How do I stop the test page from ALWAYS printing from my C3180 All-in-One printer?

[postscriptor]

Everytime  I replace the black ink cartridge in my C3180 All-in-one printer, it prints out a test page. Everytime. Always.

This is annoying, as well as expensive as the ink ain't cheap.

I have an iMac, running OS X 10.6.8 "Snow Leopard."

I have the latest HP printer software/drivers.

I have also poked around all of the software, to see if there are settings and preferences that I can change.

I realize that a test page needs to be printed after a new cartridgev is installed, and maybe when I need to test it. But not every single freakin' time the printer is turned on. The cartridgte in there now is new, and the ink is already low, and what I am printing is barely legible. There is a stack of scrap paper next to the printer, all of the test sheets!!!!

I apologize for the attitude, but at over $20 a pop for cartridges, this is costing me money that I can ill-afford.

Thanks!

[ShlomiL · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Whenever you replace a print cartridge he cartridge have to be aligned.

Lack of any color will cause the alignment to fail and therefore the printer will keep trying to complete the alignment.

Compare the printed theet with this sample, it may happen if you ran out of color ink, etc:

For any further troubleshooting follow this document:

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01336397

Shlomi

[Brasstop]

I saw the solution is that I have a color cartridge in too but I do not want to use colour and I want to be able to turn off printing the alignment page every time I print

[Advance23]

Hi Brasstop,

I understand that you do not want to use the color cartridge. I will do my best to help you resolve the alignment issue with your printer. In order to clear the alignment message the printer needs to complete the alignment process including the scan of the alignment page printed. Follow the steps in the document link posted above by ShlomiL for troubleshooting.

Let me know if this helps.

Thank you,

[Mounty1]

This is the advice that is given in answer to the question:  you must let the test page be printed, then put the test page on the scanner and press the Scan button.

Simple.  Except that the C3180 does not have a scan button.

On the front it has a button marked Photosmart Express and another with what looks like a telephone keypad.  There is also the power button.

On the top, from front to rear the buttons are:

1. Start scanning / reprints (doesn't work as scan button).
2. Start copy black (this is the scan button).
3. Start copy color.
4. Number of copies.
5. Size / resize /borderless.
6. Quality.
7. Plain/photo paper.
8. Cancel.

The official HP video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMxJ_7-3T8U on how to change the cartridge scores a brilliant own-goal by stopping just short of revealing the dread secret of how to scan the alignment page.   Why couldn't that video go on for a further 20 seconds and actually finish the process?

I suggest if you are reading this that you copy and save the information, as I arrived at it by trial and error and cannot find it anywhere else on the web.

TL;DR  for C3180, "scan" == "start copy black" (presumably only when you change the black cartridge).

[Duane_D]

Hello
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