ENVY 5640 suddenly won't print in colour. All checks/fixes done and no change

[Cagni]

Printer has suddenly stopped printing colour and black is now aple grey.

Was find yesterday and today is not.

Have checked printer driver and all is ok

Have cleaned heads  - no change

Have checked 'print in greyscale' not being defaulted to when pritning.

I am completely baffled.

Please can someone help?

[Raj1788]

@Cagni

Welcome to HP Forums, 
This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips to your technical queries.

I understand that your HP ENVY 5640 e-All-in-One Printer has stopped printing in color.

Are you using a genuine HP ink cartridge?

Did you check ink level of the cartridge?

Is the printer able to make a photocopy? If yes then it indicates that the printer and ink cartridges are fine. 

However, Print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostic report, and then troubleshoot any defects.

Follow these steps to print and evaluate a Print Quality Diagnostic report.

Step 1: Print a Print Quality Diagnostic report

Follow these steps to print a Print Quality Diagnostic 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.

Figure: Example of a Print Quality Diagnostic report with no defects

Figure: Example of a Print Quality Diagnostic report with defects

• If you do not see defects on the test page, the print mechanism and ink cartridges work correctly. Do not continue the troubleshooting steps in this document. If printouts are still unsatisfactory, try the following general print quality guidelines.

  • Make sure that the image you are printing has sufficient resolution. Images that are enlarged too much might appear fuzzy or blurry.

  • If the issue is confined to a band near the edge of a printout, use the software you installed with the printer or another software program to rotate the image 180 degrees. The problem might not display on the other end of the printout.

  

  Windows only: If you are experiencing garbled, jumbled or illogical text, incomplete printouts, or missing text or graphics, go to Continuous Pages of Strange or Garbled Characters Print in Windows

• If you see one or more of these defects on the test page, continue to the next step.

Step 2: Examine the color blocks for defects

Follow these steps to examine the color blocks for defects.

1. Check the color blocks on the Print Quality Diagnostic report.

   Figure: Example of the color blocks with no defects

   

2. If the color blocks do not show white lines and are not faded or missing, skip to the step to check the alignment.

3. If any of the color blocks show white lines, are faded or are missing completely, continue to the next step to clean the cartridges.

Step 3: Clean the cartridges

Follow these steps to clean the cartridges from the printer control panel.

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. Swipe the display up, and then touch Printer Maintenance.

4. Touch Clean Cartridges. A Print Quality Diagnostic report prints.

5. Examine the Print Quality Diagnostic report.

   • If the print quality is unacceptable, touch Proceed when prompted to continue the next level of cleaning. Repeat these steps for the third cleaning stage, if necessary.

        NOTE:

     If the printhead is badly clogged, it might require another cleaning cycle. If so, wait 30 minutes before you perform all three levels of cleaning again.

   • If the print quality is acceptable, touch Done when prompted to continue the next level of cleaning. You do not need to continue troubleshooting.

6. Examine the print quality on the Print Diagnostic report.

   NOTE:

To avoid issues that require cleaning, always turn the printer off with the Power button.

• If these steps resolved the issue, there is no need to continue troubleshooting.

• If the issue persists, see the next step.

Step 4: Examine the alignment lines and box for defects

Follow these steps to examine the alignment lines and box for defects.

1. Check the alignment lines and box on the Print Quality Diagnostic report.

   Figure: Example of the alignment lines and box

   

2. If the alignment lines are straight and connected, you can stop troubleshooting.

3. If any of the lines are not straight and connected, continue to the next step to align the printer.

Step 5: Align the printer

Follow these steps to align the printer from the control panel.

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. Swipe the display down, and then touch Printer Maintenance.

4. Touch Align Printer.

5. After the printer prints the alignment page, touch OK, and then recycle or discard the alignment page.

6. Print another Print Quality Diagnostic report to see if the issue is resolved.

If the issue persists, Clean the area around the ink nozzles manually.

• Hold the cartridge by its sides.
• Inspect the ink cartridge contacts for ink and debris buildup.
• Lightly moisten a foam-rubber swab or lint-free cloth with distilled water, and then squeeze any excess water from it.
• Clean the face and edges around the ink nozzle with the swab.
• Either let the cartridge sit for 10 minutes to allow the cleaned area to dry, or use a new swab to dry it.
• Reinsert the cartridge by sliding it at a slight upward angle into the empty slot, and then gently pushing up on the cartridge until it snaps into place.

Try to print.

 
Keep me posted how it goes, hope this helps us.

Have a great day!

Cheers;)

[Cagni]

Hi

In response

Yes, using HP cartridges (I have an HP auto top up ink account)

Yes, ink levels ok (I have taken the cartridges out and reloaded them twice as well)

Don't have photocopier option

Have run diagnostic report - it shows black section and there is simply nothing printing in any of the 3 colour blocks - zero, not faint lines, nothing - they are blank

I have cleaned the heads as per instructions below 3 times

I have aligned the printer 

Print  qulaity report still only shows black - zero in 3 colour blocks

Please advise further suggestion.

Even my teccy son cannot fathom it out

[Raj1788]

@Cagni

Thanks for the reply.

Is the copy working fine, from the flatbed in the printer?

However, I would personally suggest you contact our HP phone support for one on one interaction. 
If your product is out of warranty, then remember to choose the paid options to get the tech support number.

They might have multiple options to help you on this.
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 the 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 number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted on any other assistance. Hope that helps! 

Have a great day ahead!

[Cagni]

 I don't understand "Is the copy working fine, from the flatbed in the printer?"  can you exlain please?

I will also contact the help desk

Thanks

[Raj1788]

@Cagni

Thanks for the reply.

To answer your question.

If the copy is working fine, it indicates that the printer and ink cartridges are fine and it's not a hardware issue with the printer.

If the copy is not working it's a hardware issue with the printer or the cartridge.

Hope this answers your question.

Have a great day!

[Cagni]

Hi,

Ok, tried to copy something.  It copied but printed only on greyscale, then I have got a message to say my ink is delepetd and a yellow warning sign to say 'used or counterfeit' but my I am subscribed to HP's Instant Ink deal, so get sent them automatically.  My last colour cartridge was sent on 4/2/185, I was sent a black and white one last week.

Please help, this is driving me nuts.

I have an assignment due in which I need to print and I need colour print.

Thanks

Also, just checked colour ink levels - they were low but ok 2 days ago and now zero.  There has been no colour pritning, so how can they can gone from a reasonable level to zero and not have been used.  I have checked cartridge and there seem to be no leaks or any fault with it.

[MKazi]

@Cagni

Thank you for repplying. 🙂

As @Raj1788 is out of the office today, I'm replying to you. You've been fabulous to work with considering your superb technical skills, remarkable patience and great attitude. Kudos to you for that.

Since the HP instant ink account details are confidential, I have sent you a private message asking for our instant ink account details. 

This information will help me to assit you further with respect to the ink cartridges. 

Cheers! 🙂