officejet 4650 only printing black & white

[Sadhunathan]

I have followed all the instructions and it seemed to work, totally removing all trace of the printer and reinstalling the drivers and all software.  I got color printing back.  Then, it dissappeared again and now it's only black and white.  What happened?  I suspect the updates that came from HP subsequently after the re-install.

PLEASE FIX THIS PROBLEM AND GIVE US AN UPDATE THAT CURES IT!

My printer is the HP Officejet 4655 and it's brand new.

[sandytechy20]

@Sadhunathan

Good Day. A warm welcome to the HP community. I reviewed the case relating to the printer not printing suddenly. I will be delighted to assist you here.

Superb description, brilliant troubleshooting and terrific observations made before posting. Kudos to you for that. 🙂

To assist you with accurate information I would require more information regarding this.

• Did you try installing the printer with Windows Built-in driver?

If not, follow the below steps to fix this issue:

Uninstall the printer software and install the printer with windows built-in drivers.

Watch this YouTube video to uninstall the printer software.

You can also refer this document for more steps.

Install the printer with windows builtin driver.

You can refer this YouTube video to install the printer.

For more steps refer this HP Document.

Once you install the printer, change the bellow settings to print in color.

1. Open Devices and Printers by clicking the Start button, and then, on the Start menu, clicking Devices and Printers.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Printing Preferences.
3. Make your choices, and then click OK.
4. Under option Print color select color, then the OK button.

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers.

[Sadhunathan]

Hello,

Sorry to report, your solution did not work.  Here is what happened.  I followed all your steps to uninstall and then re-install.

The printer does appear in the list of printers in the devices and printers section of the control panel, but it says driver is unavailable and I cannot get it to become the default.

Right click for properties and you get under general, description unavailable, and under hardware, unknown device.

When I right click in the device manager and ask it to  search for and install drivers, it says driver cannot be installed because the vendor has not digitally signed it propertly.  Contact your vendor.

That is you.

Now after following your instructions I cannot print at all because, as the 'smart' tool says,  the printer is not installed.

HELP!

control panel shows driver uninstalledprinter properties call this an unknown devicedevice manager shows our other printer but not the 4655windows cannot install new drivers

[Sadhunathan]

ok i went back to the drawing board.  i removed the printer again.

then i downloaded the driver package from

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/closure/hp-officejet-4650-all-in-one-printer-series...

this resulted in the file

OJ4650_full_webpack_1122.exe

I ran this installation program and the printer is now installed and prints in color.

i also changed the settings to turn off automatic downloads so hopefully the drivers will not get messed up and go back to black and white again.

[Sadhunathan]

To finish off this thread, when I used the dowload to set up the printer, I didn't 'register' because the printer was already registered.   I'm not sure if that caused a problem but I discovered that although the Windows device manager recognized it, and it would print, and in color,  it would not scan anymore.   I brought up the HP "smart" application and used that to complete the set up, now it scans and prints - at least as of today.  HP smart has a choice to set up a new

printer.

printer.under the printer menu is a choice to set up a new printer

[Sadhunathan]

UPDATE

The solution was not permanent.  The printer went back to printing only in black and white.

No idea why, maybe it happened when I used the HP smart to finish the set up when it would not scan.  OMG I can't test the thing every time I do something!

THIS PRINTER SUCKS!!!

[Kennyneon]

I completely agree with this thread. The issue exists for more than one user. HP needs to determine the problem and fix it. We can't be spending time unloading, downloading, reinstalling only to have the problem return. I have gone through this three times already. It's ridiculous.

If this issue is not resolved I for one will never again purchase an HP printer and I will encourage the ame via social networking. I have never seen this in any other printer and I have probably purchased as many as 2 dozen.  Hp, this is your creation,  FIX IT!!!!

[rixon2000]

SOLVED IT, FINALLY. For I think everyone.

I cleared it like its been stated many times.  I then installed the "HP Easy Start Printer Setup Software" from the HP support website: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-officejet-4650-all-in-one-printer-series/5447930

It should not work, and one way to verify this is by  going to the 4650 Printer Preferences, and under the Paper/Quality tab, the Color Section for Black and White and Color should be missing.

Go to "Printers a& Scanners" from Settings.
Find the 4650 printer, select it, then click on Manage.  Select Printer Properties, which will pop up the Printer Properties Box of the Officejet 4650.  Above will be the tabs, General, Sharing, Ports, etc.   Click on the Advanced Tab.

Under the Priority, It will say Driver: HP OfficeJet 4650 Series. Click on the button that says "New Driver".  The "Add Printer Driver Wizard" will pop up.  Click Next, and select HP from the Manufacturer's listing.  On the Right, if you see two drivers for the 4650, select the older version, or simply just another version.  Typically Windows selects the newest one, so I usually go for the older one.  If you hit OK to all of it, it should be fixed when you go to the Printer Preferences and see the Color Section appears!!!  If it doesn't, then select the other driver, and check again to see if it causes the Color Section to appear.

I was inspired by another thread who went and installed the original CD drivers....which meant the most recent driver was in conflict with the Color Section - so no matter how much you go through this installation, and it works for only a awhile, it's because it keeps on defaulting back to the most recent driver.   I hope this helps someone out there who didn't give up.

[Kenny_Neon]

This is great! I was reluctant to clear and reload having done that multiple times and so I did not but you clued me in to looking at the advanced/paper quality color selection (one last time having done this before). Turns out I have to versions of the 4650 printer installed - network and usb. Network did not show a black & white or color section. The usb install did. Lo and behold at least for today I could print in color from the usb instance. And that's fine. I don't really need the network. Oddly my associate can print to that in color from his Mac. Go figure. FWIW, the drivers for both instances are the same. I am not sure they are original from the cd. Driver version is 20.79.1.6594 date is 2/10/2017. In any case huge thanks and still leaves the unanswered question as to why HP has not provided a fix or any useful guidance  for its own product.

[ToddLGCA]

I just wanted to chime in and thank whomever determined that the drivers on the CD/DVD work.

I've had my HP4650 for some time now with instant ink service and just love it.

Especially since it cost $30 from Fry's refurb'd.

No problems in the some years I've had it.

It was cheaper to replace the printer than get new cartridges for my old Epson.

Anyway, so recently my old computer died, got a 'new' to me HP Beats Laptop

off craigslist for $130 Windows 10, office 2016, Photoshop, a real deal.
Downloaded and installed the drivers from HP for my 4650 and woah, **bleep**, only printing in B&W.

OK, so I'll just change the setting....uh where is it? There isn't one!? What the....?

Scour around, find my original install disk,  remove the new drivers, install the CD/DVD

and yes, it works. Even has a place to select B&W or Color! Wow! I mean, who would ever take that out???

SO HEY HP TAKE THAT CRAP OFF YOUR WEBSITE!!! It messes up people's printers!

When installing it asked if I wanted automatic updates...HELL NO!!

Trying to find a drivers version...no so easy in Windows 10. Arrgh.

Should I make an ISO of the disk? But where to put it..... ?