How do I turn off or stop the alignment page from constantly printing?

[littlemarin]

How do I stop the alignment page from printing? I have copied the alignment page as instructed after changing my cartridge, but it still prints every time I turn on my printer, a DeskJet 3636.

It is a waste of my time, my ink, my paper, and my money (all which are precious commodities because I am a broke college student...irnoically taking classes in Customer Service and Business Management).

Let me be clear on a few things:

1. I let the page print when I change my ink cartridge and I copy the page as per the instructions on the page. I can see no problems on the alignment page, no lines or streaks, but it still prints when I turn the printer back on. (I try not to leave it on all of the time to conserve some electricity and because the light bothers me when I'm trying to sleep).

2. I do not need nor can I afford colored ink, so I do not buy it. Most of my classes are online, so I do not print constantly and I only need the black ink when I do print.

3. I have not been able to locate a way in my software to just turn it off. I understand why you should go through the process when you change your ink, but every time I turn on the printer is excessive.

If this continues, I'm going to have to get rid of this printer. I can not afford to keep going through ink and paper because of this. This is my first HP product, but if HP is trying to force me to buy more ink or colored ink then I will never buy another HP product again.

Can someone help me? Thanks.

[paleolith]

Stop turning your printer off.

The specs say that this printer uses 0.88 watt in sleep mode, which is automatic. At US 12 cents per kilowatt hour, that's US 93 cents per year. The printer probably wastes some ink when it turns on from a full power off, so turning it off is likely costing you  more than US$1/year in wasted ink. And there are far easier ways to save $1/year. For that matter, there are easier ways to save $1/day.

A small bit of duct tape will solve the light problem. (The Click and Clack solution.) Or if you don't have any duct tape or it isn't sufficiently opaque, a bit of aluminum foil using any kind of tape to hold it over the light will do the job just dandy. If you need to see the light when you're using the printer, put a bit of aluminum foil on the sticky side of a piece of clear packaging tape, and fold under a corner of the tape before affixing it so that you can easily pull it off and replace it.

Edward

[littlemarin]

I assumed that saying "when it turned on and off again" covered sleep mode as well, but apparently not. Perhaps I should have been even more specific. It does it when I leave it on all day and wake it up from sleep mode as well. I'm not going to cover the buttons with tape to reduce the light since it prints the alignment page even when it wakes up from sleep.

I just need to know how get the alignment page to stop printing whenever the printer wakes up or is turned on.