Printer fix
 

You probably know this already (having read the manual that came with your printer) but I have just "discovered" it and thought it may help someone.

I rarely need to use color in my printing, but the color ink cartridge is forever running out (or drying out?) and costs a lot more than the black cartridge to replace. I have always replaced it as, otherwise, the printer just sits and blinks at me if I don't, refusing to print even a black & white page.

I have just found the set-up box to tick which makes color printing default to black and white. The printer still starts up blinking to remind me I have this set, but if I press the "OK" button it is happy to print without a color cartridge being installed.

Now if I could just get the wireless printing to work...

I feel your pain as i have a printer that swallows ink, (black and color).

I think I will invest in a laser type printer next as the cartridge should last for a while and be cost effective.

It's the same philosophy as razors. Slim profit on the hardware and make it up on the software, i.e., blades or ink. That's why you see all those warnings about using only their ink. Not necessarily true, at least after the warranty on the printer expires.

You mentioned that you're trying to get your wireless printer to work. I went through that with my son's wireless printer and discovered that on the printer itself there is a setup button. If you click through the menus there may be an option to connect to wireless and you can choose your network to connect to. It may ask you for the password to your network. Not sure if that is your problem or not, but just in case I thought I would throw that in. Good luck.

I went through the same issues years back with an HP all-in-one that was color (3 color cartridges, 1 black). Like you, I rarely had the need to print anything in color. In addition to the ink cartridges drying out, HP's cartridges are date coded with expiration dates which will render them toast. I also found the same solution to setting up the print default to only black which helped. Given some other printing issues eventually cropping up, I ended up giving the all-in-one to a friend's son for him to tinker with.......he soon put it out with the trash.

I ended up getting a fairly low-cost Brother b&w laser all-in-one after that. The "starter" toner cartridge that came with it new finally ran out.....after almost 2 years. Replaced it with a "high yield" cartridge that should last quite a long time! I use this mostly for printing copies - I have another b&w laser printer (HP 1200) that is older than dirt which I use for printing from the pc. It's been virtually flawless - have only had to replace the toner cartridge in it four times in over 10 years. (I don't print gobs of stuff....).

The laser toner cartridges are more expensive than the ink jet's cartridges when they're replaced but you'll do it far less often.

Bill :)

We have the Lexmark Pro905 with the $5 black ink cartridges so that is really cheap or B&W. The challenge is that even though it is set at B&W it still uses up the colour cartridge and we can't figure out why. Have had to replace all three over the course of 2 years and the cyan is down again. DH prints alot of stuff and we used to have a laser printer but this all in one works well for us now as we need a fax periodically and a scanner. Anyone know if there is a way to avoid using the colour cartridge?

LW888

Our Lexmark has a button to switch to black ink only. It's the 705, not the 905 though. I would think the 905 should have it too.

Thank you, jnieman. I can get either wireless or wired to work, but the one seems to disable the other :-(


To disable color printing (on my HP J4680) I went into printer settings on the computer (Start - Settings - Printers and Faxes)

right-clicked on the printer icon and clicked on printing preferences

and on the "Color" tab clicked on "Print in grayscale" and selectd "Black print cartridge only"

Hopefully this method will also work for non-Hewlett Packard printers

I see what you are saying. Not sure if you can have both. Have you tried doing some internet searches with your problem. I have solved lots of computer problems by being specific with my question on google searches. Be sure to put in the model number and brand of your printer and then a specific question. Many times there are forums we don't know about and someone else may have the same problem. Worth a try.

Having to support thousands of printers while I was working I have had my hands in more than my share.

Here is a tip for a dry cartridge. Take the color cartridges out and get a old rag. Wet the rag so that it is damp. Now rub it over the ink port on the cartridge. All HP ink is water solvable so it will remove any dried ink. You may have to try this a few times and your mileage will very. I have had some that worked first time and others that were so dried and caked up the needed to be replaced.

VG

I read that it costs 25cents on average to print one page...all things considered...best savings is not to print that page unless you really need it printed...with all the storage in the cloud and external drives no need to have a "paper backup". IMHO