HP Officejet Pro 8600 - Now won't print in Black Ink Only!

[KevChallis]

Hi!

After previously owning the Hp Officejet 8500a pro and experiencing numerous issues related to the 'Black Only' printing!

We then decided to scrap the HP Officejet 8500a and move on to a new printer!

We did a LOT of research into the new printer and at the time of purchasing the 8600 around August 2012 last year, we found no online content of similar issues relating to the 8500.  We even contacted Live HP support to check if the 8600 would print in Black Ink Only with the colours cartridges levels at empty.

The HP live chat representative informed us the printer WOULD indeed print in black only with all COLOUR cartridges installed and empty.

Since we bought the new 8600, we have replaced just the Black setup cartridge with a Genuine HP Black 950xl.

A few days ago all colours where at about 10% levels, apart from the yellow which then ran empty.

We have been printing in Black Ink Only with the following message appearing, since the yellow ran out:

"Yellow Cartridge out of ink, click continue to print in Black Ink only"

As of this morning, the below message appeared with no option to print ink black only!

"Depleted cartridges must be replaced to resume printing"

The Yellow and now Magenta where out of ink, with no option but to purchase both cartridges, we replaced them and ran off 8 order sheets in Black Ink Only.  Both cartridges where replaced with Genuine HP.

Directly after printing these 8 pages, the current Ink Levels are now:

Magenta - 100% full

Cyan - Has now ran out with a Red X (Annoying!!!)

Yellow - Is showing a 10% Ink level with a brand new cartridge installed!!!

Black - 40% full

1. Why am I no longer able to print in Black Ink Only with the empty colour cartridges installed?

2. Why is the Yellow showing 10% full with a brand new ink cartridge installed full of ink?

Does anyone have any advice on how to resolve this, I would very much appreciate some imput.

Kind Regards

Kev Challis

[touganov]

I am using HP Officejet Pro 8600  and I am facing exactly the same problem and no solution found yet. I am really amazed by carelessness of HP and giving no answer for this bug-problem for a while. I think the problem it is the printer internal software.  If anybody has a solution, please help. And IT IS NOT a problem of setting up "Black Ink only" or "Print only in black" and crap like that. It is the problem of the printer itself.

[Comp204]

Add me to the list of annoyed people.  I am living overseas and couldn't find the color cartridges I need so I had to order them online.  So here I am waiting for a shipment that will take a few weeks and I can't print anymore.  I am a college student...I NEED to be able to print.  Yes I can go to the library, but without transportation that is a big time consuming event that I can't take on every time I need to print something.  

I went into the printer help feature that popped up and it just said that printing without color is not recommended because my text will be in greyscale...yea fine I'll deal with that...but it doesn't even give me the option to take that "risk".  It just says I can't print until I replace the color.  No black ink only, nothing.  I had black ink only option for a couple days and now I am stuck. 

[lions99]

@Comp204, until you replace the color cartridges you will not be able to print. I'm not sure how you received the option to even override printing without color cartridge. 

The reason for this is because when you print in black or greyscale, it will pull color into the printout for print quality reasons.

Please let me know the outcome when you receive the color cartridges. 

[cmf_gb]

This is despicable. There is no legitimate reason for the inability to print in grayscale (or black and white) with depleted color cartridges other than HP ripping off consumers. This is the last HP product I'll buy.

[zazza]

I had the same issue with my old HP and did the research to avoid this happening again. I checked the help page and it says I CAN print in greyscale but in reality it doesn't give that option. I am with the previous writers, HP is just out to rip us off.

HP YOU'VE LOST ANOTHER CUSTOMER!

[medaqua]

HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus - Requiring the color cartridges to print in Black only is unprofessional. Please update the software to correct this customer abuse. 

regards,

Darrell Adams

[billtire]

This is a rip off!! to print in black only I have to buy color cartridges!!

[billtire]

Add me to the list. This is a rip off. To print in black we have to buy color cartridges!!

I am going back to my reliable Brother laser printer.

[papaney1]

I had a similar problem. My color cartriges aren't empty yet so I don't know if I will be able to print in black ink only when they are empty. But I did not know how to print in black ink only as it is not as easy as it was with my old Dell printer where the option was conveniently located on the Preferences tab in the print "menu". With this HP printer, I have to go to the same Preferences tab, click the Advanced tab, under Printer Features in Print in Grayscale change from Off to High Quality Grayscale or Black Ink Only. I have to do this every time I print as this option does not get saved.