Not recognizing color cartridge

bculp · ‎07-21-2025

We have an Envy 5014. A 65 black and tri color cartridge are both installed and full of ink. However when aligning it is only recognizing the black ink and not the color and therefore it will not print in color. What might be the issue?

Hawks_Eye · ‎07-23-2025

Hi @bculp

Welcome to the HP Support Community! We're here to help you get back up and running.

Thanks for explaining that—when the printer ignores a full color cartridge during alignment, it’s understandably frustrating.

Let’s walk through a few steps that can help resolve this and get your HP Envy 5014 printing in color again:

Step 1: Check Cartridge Seating and Protective Tape

Even genuine cartridges can be misread if not seated properly.

Open the cartridge access door and wait for the carriage to stop moving.
Remove the tri-color cartridge and inspect it:
- Make sure all protective tape has been removed.
- Avoid touching the copper-colored contacts or ink nozzles.
Reinsert the cartridge firmly into its slot and close the access door.

Step 2: Clean Cartridge Contacts

Dirty or oxidized contacts can prevent recognition.

Power off the printer and unplug it.
Remove the tri-color cartridge.
Use a lint-free cloth slightly dampened with distilled water to gently clean the copper contacts on the cartridge and inside the printer.
Let everything dry for a few minutes, then reinstall and power on.

Step 3: Run a Print Quality Report

This helps confirm whether the color cartridge is functioning at all.

Load plain white paper.
Open the HP Smart app.
Click your printer > Printer Reports > Print Quality Report.
Review the output—if color is missing, it may indicate a blockage or detection issue.

Step 4: Clean the Printhead

If the color cartridge is detected but not printing, cleaning may help.

In the HP Smart app, go to Print Quality Tools > Clean Printhead.
Follow the prompts and print a test page.
If needed, repeat the cleaning up to two more times with 30-minute intervals.

Step 5: Reset the Printer

A full reset can clear memory glitches.

Turn off the printer.
Unplug the power cord from both the printer and wall.
Wait 60 seconds.
Plug it back in directly to a wall outlet and power on.

If the issue persists after these steps, you can refer to HP’s cartridge troubleshooting page for additional guidance.

Let me know how far you get—I’m here to help troubleshoot further if needed.

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Take care, and have an amazing day!

Regards,

Hawks_Eye

I'm an HP Employee.

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bculp · ‎07-27-2025

Thanks for the ideas and sorry for the delay as I was out of town. I did do all of those and to no avail. I ended up ordering a brand new one and it worked fine. Weirdly though is that the one in question was fully sealed and the tape was on it but didn’t translate to having any ink in it despite the printer saying the ink levels were high

Hawks_Eye · ‎07-27-2025

@bculp

That's genuinely puzzling! You did everything right—and it's wild that even with a sealed cartridge and intact tape, it didn’t deliver any ink.

Glad the new one worked—hopefully smooth sailing from here. If any other tech quirks pop up, I’m happy to sleuth with you.