only prints black and white

[jammypie]

my sisters brand new Envy 5660 printer only prints in black and white.

i've been all over the net and my iMac trying to figure out what the problem, but to no avail.

i've looked for the paper type/ quality etc settings that were soloutions to other problems but those options are not on my computer.  i've gone through every menu both on the printer and in multiple of my programs in an effort to try and change some setting that is telling this printer not to print colour.  i have opened the printer settings and my computer settings and nothing has given me the option to make it print either in colour or black and white.

what the heck?

the closest solution i could find was that someone uninstalled and reinstalled the printer and it helped for a time, until she had to repeat the same thing.  that can not be a feasible solution, and my first guess would be that there is an issue with the printer.

however, if there is something i'm overlooking, can you please let me know?  i'm annoyed at the moment, and its not even my printer...

[X-23]

Hello @jammypie,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I would like to assist you today with resolving the colour printing issue that you're experiencing with your sisters HP ENVY 5660 e-All-in-One Printer when printing from your Mac computer. This issue may be a hardware issue with the printer itself not printing in colour, or it may be a driver issue. To confirm that your sisters printer is functioning properly please follow the steps below.

Step 1: Print a Print Quality Report:

1. Load U.S. Letter or A4 size, unused, plain white paper into the input tray.
2. On the printer control panel, swipe the display to the left, and then touch Setup (). The Setup menu displays.
3. Touch Reports, and then touch Print Quality Report. A Print Quality Diagnostic page prints.

• If this report print with no colour: Than the issue that you're experiencing is being caused by the printer. To resolve this issue please click here. Once the support document opens please run through Solution three, Solution seven, and Solution eight. This includes any sub-steps under the listed Solutions.

•  If this report prints with perfect colour quality: Than the issue that you're experiencing is being caused by a conflict on the Mac computer. To resolve this conflict please follow the steps below.

Step 2: Check Driver:

Because your printer is printing fine standalone, there is the high likelihood that the incorrect print driver has been added to the Mac. Without knowing which Operating System you're using on your Mac, I may not be able to provide the most accurate troubleshooting steps. However, please follow the steps below to check your driver. If these steps don't work for you please include your Operating System in your next post.

1. Click the Apple menu, and then click System Preferences.

2. Click Print & Scan, and then check if the name of your printer displays in the Printers list.

3. If your printer is already listed, remove and re-add the printer to confirm communication with the Mac. Click the name of your printer, click the minus sign (), and then delete the printer

4. Click the plus sign (), click Add Printer or Scanner, click the name of your printer

5. Click the Use or Print Using box, and then select the name of your printer in the pop-up menu. Ensure that you have the HP Envy driver selected and not the AirPrint.

6. Click Add to add the printer to the list.

- Source

Once the driver has been added, please test the print  function to verify that everything is working properly now.

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

[jammypie]

ok!

well so the print quality diagnostic printed out with all colours blazing, i could only assume that the driver is indeed the problem.

however, when looking through my options of reinstalling printers, there is a long list, but none of are anything like the HP Envy printer.  it is not on the list, so what now?

so i choose a similar style printer?  

i don't know if the Envy 5660 is an inkjet or laserjet or whatever else...

also, my test pictures are not only black and white, but extremely grainy...i can only assume this is a driver thing too...

any ideas of where to go from here?

i appreciate your feedback so far.  🙂

[X-23]

Hello @jammypie,

Thanks for getting back to me regarding this issue. I'm very happy to hear that the HP Envy printed the Quality Report successfully. Ideally, when you go to 'add' the printer on the Mac it should only give really two options, the Envy 5660 (inkjet) driver and the AirPrint. Because you have a list of drivers that tells me that your Mac might not have the correct driver installed at all.

What version of the Mac Operating System are you using?

Once I find out your exact Operating System I will walk you through installing the proper driver. 🙂

[jammypie]

the operating system i use is Mac OS X version 10.6.8

[X-23 · Accepted solution]

Hello @jammypie,

The reason why the HP ENVY 5660 e-All-in-One Printer is not printing successfully from your Mac OS X 10.6.8 computer is because the printer is not compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.8.

Because this printer is brand new it is only compatible with Mac OS X 10.7, Mac OS X 10.8, Mac OS X 10.9 and Mac OS X 10.10. Therefore, there is no supported driver on your Mac OS X 10.6.8 computer. I'm surprised that you were able to get the printer to print in the first place from your Mac. But, this does explain why your print quality is so bad. You could try the alternate drivers that show up under the (+) Add screen under Print & Fax but I cannot guide you towards a driver that would be suitable for your printer because it is not supported on that Operating System. This is an inkjet printer so you could try some other inkjet drivers that appear in the list.

The solution to this issue would be to install the Envy on a supported Operating System and all of the printing issues will be resolved.

I wish you luck going forward with this! 🙂

[jammypie]

well crap, eh?

i appreciate you trying to help...my sister was the one who picked up the printer and tried to pair it with my computer but i guess we're out of luck.  i'll try another inkjet driver, but i won't get my hopes up.

sucks, since my computer isn't really THAT old (2009) but i guess that's ancient in the computer world.

thanks again.  🙂

[Plinko]

Thanks for helping me with this.  The printer was listed in the menu 3 times (and it probably didn't know what to do).  Maybe others will benefit from checking the printer set up queue to make sure that it's set up correctly.

[Kuroobigirl]

Thank you for your support. I re -nstalled the printer preferences on my MAC and the colour started printing again. Your directions were perfect. Much appreciated!

[Velino]

Amazing; that did it; thank you!