Does your color printer want to print color when you want black?

Problem: EXEControl Global Solutions had a situation where a user’s HP 6500 Office Jet printer would not print black. When the user tried to print a black and white document, the document printed in red. The ink cleaning process and test pages printed black but documents continued to print in red.

Solution: When you have black printing as a different color, it most likely is an issue with one or more of your color cartridges. Ink jet printers will sometimes use your color inks instead of your black ink to print black. Lawsuits have been raised due to printer manufacturers programming the printers to use color instead of black to print black. The lawsuits claim that using color to print black is significantly higher and printer manufacturers have done this on purpose to make more money on ink. Printer manufacturers say there are times where printing black as color is better. An example given by the printer manufacturers is that color ink dries faster so if you are printing in duplex, printing in color will allow the print job to finish quicker. Regardless as to why your printer is trying to print black using the color inks, the solution to your problem is simple. Check to make sure all of your color inks are printing properly. Once all your color inks are printing properly, your document will most likely print black once again.