Printer only printing in black and white

printers use all cartridges to get the correct colour even black
best get a new colour cartridge then realign the printer with a test pattern

There's an option under your print setting for color or black and white. When you select to print a window will pop up. make sure that you have the color print selected. Hope this helps

You can perform the Tap 41 Cartridge Health Diagnostics Test: [applies to HP Deskjet 6800/6900/9800]
http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=1741 (refer to 2nd video to understand how to read the printed pattern)

1. With printer power on, press and hold the POWER button.
2. Press the Cancel (X) button four (4) times.
3. Press the RESUME button (Down Arrow) once.
4. Release the POWER button.
5. The Diagnostic Test Report should print.

--- A good HP 93/95/97/99 color cartridge should display 600 good nozzles, while a good HP 92/94/96/98 black ink cartridge should show 672 good nozzles. If the results yield anything different then the ink cartridge is likely damaged and will need to be replaced. Refer to 2nd video on how to read the printout: http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=1741


---- If the printer attempts to print the diagnostic test pattern (1 page) then the printer is generally considered operational and functional, if nothing is printed, but the printer attempts to print the pattern, then the tri-color ink cartridge is either empty, clogged or severely electrically damaged (black ink cartridge is not used). You can remove the tri-color cartridge, reactivate the tap 41 test and the printer will print the diagnostic test print in black ink (special "ink back-up mode").

For information on North American ink refill services at a major retailer near you (should you wish to save ~50% on ink costs), general printing problem resolutions or advanced HP printer diagnosis procedures (advanced cartridge diagnostic tests/cartridge error bypass & printer reset methods, etc.), please visit Inkjet411: http://www.inkjet411.com

try the following
1.power on your peinter
2.while press and hold the power button ,open and close the top cover times.

printer pick the paper and print the test page and alignment pattern for black and color.
if any of the black or color alignment pattern is not print ,then u have to change the cartridge accordingly.

f print quality does not improve by the standard cleaning of the Print Head, clean the Print Head deeply. Cleaning the Print Head deeply consumes more ink than the standard cleaning of the Print Head, so clean the Print Head deeply only when necessary.
1. Make sure that the power is turned on.

2. Clean the Print Head deeply. (1) Press the (Maintenance) button repeatedly until y appears.
(2) Press the Black or Color button.
The machine starts cleaning the Print Head deeply. Do not perform any other operations until the machine completes the deep cleaning of the Print Head. This takes about 2 minutes.

3. Check the print head condition.

When the deep cleaning is completed, the LED returns to the copy standby mode. To check the print head condition, print the nozzle check pattern.

See " Printing the Nozzle Check Pattern".

If the problem is not resolved, turn off the power and clean the Print Head deeply again after 24 hours.
If the problem is still not resolved, replace the FINE Cartridge with a new one.

See " Replacing FINE Cartridges".
If the problem is still not resolved after replacing the FINE Cartridge, contact the service center.

Printing the Nozzle Check Pattern
Print the nozzle check pattern to determine whether the ink ejects properly from the print head nozzles.

NOTE If the remaining ink level is low, the nozzle check pattern will not be printed correctly. Replace the FINE Cartridge whose ink is low.
See " Replacing FINE Cartridges".



You need to prepare: a sheet of A4 or Letter-sized plain paper

1. Make sure that the power is turned on.

2. Load a sheet of A4 or Letter-sized plain paper in the Rear Tray.

3. Open the Paper Output Tray gently, and open the Output Tray Extension.

4. Print the nozzle check pattern.

(1) Press the (Maintenance) button repeatedly until A appears.
(2) Press the Black or Color button.

The nozzle check pattern will be printed.

5. Examine the nozzle check pattern.
See Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern.

Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern

Examine the nozzle check pattern, and clean the Print Head if necessary.

1. Check if there are missing lines in the pattern (1) or horizontal white streaks in the pattern (2). (1) Check if lines are missing in this pattern. If yes, the cleaning is required.
See " Cleaning the Print Head".


(A) Good
(B) Bad (lines are missing)

(2) Check if horizontal white streaks are present in this pattern. If yes, the cleaning is required.
See " Cleaning the Print Head".

(A) Good
(B) Bad (horizontal white streaks are present)
Post back!

Follow each of these steps until the problem is resolved:

Print a printer self-test by holding the power button down with a pencil and opening and closing the top cover four times.
Check the nozzle self-test pattern in the self-test print out. If one or more of the solid rectangular areas are missing, an electrical contact problem may be present.
Remove and then reinsert the print cartridge(s) into the printer.
Print the document.
If the problem persists, follow the steps listed above for cleaning the print cartridges and print cartridge cradle.
Try printing again. If the problem continues, replace the print cartridges.

http://www.fixya.com/support/t5717191-hp_deskjet_6540_printer_yellow_light

Hi,
This happend with some printer models that both cartirdge should be there for proper printing.in your case this may be due to that some printing you do may be in gray scale printing that type of printing use color cartridge for printing.thats why your color cartridge get consumed.so pls replace color cartridge or refiel it.

Please check if your Colour Ink Cartridge is not emply. If their's ink in the cartridge then try to service your printer through the Print Preferences. Your Colour Cartridge Nozzels could have been blocked thats why your printer is unable to print in Colour.

In case if both the above doesn't work then check in the Print Preferences that you should not have saved the option of PRINT DOCUMENT IN BLACK ONLY. hope this helps , AJ

This is a software problem, do uninstall and re installation of the printer software on your computer and that should do it...

if the test pages come out OK then the problem can not be the printer !!!!!!!
it must be from the application