Black cartridges won't print. Color cartridge works.

Do a Clean Printhead operation.
This will usually correct the problem.

You won't be able to print if one of the cartridges is out of ink. The printer needs all cartridges with sufficient ink levels to prevent damaging the printhead.

Every time a cartridge is replaced, all colors are primed simultaneously thus the need for all cartridges to have ink.

I just had this exact problem on my HP 5514. Black won't print after running out of black ink. New cartridge no good.
I tried everything-no good. I suspected the pinholes in the printhead were clogged with dried ink because I didn't change cartridge in time.
The fix that worked perfectly was when I hacksaw top off old black cartridge & removed all foam wicks so now I had a funnel(can see clear thru). I installed the cartridge & filled it with alcohol, printed page & did head clean; then printed few more pages. Problem cleared almost immediately. I then soaked up extra alcohol inside cartridge with paper towel. Removed modified cartridge & installed good one. I guess this could be done for colors as well. I don't know if this is a proper procedure, but it sure worked well for me.

You can only use the black ink cartridge without the color ink. But no need to replace them in your printer.
When you print just choose black and white for the printed text must be black not colored. But if you still received such notification...just try to replace the color ink cartridge to continue printing
Note: As per my experience. printer with exclusive black ink alone will damage the printer easily due to unbalance printing of ink

Some printers require you to have the color cartridges in them even when you are printing black and white. You usually can in your print options choose black and white over color.

If you are printing using a color (not "black cartridge only" ) driver, yes, the printer won't print because it uses a "process black" when you use a color driver.
In other words it creates black using the 3 colors, and doesn't actually touch the black cartridge.
You will need to change the default driver to one that you create.
go into control panel, hardware and sound, devices and printers (win7)
right click the officejet 6500 (not the fax driver) and click printer properties
click the advanced tab, and click printing defaults
click the fast economical printing template.
Change "print in gray scale" to Black Ink Only
Click "save as" and name the profile "black draft"
click the newly created "black draft" profile, and click APPLY and OK
This will now be your default, and it will print in black and white while the color cartridges are empty.

None of the cartridges can be empty if you want to print.
Even if you only want to print black, just black you need to
replace the other three cartridges.
Yes color laser printing is expensive.

that is because ur head of ur printing cartridge is damaged.

remove ur cartridges black as well as color
n install only black cartridge n check d blinking of lights on ur printer if it doesn't blinks it's mean ur black cartridge is OK but ur blinking of light on ur printer is same it's mean ur head of black cartridge is damaged
after this process remove the black one cartridge and install the color one cartridge n check d blinking of lights on ur printer if it doesn't blinks it's mean ur color cartridge is OK but ur blinking of light on ur printer is same it's mean ur head of color cartridge is damaged
now take a dry cotton cloth n gently clean ur cartridges head install both cartridges on ur printer n check ur blinking light on ur printer that will work only if u r too lucky other wise u have to purchase a one cartridge.

I have an HP Photsmart C4100 printer. I purchased remanufactured ink cartridges (both black and tri-colored) from Vivasmart. The black one works fine, but when I installed the tri-color, I got an error message that says "Print cartridge problem" The following print cartridge has a problem:
Tri-color. And I can't print. The screen on my printer says "Remove and check color cartridge." I have done this several times and it still won't print. I have turned off the power, removed the cartridges, and unplugged the unit, but it still didn't help. Any suggestions?

i think this a firmware issue of the printer..
try to flash a new compatible firmware .