Will this printer run without the color cartridges? I really just need black.
1776371
Recently, when the printer said it was out of toner, we kept pushing the button that gives you 50 more prints or so. We kept doing this for quite a long time, at least a month, before the printer refused to print. The print quality stayed pretty good, and we print some every day, since my wife uses it in her business. I can't say for sure if it will print without the cartridges installed.
1571063
Rob, the printer won't work without the grey cartridge. I tried to put a black one and it's too smart. :-) Hope that helps. I just got a good deal on grey cartridges three for $10 plus on Amazon. From Sherman Inks and toners. Great buy.
758899
Apparently so. I just had the color run very low. In fact, the color red was completely out. The printer didn't care. It continued to print with the colors it had. I did not try to operate the printer with the color cartridge removed.
101618
I find the ink usage less than HP's, but unless you step to an MX8XX series, yes, you do need to replace a color cartridge if one of the colors runs out. I've gone months without needing to replace a cartridge though.
753423
Yes. But when you run out of color inks you cannot print just black. You have to replace color cartridges even if you don't use them in order to print black. I gave up that nonsense and I bought an only black printer. I go to Kinko's when I occasionally need color prints. Good luck and happy new year.
58463
No, if any of the color cartridges are empty it doesn't print black (as in text). It doesn't print anything. p.s. Just happened to notice the black print option on the actually printer, and tried it out (the printing option is the only one that doesn't seem to respond to this option) but copying certainly did. Sorry for the incomplete answer.
489559
As long as you have black ink, you can make black and white copies. The color cartridge is only needed for color copies. Also, if you don't have a color cartridge and try to print a color copy, it will just come out black and white.
1867574
Yes. It only prints in black. The reason I got this is because if u print in black most of the time u use less ink versus the multi-color printers. Multi-color printer uses all colors even if u are printing in black only, therefor ink runs out quicker and its a bigger expense. Hope this helps.
1722461
You need all the color cartridges installed to be able to print in black and white. Also they have to have ink in them. If any of the color cartridges is out you won't be able to print.
591402
After some googling, it seems that printing in black won't use the color toner. However, if ANY of the toner runs out, it won't print. I suppose if you just want to print in black most of the time, use the color toner sparingly.
1221337
From what I know about my printer is leave the empty color cartridge in there and it should just print black & white. At least that's what mine does.
1374179
Yes. The printer comes with black + colors. If you use only black, it will be happy. If you use up the colors, leave the empty color cartridges in place. It will nag you to replace the empty ones but you can ignore that. There are super-size black cartridges available and I suggest you use them for lower cost. I have 2 of these printers used mostly for scanning and printing 11x17 engineering drawings and have no complaints after about 2 years.
101619
The printer comes with a coloured ink cartridge, but it doesn't last for long. The black was the first to run, so a new cartridge had to be bought.
256822
With regards to the ink jet cartridges, it seems that the smaller black cartridge and the larger black cartridge have to have ink to run the printer. Right now, the larger one is out of ink, but why does it not continue to print from the smaller black cartridge? Is there a setting for this or did I do something wrong during my initial installation of these cartridges?
157202
Most printers can be set up to run in black or grey scale only mode through the printer set up options, but I suspect that the printer will not operate with the units missing. It may run with the color cartridges empty because HP printers often will ask you if you want to continue printing in black or grey scale only if a color cartridge is empty.
1472879
I have not run across this problem yet, but I believe if you print in black you should still be able to print without replacing the color that has run out. Hope this helps.
1306153
I don't think this is possible. The printer software needs to detect a color cartridge. But you can use the software to turn off color and print only in black and white.