printer won't print color

Make sure you don't have your preferences set to print in Gray scale. I have mine set that way..

Diane

 

You can click on File, Print and then open preferences, click on color and see how that is set. I keep mine sent on grayscale and econo to save money. If our color dries up, my fax / scanner shuts down!

Diane

 

On my computer I found I could do the following.

Go to Control Panel, then to Printers and Other Hardware (it may be titled Printers and Faxes), and then click on your printer. You'll get a window that lists the jobs your printer is working on. It should be empty. Click on Printer and then Properties. At the bottom, click on the button labeled Printing Preferences. In there click on the tab labeled Color. There mine has a checkbox that allows you to set it to print in greyscale. That checkbox may have somehow become checked. This is on XP with an HP printer shared over a network. Yours could be slightly different.

One other solution. You do not metion if it is actually printing grey instead of color or if it is printing nothing instead of color. If it is not printing anything you may have to do some cleaning. Since you say you do not print color very often, this is a possibility. Take the cartridge out and look where the ink comes out. If it is dirty, you may need to clean it. I typically take some alcohol and a papertowel to do this. It takes a few cleanings to get it right and it can be somewhat messy. You may also have to do the same on the adjacent part of the printer.

There is a final possibility. Some printers put a chip in the cartridge that will not allow you to refill it. After so many prints, it will not work anymore. Even if there is ink left. There is software that can be downloaded to reset these chips.

Good luck.