Black only prints in B&W modes

[m211]

I think my printer has lost it's mind.  It suddenly won't print in 4 color. When I select "Color," all I get is magenta, yellow, cyan. No black. But if I specify B&W printing, or make a copy with the "Black" setting, it's prints the black just fine. Has anyone else experienced this? (Also the 3-color prints fade out on the left side of the page after a print or two, but I'm assuming that is a separate issue... the black, when it decides to print, has no fading).

[John_Getzke]

Try reseating the black cartridge.

Try printing off a demo or diagnostics page from the printers control panel to rule out configuration issues on your PC.  

If that doesnt help then you may need to swap your black with a new one.

[Repairatrooper]

The fade to one side suggests a problem with the high voltage power supply.  This can be caused by a defective cartridge causing a short that lowers the high voltage being supplied and resulting poor toner transfer. On other models the problem was often the yellow cartridge. 

[m211]

Thanks for the ideas. Tried swapping the black cartridge and printing reports from control panel. No change. But see my reply below...

[m211 · Accepted solution]

This solved the problem... I just started swapping out all the installed cartridges with new ones. First black. No change. Then Yellow. No change. Then cyan. Bingo!  I never would have guessed that a defective cyan cartridge could cause the black to stop printing (plus all the other smearing and fading of unrelated colors).

Thank you!!