Printer quits printing in color

[JohnW0529]

I have a HP Office Jet 3830 printer. It stops printing in color. My laptop is running Windows 11, updated from Windows 10. The printer may print in color for months, weeks, days, or even just hours. Each time it stops printing in color I have to remove the printer/driver and reinstall the printer/driver. I have done this several times by downloading the drivers directly from HP and also by going to Printers and Devices and using the Add Printer option. No matter which option I use to download the drivers it will print in color as I said for hours, days, week or months. This morning the printer was not printing in color, removed and reinstalled the printer/driver and it printed in color for about 3 or 4 hours. Many articles I read said this is due to a Windows 10 update. If this is the case, I would think that HP would have a  solution available. Has anyone found a permanent fix to this solution?

Thank you,

John W

[Rainbow23]

Hi @JohnW0529,

Welcome to HP Support Community. 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

I see that you are facing printing quality issues with your HP Office Jet 3830 printer wherein it does not print in color.

Please follow the steps listed below to uninstall and reinstall the drivers.

Unplug any USB cable, if any, before doing this.

1.) In Windows, search for and open Programs and features

2.) Select your HP Printer

3.) Select Uninstall

4.) In Windows, search for and open Devices and printers

5.) In the Devices and Printers windows look for your HP printer. If you see it listed right-click on it and choose 'Delete' or 'Remove Device'

6.) Open up the run command with the "Windows key + R" key combo.

7.) Type printui.exe /s and click Ok. (Note: there is a space in between “printui.exe” and “/s”)

8.) Click on the "Drivers" tab.

9.) Look for HP Printer driver. If you see it Click on it and click Remove at the bottom

10.) Select Ok

11.) Select Apply and Ok on the Print Server Properties windows.

12.) Close Devices and Printers

13.) Open up the run command with the "Windows key + R" key combo.

14.) Type c:/programdata and click Ok. Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

15.) Restart the computer. 

Note:

If you are unable to remove the printer drivers, then please follow the steps listed below to stop print spooler:

- Turn off the printer, and then unplug the power cord.

- In Windows, search for and open Services.

- In the Services window, right-click Print Spooler, and then click Stop.

- Now remove the printer drivers and restart the computer.

Once done, please download and install the software from this weblink. https://support.hp.com/in-en/drivers

Otherwise you can use the HP Smart App:  https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04675142

Let me know if this helps.
Take care and have a great day ahead.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[JohnW0529]

Thank you Rainbow23 for your response. Before I received your response I found a help article that said to add the printer manually. As of Saturday it was still printing in color. If, or when, it stops printing in color again I will try these steps. However from another post I have tried these steps before, except for steps 13, 14 and 15. These three steps were not in the post I tried before. I will go through all of yours steps if the printer stops printing in color again. I will let you know if I have to do this and if it corrects the problem.

Thanks again and have a good day,

JohnW0529