Officejet 3830 prints color once, then jumps to black and white forever

[stefaankl]

I recently bought a HP Officejet 3830, and successfully installed it (wireless) on two Windows 10 computers. Test page printed without problems. The next day, when trying to do some real work, everything I printed was black-and-white. After going through the HP support forum and other resources, I can reconstruct the problem reproducibly in the following way (but without a solution):

1) completely uninstall all HP printers, using the instructions from this HP resource.

2) reinstall the printer with drivers and software from this HP webpage. This proceeds smoothly, no problems, no errors.

3) I open Powerpoint, make a one-page document with some color in it, then print it: it prints color, nice.

4) I open any pdf with color in it, print it ==> it prints only black-and-white

5) go back to that Powerpoint file which was still open, print it again in exactly the same way as before: only black-and-white...!

The above procedure is reproducible.

The test page printed directly from the printer itself, is always printed in color. A colored document that is duplicated by the copy feature of the printer, is always printed in color too. So no hardware problem. 

The HP print and scan doctor reports no problems.

In the printer settings, I can nowhere find an option to select color/black. If the program from with I print has a selection possibility itself, it does not matter what is chosen, it always ends up in black-and-white.

I found one description on the HP forum that feels like exactly my problem, but I don't fully understand the solution given, and that solution does not feel to be very elegant or robust either.

Please bring back color in my life 😉

[Dvortex · Accepted solution]

Hello, @stefaankl – Hope you are well 🙂
 

Thank you for becoming an HP Forum member. It is a fantastic location to get help from the community, get suggestions and find what has worked for others!

I see that you are facing issues while printing in color from your Windows 10 machine. Try to perform a clean install as suggested below to try and fix the issue:

•  First, unplug the USB cable from the printer, if present.
• Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP LaserJet printer entries and uninstall them.
• Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.
• Restart your computer.
• Click the bottom-left Start button on desktop, type device manager in the search box and tap Device Manager on the menu.
• Once in device manager, click on the view tab in the top & choose “Show hidden devices”.
• Then from the device manager list, check the entries under “Printer”  – If there are any entries, please right click and choose “uninstall” – In the confirm device un-install pop-up, make sure you select the box which says “Delete the driver software for this device".
• Also, check the entries under "printer queue" and "imaging devices" and repeat the same exercise. Delete any printer entry or any entry which says “Unknown device”.
• Once done, close device-manger. Then press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" (there is a space between .exe & /) and press enter.
• Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.
• Again, go to run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.
• Open run again, type “%temp%” and press enter to get the temporary files. Delete all the files here. Skip the items which cannot be deleted.
• Restart your computer again.
• Now click on http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/COL61242/mp-147828-1/OJ3830_Basicx64_1119.exe to download and install the printer drivers.
• Connect the USB cable if prompted and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation.

Those steps should do the trick, let me know the outcome!

Cheers 🙂
 

Please click "Accepted as Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[stefaankl]

Thanks for your very detailed and clear answer. I followed it step by step (and could remove traces of a previous old HP printer in 'Devices and Printer'). However, the problem persists. After this thorough cleaning and reinstallation, the first document (powerpoint) is printed in color. From the second document onwards (pdf), everything is black-and-white. 

Hmm... any other suggestions?

[Dvortex]

Hello, @stefaankl

It definitely looks like an issue with the printer drivers.

Try to install the printer using the Windows built-in drivers. 

First, open Windows Device Installation Settings and confirm that your computer is set to automatically download driver software.
 

• Search Windows for Change Device Installation, and then click the Change device installation settings Control Panel setting in the list of results.
• Device Installation Settings window displays.
• Select the Yes option, and then click Save Changes.

Now, follow the steps listed under step 3 here: http://hp.care/2oSqtTW 

Let me know how that goes!

Please click "Accepted as Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[stefaankl]

Thanks for the detailed procedures. There was no improvement after the second procedure either, still the same black-and-white printing.

I was not sure what to do next, and let the problem at rest for a few days.

Then came the Fall 2017 update of Windows 10, and suddenly I could print in color from the laptop where (a) these cleaning procedures and reinstallation had been done, and (b) the Windows 10 update was performed.

For another computer, where the cleaning procedures had not been done, even after the Windows 10 update it was not possible to print in color. Going through the cleaning and reinstallation solved the problem there as well.

Hence, solved at last. Thanks !

[MBYJME]

Thank you for your detailed solution.

I followed it exactly and it works.

The problem however is that every so often my printer reverts back to black and white once again, and I have to go through the whole thing again. Very frustrating.

Is there a way of avoiding this from happening?

Thank you.

[MikeMaryPeterso]

We are not able to print in color from our computer.  If sent send a document to the printer wirelessly, it prints in color. If we try to print from the computer, it will only print in black and white. We like to print cards from a Hallmark program and they will only print in black and white.  If we print a test page on the printer, it prints in color.  We tried the below instruction but it did not work to uninstall and reinstall printer driver.

[kevin-t]

Hello,

Thank you for posting in this thread. Unfortunately based on when the last response was made, I have closed this thread to help keep comments current and up to date. We recommend starting a new thread for your issue by clicking here.
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