I have had this printer for over two years now. For some reason it keeps telling me that it will print in back-up mode because there is no black ink cartridge present. I changed the cartridge TWICE and I can't get it to stop showing this message every time I print something.
Most printers have a 'reset' function. It is very often not a a separate button but achieved by pressing certain combinations of buttons with the power off. then with the buttons pressed powering up again. Trouble is the manual does not tell you- You have to figure it out for your self by trial and error- and with so many models out there, I cant tell what to do But here is a website that may www.fixyourownprinter.com
Posted on May 21, 2007
I had the exact same problem as you. For me the black cartridge ran out and when I went to change it, it never recognized the new cartridge. I tried to go back to the old cartridge even and it wouldn't recognize it. This became very frustrating and I tried everything that the other message boards and HP's site said. Before I found something that worked I tried:
- Running all the included HP diagnostic software (you know, the head alignments, head cleaner, yadda yadda yadda).
- Cleaning the contact points about 7 times with a little rubbing alochol, cotton swabs and even an eraser.
- Easily 20 power cycles, sometimes leaving it disconnected from power for a half hour or so.
- Trying the factory reset via the printers onboard software
- Yelling obscenities
Anyway, the post by jackboy before me gave me the idea about a more intensive factory reset (thanks!). I started looking into all over the web but could not find and leads so I broke down and started a chat session with a HP rep via their site and went through the whole long diagnositc tree to no avail but at the end I asked them about a physical factory reset method and low and behold the rep found me this:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c00260524&product=397810&printable=no&encodeUrl=true&
I followed the steps and even though it describes an entirely different problem, 2 minutes later the printer was working fine like nothing had ever gone wrong. Since it was this site which led me on the right track I figured it was only proper to share my knowledge back to the community.
Obviously I cant gaurantee that this will work for you, but hopefully it does:
Posted on Apr 11, 2009
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Trying to print in color, put in a new color cartridge but contiues to print in black and white and reads "printer ink back-up mode". Seriously getting on my nerves!
My problem is the same. I have changed cartridges to no avail. I have updated the software.. no help.
Mike
changed ink cartridges now keeps printing from memory want it to stop
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