New cartridges {61 black & tri-color} & printer says they are set to default and on another try low ink. can newly opened cartidges be empty. do i replace and try again or am i missing something?

Most likely culprit is a dried up ink within the nozzles themselves. The best things for getting rid of dried ink in the nozzles is to use either a standard bathroom cleaner or rubbing alcohol. With the printer on open the door as if you were replacing ink. With the ink cartidges visable, unplug the printer so they stay put. Remove the cartridge and spray the cleaner in the where the ink is taking from the cartridge and clean it with whatever works. I really really good trick is if you have an old cartridge you can use a syringe to fill up the empty cartridge with your cleaning solution or rubbing alcohol. Insert the cartridge and run some test prints. This will for sure run the cleaner through the nozzle and hopefully dissolve the blockage.

1. Remove your current empty cartridge from your Dell printer. Turn on your printer and lift the cover and top half of the unit. You can suspend it in place by lifting the blue plastic lever and securing it to hold up the top of the printer. At this point the ink cartridges should move to the center of the printer and be easy to access. Follow the instructions locate on your printer to remove the cartridges. You can do this by pressing on the blue tab to remove the colored cartridge or the black tab to remove the black cartridge. Once you press the tab, the cartridge cover will pop open. Carefully pull out the exposed cartridge from it’s setting. Save the empty cartridge so it can be refilled.
   Remove the sticker from the newly refilled Dell ink cartridge. Follow the directions on the opened printer to insert the cartridge. Hold the cartridge so the writing is on the top and the ink spot is on the bottom. Gently push it into the opened setting until it is securely in place. Close the cover of the cartridge holder by pressing down on it gently until it clicks into place. Remember that the black cartridge goes into the black setting and the color cartridge goes into the blue setting. Close the top of the printer. You will hear the ink cartridges move back into place.
   
2. Test your newly refilled Dell ink cartridge and load your printer with paper.Print a document so either in color or black and white (depending on the type of cartridge you had refilled). Review your printed document to make sure the color is consistent and you are pleased with the outcome.
   Repeat whenever you run out of ink.
   

There is a 'low toner' override in the menu system, but if this has NOT been set already, a 'flag' will be set on the chip on the cartridges that are low/empty.

The printer needs to 'see' cartridges that are usable, i.e. NOT empty, in order to function.

It is possible to replace just the chips on the colour cartridges, but then any colour printing quality could be compromised of course, as the colours will be low/empty. You would then be able to use the printer as if it were a mono laser, just changing the black cartridge when needed

Try remove all cartridges then put back it one by one.Make sure the color cartridges are not empty too.The printer need all cartridges not empty to initialized and working.

hi... try these steps
>unplug power adaptor and plug it back in
>try to identify whick cartridge is giving u trouble..black or colour by inserting carts one by one
>if sam ething happens..contact tech support on 800-332-4120..printer would be replaced

The MP600 does not use the 40 or 41 cartridges, it uses individual color (and black) ink tanks. But other models (MP190, MP460, MP470, etc) do use these cartridges. The error message you are receiving indicates that the printer does not recognize the cartridge you installed as a valid black ink cartridge. This can mean that either the cartridge is faulty, or that the printer has a problem.
I would suggest trying another new cartridge, and if you still get the same error, to contact Canon for support options if the unit is still in warranty.

Regarding your problem: If one of the color ink cartidges is out of ink, the MFC 240C printer will not operate when you only install a black ink cartidge. It requires that all four catridges have ink available in them for it to function. When you examine a cartridge it may appear that it has a little ink in it when you get message that the cartridges needs to be replaced because a little ink remains to prevent the print head from drying out. [email protected]

I kicked the **** out of it and it started to print. I don't recommend it if you are afraid you may damage the electronics. The way I saw I spent damn near 70 dollars on some useless print cartidges nothing was wrong with them. The error message kept saying ADD CARTRIDGES. Anyway I'm thinking about a new printer anyhow.

Select printer, properties.
Select printing preferences, select advanced.
Select more options.

Make sure you do NOT have Use color cartridge for all black printing selected.

(I had set that a while ago when my black cartidge ran out when the kids had a paper due - I forgot I had reset it. Once my color cartidge ran low, everything printed pink).

Let me know if that works for you.

Did you install the original cartridge? if you have the old empty cartridge, try to install it and check the error is empty cartridge..if so the problem is the newly installed cartridge. try to buy the new original one.