Windows 10 will only print B&W Officejet 3831

[Mokolon]

Hello,

I've had this printer for years, don't print all that often especially in color. At some point Windows 10 lost the ability to print in color without me noticing - until the other day when I wanted to print color.

There are no color options whatsoever in the print dialog. I went searching the internet and it would appear to be a driver problem - so I uninstalled the driver intending to download and install the latest from HP.  No such luck. When I go to the support page for an Officejet 3831 on windows 10 (64 bit), I get a message: We were unable to retrieve the list of drivers for your product.  Please select the desired operating system and select “Update” to try again.

If I cannot download the software, I can't reinstall it - and I now have to use the Microsoft generic driver for my printer - which apparently does not offer color printing.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

[Dilip_18]

Hi@Mokolon,

Welcome to the HP Support Community! I'd like to help!

I see you are experiencing color printing issues with the HP OfficeJet 3831 All-In-One Printer. 

Let us try these steps:

1. On the PC, go to Control panel > Devices and printers > Add a printer(at the top) 
2. Under 'Choose a device or printer', click on 'The printer I want isn't listed'.
3. Select 'Add a printer using a TCP/IP address'
4. Find the IP address of the printer by tapping on the wireless/ethernet icon on the printer screen
5. Type in the 'IP address in Hostname or IP address' box, click next
6. Proceed to the next steps by following the on-screen instructions.
7. Try printing in color.

If the issue persists, Install the printer using Windows built-in driver

Refer to this document to know how. Try printing.

Try to perform a Power Reset, it may power up the printer.

• Disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer.
• Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds.
• Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet. Wait at least 60 seconds
• Plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.
• Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the printer.
• Make sure this printer is plugged into a direct wall, not a surge protector.
• Turn on the printer, if it does not automatically turn on.

If the printer turns on, try to print a printer quality report to check if the printer prints color.

• Load letter or A4 unused plain white paper into the paper tray. b.
• From the printer control panel, touch Setup
• Touch Tools 
• Touch Print Quality Report

Please uninstall the Printer Driver.

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

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

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Have a great day!