center. From the Maintenance tab, select Clean to fix horizontal lines. Your printer will then print a page forcing ink through the cartridge nozzles and clean them. Once done, try to print again and check if black is printing properly now. If that doesn't help, try to insert a different known working black cartridge to determine if the other is fautly.

my lexmark is connected to my pc, my ink is more or less full it is making all the right noises for printing but the paper comes out blank...........please help its a lexmark 1200

Make sure the printer settings are set properly to print in color on the PC. Even if there is a color cartridge, if the PC only tells it to print black ink it's not going to use the color cartridge.