HP Envy 4520 Won't print color

[AGPS]

This is my college daughter's printer that is giving the trouble.  She is out of the country so I am trying to get her printer working correctly.  I got the black ink to work when I discovered she had not removed the tape from the cartridge.  It still however, will not print, copy, nor scan in color.  I have checked ink levels, run diagnostics, added recommended drivers, cleaned cartridges, etc.  Still no color.  When I copy and scan, it will print what was in color in gray.  When printing, it will not print anything that is in color.  There are no error messages.  The printer is connected wirelessly to the the computer.  The only possible thing I can think of is that the colored ink cartridge is dried out.  If that is the case, would it still indicate cartridge is over half full?  How long will a cartridge last before drying out? Before I got the black ink to work, it was printing a smearing of green at times.  That is no longer happening.  My daughter did say she got it to print in color during the spring semester.  Does anyone have a suggestion?  Thank you.

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve color not printing on your daughter's Envy 4520.  If the test page printed in Step 8 has no color it is likely your cartridge has dried out.  This could be caused in a matter of days if the printer is unplugged without first turning it off with its power switch.  This could result in the cartridges not being properly capped, allowing the color cartridge to dry out.  (In that case the black cartridge would have also dried out, but if the tape wass still intact it would have protected the cartridge.

If the test page shows no color I would suggest the following:  remove the color cartridge and place it in a cup of hot water.  Put it in the same orientation as it would be in the printer and have enough hot water in the cup to cover the bottom part of the cartridge with about 1" of water.  Let the cartridge soak for ten minutes, then remove the cartridge and dry the electrical contacts with a lint-free wipe.  A clean coffee filter works well for this.  After drying the contacts gently blot the printhead on a damp tissue.   A good cartridge will show a strong blot of cyan, magenta and yellow.  If there is only a smudge of color, or if the colors are wrong (such as green or brown instead of yellow) the color cartridge will likely need to be replaced.