hp 6600 won't print in black ink only

[Judy93]

Amen, to that!  I whole heartedly agree....they've ruined the HP good name with this stunt of not being able to print in black only.  I will NEVER buy another HP printer.  I treat others the way I want to be treated.....when that isn't recipricated, I no longer subject myself.  A shame because the printer itself is a decent machine.  HP should do an update "fix" to correct the issue......but I won't hold my breath.  I'll go back to purchasing the brand I was using prior to HP.

[mcphil89]

My 6600 is having this same issue. I recently bought all three colored cartridges because my printer claimed they were out and wouldn't let me print (even when i picked black only). In about a month, I am back to the same situation. I don't think I have printed more than maybe 15 pages since the cartridges were put in. And when I have printed, I always pick to print in black only.  I won't even be alerted that it is running low, just one day I can't print because magenta is suddenly out of ink. This is a total waste of money, not to mention extremely annoying that every time I need to print something, I can't. I don't think I can buy another HP printer and risk this situation occuring again.

[bpick1327]

For everyone reading this customer service blog, please know that IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PRINT UNLESS ALL INK CARTRIDGES HAVE SOME INK.  The helpful link that we all followed tells us that.  I would almost be understanding if the HP customer service response had been a simple, "you can't print with an empty cartridge".  HP has figured out a way to insure they make their recurring revenue through ink sales.  Unfortunately, they have done it in a way that denies their customers that knowledge BEFORE they buy the product.  We're stuck!  Sadly for HP, I am the CEO of a rapidly growing public company and I will make certain we never purchase another HP product.  I'm very disappointed.

[dashule]

What absolute garbage. I have a full black ink cartridge that is worthless without buying 3 more color cartridges. I only print in black ink!!! I will be buying a new, non HP printer tonight, and will never buy one of these pieces of **bleep** again. This was the 4th and LAST generation of HP printers for this family.

[Bob_Headrick]

HP and other printer manufacturers have different printer technologies for different needs.  For inkjet printers:

• Some have printheads built into the ink cartridges.  These printers can typically print with one or more of the colors completely empty, or even with color or black (but not both) cartridges removed. The Deskjet 6980 series is an example, or for an all-in-one see the Deskjet 2540 or Officejet 8040a.

• Other printers have separate ink supplies and replaceable printheads.  An example would be the Officejet 7110 printer.  The printhead in these printers can be replaced if they are damaged by running the printhead with colors out.  Some of these printers will allow printing with a color out, other will not.  If the printer is run without ink in one or more colors the printer may be damaged, but the user may be able to recover without having to send the printer for service.

• Other printers have permanent printheads.  To run these without some ink in all the colors would risk causing damage to the printhead due to clogs, air ingested in the printhead or burned out printhead firing resistors. The Officejet 6700 is an example of this type of printer. For printers with fixed printheads this could require service to get the printer to print properly again when the ink is finally replaced.  

The document here describes how ink is used.  While the document is written for HP Inkjet printers the same principles apply to inkjet printers from other manufacturers.

If you never print in color a laser printer would likely be a better choice.  If you occasionally print color but mostly black an IPH printer like those in the first category above may be a good choice.

[rjrose]

Hp shame on you for cheating the people!!!! I bought the 6600 officejet without knowledge that you can't print in black if any of the color cartridges are low.. I went to town ( 20 miles away!!!!!!) to buy BLACK INK  today only to find out that you still can't print even with all options marked BLACK INK ONLY!!! thats a rip off and just plain  bad business!! NEVER EVER AGAIN will I PURCHASE another one of your PRODUCTS!!! way to go... you may  make money in selling ink but you have lost LOTS of business period! Hope its worth it.  By the time we have bought several cartridges thats enough to purchase a new DIFFERENT BRAND of printer! Which is what I am going to do. I will make sure EVERYONE I KNOW  has the knowledge of what you have done.. thats a promise!!!  THANKS FOR NOTHING!!! MAD 

[RickLSmith53]

I have been fighting with my HP 6600 all morning.  It has not been used in a while and I guess ink had dried in the nozzles of the printhead.  After 15 printhead cleaning cycles I still got no magenta or black.  Finally out of desparation I took a syringe I had from filling ink carts for another printer and filled it with a little alcohol.  I then carefully injected the acohol into the little tubular device that plugs into you ink cart when you plug in a cartridge. It is located in the lower portion of each ink cartridge holder. It will likely have ink on it.  I injected until I saw alcohol coming out. Make sure you have an old towel etc under the printer. You may have a small mess...  After injecting alcohol into the carts not showing up in a print test, I plugged all carts back in and did about three printhead cleanings going to the third level clean each time.  By the third cleaning I was seeing all colors again including black finally!  I then printed several docs with a lot of color.  All is well. You definitely want to print something color weekly!!!

[Mart2015]

Same here!! Getting so frustated... this printer will soon fly out the window!!!! Grrrrrrr! Even if color cartridges have issues, the printer should be printing in B/W.

[Breelcool]

I have the same problem and I don't use my printer much either. Here it is the middle of the night and I can't print my sons paper and I have a double xl black ink. Very irritated

[CelticCore]

funny thing is the powers that be blame us on abusing natural resources which is 'contributing to climate change' but when you want to just print in black it squirts all the other colours in with it...
I just want to make up rough drafts for throwaway invoices, I don't need 'true rich black' for that. It's high time they started making cartridges that you can control whether you just want basic black ink used.
What a rip off!