RANT: why cant i print in black when my color cartridges are empty!

[evident]

I have a hp all in one photosmart 3210. I purchased this thing about a year and a half ago and i've been pretty pleased. I used it sparsely enough so that i just ran out of color ink. but now i really need to print out some stuff in black, but IT WONT LET ME AT ALL!!!! wtf! the black cartridge is still half full!

surfing around i found this link lame and the conclusion is that HP sux and likes to drain as much ink as possible so you can go to the store and get raped everytime. Not to mention, my printer does a "device maintenence" everytime i turn it on, and it sounds like it's just wasting a ton of ink when it does that.

I used to work for HP and i normally like their products, but this is killing me. i just want to print out a damn email just let me do it


if only they had an affordable all in one laser jet

 

[Ns1]

grayscale printing ftw?

 

[spidey07]

Because it uses CMYK for the color?

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: Ns1
grayscale printing ftw?

yes, my rant is that even greyscale it still uses the color cartridges, which is BS. and wont let you print without them, period.

Originally posted by: spidey07
Because it uses CMYK for the color?

and there is an extra black only cartridge too

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: Ns1
grayscale printing ftw?

yes, my rant is that even greyscale it still uses the color cartridges, which is BS. and wont let you print without them, period.

Originally posted by: spidey07
Because it uses CMYK for the color?

and there is an extra black only cartridge too

wow that's pretty shitty

the canon i have at home tries that shit too. all black page, won't print cuz of no color cartridges

grayscale pwns that shit though

 

[conehead433]

Under printing preferences don't you have a grayscale printing box you can check. My Canon does and I would assume most recently made printers have that option.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: conehead433
Under printing preferences don't you have a grayscale printing box you can check. My Canon does and I would assume most recently made printers have that option.

l2r?

 

[Aikouka]

My mom has a Photosmart 3210 and I don't recall it having this issue... although I also don't recall her ever running out of ink even when that woman is a mad(wo?)man with printing the most inane of things.

 

[evident]

damn it, now i have to wait until tomorrow to print this stuff at work and get this shit mailed out. ARGH!!!!!!!!

 

[StrangeRanger]

PC Load Letter

j

 

[ObiDon]

what happens if the color cartridges are not present rather than being installed and empty? does it still keep you from printing?

 

[BlackTigers]

on my lexmarkown, ion the options i had to check something that said 'use black ink cartridge for color printing'.

or something liek that. it was realyl obscure.

 

[TheTony]

Originally posted by: evident
drain as much ink as possible so you can go to the store

Well, it is an all-in-one. One empty cartidge and it won't print at all.

Check out some of the alternatives. Refills, OEM, etc. Personally, I use remanufactured cartidges for my inkjet. Much cheaper and the quality is close enough (if not the same) that I'm more than willing to go that route.

Now, it doesn't alleviate the design of their cartidge system and how it manages itself, but it lessens the pain when you do have to refill.

On the bright side, at least your cartridge design isn't a single multichamber design. That would be twice as frustrating, since you can't simply swap out the empty black cartridge.

 

[Vette73]

Don;t know if this will work for a HP but someone said for the Brother printer i have, as I had the thing not print black when i was out of color, is to cover the bottom with electrical tape. That way the printer thinks the color is full and lets the black print.

Brother printers are the best right now for cheap printing. Ink can be had cheap and all the colors are in their own tank so if you run out of 1 you just replace that.

 

[rezinn]

Learn how to use your black cartridge to print black and white.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Greed

A more expensive printer will not have this issue. When you buy a cheapo printer you are paying a cost that the manufacturer EXPECTS you to subsidize with ink purchases.

 

[moshquerade]

sounds like an Epson.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: SphinxnihpS
Greed

A more expensive printer will not have this issue. When you buy a cheapo printer you are paying a cost that the manufacturer EXPECTS you to subsidize with ink purchases.

The 3210 is about $250-ish (or was when I picked it up for my mom), which is actually rather high for a personal printer. The highest personal printers you usually see are $350-400, so it's still up there compared to those cheap $50-100 printers.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Printers are the biggest rip off of our times. I'd rather pay $400 for a printer and next to nothing for the ink, rather than $150 for a printer and the soul of my newborn for the ink.

Canon are the worst of the lot

 

[manly]

I've got an HP OfficeJet d145 that's getting a bit older now. I rarely print with it as that's what the laser printer is for. The color ink has always depleted at nearly the same rate as black ink, even though I rarely ever print in color.

Worse still, even though the duty cycle has been very low (no more than 400 pages a year), all 3 color printheads need replacement ($34 each). Each printhead is rated at up to 30,000 pages!

IIRC it was about a $400 printer, so it wasn't worth the money. Since I do use the scanner on a regular basis, it hasn't been a total bust.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
sounds like an Epson.

Naaa... HP started it the others just got mad they did not think of it and had to copy them.

 

[nonameo]

This is why I have a laser printer.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers91
on my lexmarkown, ion the options i had to check something that said 'use black ink cartridge for color printing'.

or something liek that. it was realyl obscure.

did you lose your fingers in a freak deli-slicing incident?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: manly
I've got an HP OfficeJet d145 that's getting a bit older now. I rarely print with it as that's what the laser printer is for. The color ink has always depleted at nearly the same rate as black ink, even though I rarely ever print in color.

Worse still, even though the duty cycle has been very low (no more than 400 pages a year), all 3 color printheads need replacement ($34 each). Each printhead is rated at up to 30,000 pages!

IIRC it was about a $400 printer, so it wasn't worth the money. Since I do use the scanner on a regular basis, it hasn't been a total bust.

it's not HPs fault that you bought a small-business class machine for home use. All printheads dry up over time without regular use.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: BlackTigers91
on my lexmarkown, ion the options i had to check something that said 'use black ink cartridge for color printing'.

or something liek that. it was realyl obscure.

did you lose your fingers in a freak deli-slicing incident?

Maybe he did, and you're just being insensitive? That's the logical conclusion I've come to.