Printing in color

[Solstice1]

I'm still unfamiliar with my new HP ENVY 4520 printer. When I tried to print a pdf from a desktop document, the result was only in black and white and not in color, which it should have been. I could not find any setting that would let me choose either color or black and white. Why is this happening? What do I need to do to correct the situation? 

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Solstice1,

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As I understand you are having printing issues on your HP Envy 4520 printer. Don't worry as I have a few suggestions which should help you resolve this concern,

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?

Are you using genuine HP ink cartridges?

Have you tried to clean the cartridge contacts?

In the meantime, let's start off by performing a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

Remove all the ink cartridges and then try to perform a hard reset on the printer.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Now insert the ink cartridges and then try to print a test page and check if it works.

Let’s first try and make a “photocopy” to determine whether the issue is with the printer or not. Place a document on the scanner glass and choose “Copy” option. If the printer is making a good copy, then the printer hardware is fine.

Next thing, I would suggest here is to Print a Print Quality Diagnostic report from the printer control panel, then evaluate the results.

If the report comes out fine without any errors, I would suggest the next step would be to uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers

If the report fails, I would suggest this could be due to cartridge or printer itself. 

If you have an alternate cartridge, please install them and check if it works.

For more details, please follow the steps suggested in the support document for - Fixing Print Quality Problems

If nothing works, I would suggest this could be a printer failure, I would recommend you contact our HP phone support for available service related options. If your product is out of warranty please choose paid options to get the tech support number.

Please use the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/

Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect

Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"

Step 4. Scroll down and click: HP contact options - click on Get phone numberCase number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted for any other assistance,

If I have helped you resolve the issue, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" from the drop-down menu on the upper right corner,

Thank you for posting in the HP Support Forum.  Have a great day!

Regards,

[Solstice1]

Hi Jeet,

First, to answer your questions:

No, I have not recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started.

Yes, I'm using the HP ink cartridges that came with the printer (brand new).

I have not tried to clean the cartridge contacts, that does not seem to be the problem.

Now I've skipped right down to making the photocopy, which worked perfectly well and printed in both black and white and color, so the cartridges themselves do not seem to be the problem.

The problem arose when I tried to print a pdf document from my desktop. I could not find a setting that let me specifically choose color, and the document printed only in black and white. I've just tried this again, and it's still printing only in black and white.

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Solstice1,

Thank you for replying,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

I understand you have tried making a photocopy and it works absolutely fine, this clearly indicates an issue with the drivers. I would suggest here to try these steps here:

If you are using MAC OS, then try the steps here:

• Click the Apple menu icon, and then click “System Preferences”.
• Click “Printers and Scanner” / “Print and Scan” or “Print and Fax”.
• Right-click the blank space in the Printers list, and then click “Reset printing system”.
• Click “Reset” in the confirmation window.
• Enter an administrator username and password, and then click “OK”.
• Wait until the printing system is reset and no devices show in the Printers list

• Restart your computer and then go back to System preferences – Printers and scanners.
• Click the “Add button” (+).
• Find, and then select the name of your printer from the printer list, and then click “Add” to add your printer.
• Click “Print Using...”, and then select the name of your printer (By default “Airprint” would be selected)

Please respond to this post with the result of your troubleshooting. I look forward to hearing from you. 

If you wish to help others looking for the same solution as you've found, mark the post as Accepted Solution.

If you wish to show appreciation for my effort, please click the Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

And I Hope you have a good day, Ahead.

Regards,

[Solstice1]

Hi Jeet,

OK, I got as far as going to System Preferences and clicking on Printers and Scanner. However, there is no obvious "blank space in the Printers list" to right-click on, and no opton to "Reset printing system". Am I looking in the wrong place?

What next??

Thanks!

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Solstice1,

Thank you for replying,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

I'm glad you pointed out as I see there are no drivers available for your printer, don't worry let's try to uninstall and then reinstall the printer drivers

HP Printers - Uninstalling HP Printer Software (Mac) - Click here

HP Printers - Installing a Mac Printer Driver Using Apple Software Update - Click here

I hope this works. Let me know how it goes for further assistance.

Eagerly waiting for your response!

I hope you have a good day ahead,

And Feel free to ask your queries as this forum has some of the best people in the world available and ready to help.

Regards,

[Solstice1]

Hi Jeet,

Thanks for your suggestions. I've gone through the Easy Install process and I'm still not able to print in color. I need someone to walk me through the entire process on the phone, it's simply too complicated. What's the best way forward?

I appreciate your help!

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Solstice1,

Thank you for replying,

As I understand you did try to install HP Easy scan and still having issues printing in color, I would suggest personally suggest you contact our HP phone support so that they can remotely take control of your PC and help you check the settings. Please use the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/

Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect

Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"

Step 4. Scroll down and click: HP contact options - click on Get phone numberCase number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted for any other assistance,

Regards,