HP Laserjet 3600 Stops Printing Color only Black and White

[JimHeide]

My Laserjet 3600 prints in color, then all of a sudden prints in black and white. For a while if I pull out the black cartridge and re-insert it, it does a calibration and the color returns. This no longer fixes the issue, I am still in black and white.

NOTE: I have tried the Cold Restart

When I print a supplies page, it is in Black and white and the sections that are typically color are missing, not converted to gray. The section that is typically Dark Blue, the borders and stuff, are in gray and they have washed out sections.

The Engine Test Prints and Page with Black Lines, very crisp black lines, no color. 

I have replaced my cartridges. If I print a document in black and white, all the black is very dark and very crisp as it should be. I have tried all of the calibrations.

[davidzuts]

Difficult. Did you try performing a calibration from the print quality menu? If you did and still have the same issue I would first replace the dc controller.

[JimHeide]

I did try the manual calibration, both the quick and the full.

Interesting development this afternoon: After reading some posts, I decided to print my error log which contained halftone errors and media sensor errors. I opened the printer and wiped down the transfer belt and closed the lid and the printer started printing in color again. So I am unsure if that corrected it or this was one of those times it just decided to start printing in color again. I guess time will tell. So as for now, it is performing like a dream.