HP OfficeJet 6500 will not print using black cartridge only

[jasonparisi]

I am glad you were able to get it to print on the MAC I still can't get it to work on my PC........

[tlferro]

Same issue here. I have a PC and cannot find the printer model in my preferences to try and fix it like the Mac users did. Here's the load an HP tech support told me:

When most of the documents are printed in Black the black cartridge usage will be high and will be emptied soon, hence the  other cartridges are of no usage Like [Yellow, Cyan]. If these cartridges are not used in printing then the Ink in the cartridge might become Harder, and there is a chance of malfunction of the cartridge. To overcome, these problems, HP Engineers have developed TIJ[Thermal Ink jet technology], in such a way that while printing in grayscale or Black, there is a mixture of Cyan, Yellow is used at Maximum, because this is the very near color to Black. Cyan is used little, to form a Grayscale.

What a load of crap. So, we have to spend $50 to print black instead of the $20 for the one cartridge! Not to mention that I got nowhere near the 420 page yield that the black cartridge touts. I got barely 100, if that. I just hope Wal-mart takes it back because i'm still within the 90 day trial.

[JGinFlorida]

My HP Officejet 6000 is doing the same thing - blows through all the color ink when I have it set to "grayscale black and white only."  Running Vista x64, not Mac.  Latest drivers are installed.  Does anyone have a solution to this problem other than throwing the printers away?  Unfortunately, I bought 4 of them.

[ItsJustAndy]

THIS IS EASY!

Black ink wont print in low resolution, so it wont print on plain paper, but that is the default option!, just set paper to "hp premium" and you are away! I had this problem on all my HP printers, did take me a while to figure it out really!.

[Bob_Headrick]

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@ItsJustAndy wrote:

THIS IS EASY!

Black ink wont print in low resolution, so it wont print on plain paper, but that is the default option!, just set paper to "hp premium" and you are away! I had this problem on all my HP printers, did take me a while to figure it out really!.

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Not a solution, selecting HP premium paper will result in the printer not using black ink, it will only use color as the black pigment ink is not compatible with HP Premium photo paper.

[rugurlu]

Yes you are right. It did not work.

Although hp didnt accept that this is a driver problem actually it is a driver problem. Selecting officejet v40, v45 or k80 will give you a choice of printing b-w text without using color cartridges with doublesided printing (I used it and printed 22 pages). But some of the options will not work. If the error messages displayed about options conflict, select solve it automatically. Do not select draft vs printing style. Only normal mode supported. Good luck.

This means this is a driver problem. And HP does not care and respect our  needs. Bull. Never buy an hp printer....

Note: I have a PC with XP home. So this worked in PC too.

Note2. After changing driver, you must disable the extended printing. And you may need to set the double sided printing apparatus attached flag.

[jimbo42]

Just bought one of these printers and the setup was a snap. Seems well made but I was upset to learn about the printing issues with duplex.

I very seldom print in color and bought this to try and save a bit on paper usage.

Are there any new solutions to this problem or should I just return it?

I hate to spend the extra money on color cartridges and it appears that the after market cartridges are not the normal ones that you just plug in.

thanks

[alisonmckellar]

I am having the exact same problem. Still no solution? I cannot believe that HP hasn't fixed this! Am I wasting my time looking for a solution? I've already spent hours trying to fix it in my preferences, thinking that I was just missing something.

[macjames]

There is no fix! I returned the printer last year in exchange for a Laser printer.

[danschaub]

Same deal - I've been on with tech support at least a dozen times with no solution.  Each time, they tell me that this is the first they've heard of this problem.  

I'm on an iMac running Snow Leopard OS, and I am having the same trouble.  I just replaced my 3rd set of color tanks, and am now noticing that my blacks aren't coming out true black.  I have narrowed it down to several different applications.  MS Word seems to be just fine, but Excel has trouble.  I can print from the internet, but the blacks are not vivid - they are more like grey (CMY blended to "black").  Apple's TextEdit is just fine also.  Black is very black there.  And when you print an HP test page, the black is true black as well. Hmmm.

My biggest complaint is that Adobe Photoshop will absolutely not print blacks as black.  It is the same muddled dark grey color.  I switched to black and white print only - same problem.  Then I thought, hey, why not change the image output to CMYK, since that is technically what print output would be, and - no change. Changing color profiles does not work and letting Photoshop determine colors does nothing, etc., etc., etc.

I have been using HP printers going on 15 years now, and I am, to say the least, very disappointed in their "Mac Compatible" 4-tank printers.  

I hate to switch my allegiances, but I may end up having to sell this thing thing and buy an Epson.

This is the first HP I've had trouble with, so tech support, if you can hear me - PLEASE FIX THIS PROBLEM.