how to disable color ink cartidges?

[A. Jacobs]

We are using Hewlett Packard Deskjet 970cxi printers in our office.
This deskjet requires both color and black ink cartridges with ink in the
printers for it to work.
However, we ONLY use the black ink to print office documents.
We are using the Windows XP and have set the printer property preference to
print in Black only (Advance - Color).
We found the color cartridges still being used and in time its empty and
requires to replace with new ones.

Can you tell me how to either disable the color ink cartridge ink level
sensors or disable to software to use any color ink at all?

We do know HP is getting rich selling us those expensive color ink
cartridges.
Your advise is much appreciated.

 

[Bill]

We are using Hewlett Packard Deskjet 970cxi printers in our office.
This deskjet requires both color and black ink cartridges with ink in the
printers for it to work.

I don't think the printer will stop completely. It may complain that
you're out of colour ink, but it should still print. Make sure you leave
the empty colour cartridge in the printer though.

However, we ONLY use the black ink to print office documents.
We are using the Windows XP and have set the printer property preference to
print in Black only (Advance - Color).
We found the color cartridges still being used and in time its empty and
requires to replace with new ones.

Just keep printing and ignore the complaint from the software that
you're out of colour ink.

Can you tell me how to either disable the color ink cartridge ink level
sensors or disable to software to use any color ink at all?

In the printer driver, there is an option for "grayscale" printing. That
should use only the black cartridge if you have a usable colour
cartridge installed. You may also need to use the "plain paper" setting.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

We are using Hewlett Packard Deskjet 970cxi printers in our office.
This deskjet requires both color and black ink cartridges with ink in the
printers for it to work.
However, we ONLY use the black ink to print office documents.
We are using the Windows XP and have set the printer property preference to
print in Black only (Advance - Color).
We found the color cartridges still being used and in time its empty and
requires to replace with new ones.

Can you tell me how to either disable the color ink cartridge ink level
sensors or disable to software to use any color ink at all?

We do know HP is getting rich selling us those expensive color ink
cartridges.
Your advise is much appreciated.

My HP 970 needs a color cartridge to print but the
cartridge doesn't have to have ink in it. If you
rotate 3 color cartridge through the 970 (put it
in, let it do the test print, put the next
cartridge in, etc.) it will think the last
cartridge is full so you won't get low ink
message. End of problem.

 

[Stick Stickus]

Don't forget that the printer goes through a headclean cycle at start up,
sometimes when powering off the printer and at set times during printing.
You cannot alter that procedure. This will cause your ink cartridge to empty
even with no colour printing. However, as each cartridge has the printhead
on it, you can leave an empty one in the machine. The printer should
continue to work normally, setting it to grey scale is a useful suggestion
many printers use blue ink with the black to produce a true deep black.

 

[A. Jacobs]

Yes, I confirm the HP Printer setting are:
Color: Grayscale: Black only
Paper: Plain paper

But with this setting, with both color and black ink cartriges installed at
the same time, the color cartidge will be used up almost 2 months before the
black cartridges.

Can you tell me how to disable the color cartidge ink level sensor?

 

[A. Jacobs]

This sound good idea.
Can you explain how?
I understand everything the ink cartridge is removed or power on, HP deskjet
printer will perform ink level checking? or, may be I am wrong?

 

[George E. Cawthon]

This sound good idea.
Can you explain how?
I understand everything the ink cartridge is removed or power on, HP deskjet
printer will perform ink level checking? or, may be I am wrong?

The 970 assumes that any new cartridge is full and
it also remembers the last three cartridges. So
if you are using cartridge A, then you put in B,
then C, then D, and finally A, the memory of A
being out of ink will have been lost and it
assumes that it is a new, full cartridge. I think
this is the easiest way to reset the memory but
you need save three old (a total of four ) cartridges.

BTW, there are two other ways to reset the
memory, one involves pushing the front buttons and
the other is taping the contacts I don't have
that info in front of me but it has been well
documented, so you should be able to find it with
a google search.

 

[Kevin]

Why don't you simply use a laser printer? Ink jet printers are not cost
efficient for printing large volumes of text documents. Laser printers are.
You can get a good laser printer these days for about $150.00. A basic
cartridge will print about 5000 pages and cost about $75.00. Get a laser
printer.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

The 970 assumes that any new cartridge is full and
it also remembers the last three cartridges. So
if you are using cartridge A, then you put in B,
then C, then D, and finally A, the memory of A
being out of ink will have been lost and it
assumes that it is a new, full cartridge. I think
this is the easiest way to reset the memory but
you need save three old (a total of four ) cartridges.

It only remembers 2 cartridges of each type (currently loaded and
previous). You only need to rotate between 3, not 4.

BTW, there are two other ways to reset the
memory, one involves pushing the front buttons and
the other is taping the contacts I don't have
that info in front of me but it has been well
documented, so you should be able to find it with
a google search.

I don't think you can reset using the buttons. That does let you
access diagnotic printouts and similar. The taping method just alters
the ID, giving the effect of changing cartridges.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Yes, I confirm the HP Printer setting are:
Color: Grayscale: Black only
Paper: Plain paper

But with this setting, with both color and black ink cartriges installed at
the same time, the color cartidge will be used up almost 2 months before the
black cartridges.

This doesn't make sense. I go through 2-3 black cartridges for every
color, and I'm NOT set to black-only printing. I always use the hard to
find 78A instead of the common, half-full, 78D. I also assume you are
using the full 45A and not one of the low-capacity versions?

As others posted, if you only want black printing, get a laser
printer. It's cheaper in the long run.

 

[A. Jacobs]

OK. I received a email from a lady. She said in her office one of the empty
color cartidge's ink level was not detected by the HP DeskJet printer at
all. Too bad she do not have this cartridge any more.

So obviously, old empty color cartridge can be physically disable the color
ink sensing. Where can I find out how?

 

[A. Jacobs]

Company management decided not to spent large sum of money and all three
floors office use DeskJets.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

It only remembers 2 cartridges of each type (currently loaded and
previous). You only need to rotate between 3, not 4.

Yeah you are right, I got to thinking and changed
the number by 1. Bad to start thinking sometimes.

I don't think you can reset using the buttons. That does let you
access diagnotic printouts and similar. The taping method just alters
the ID, giving the effect of changing cartridges.

I bought my 970 in 2000 and there were numerous
report of how to use the buttons. Power and form
feed buttons. Supposedly worked on all 900
series, but most frequently referenced for the
970. There may hardware changes during the time
the 900 were being manufactured, so that later
manufactured printer would not reset. When I
changed to a new computer with XP and started
using the USB cable, my 970 would no longer show
the ink level in the tool box, so there is no
reason for me to do much of anything with the buttons.

I did find a copy of the procedure.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

This sound good idea.
Can you explain how?
I understand everything the ink cartridge is removed or power on, HP deskjet
printer will perform ink level checking? or, may be I am wrong?

Send an email request to my address and I will
send you what I have.

 

[A. Jacobs]

But the 970 will forget all the cartridge setting after power is turn off?
So the next day when the printer is turn on, the ink level is sense again?
That is why we see the ink level yellow indicating light turn on.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

Just turning it off doesn't make it forget; the
info is stored on a chip not in volatile memory,
otherwise the whole idea of determining ink level
would work.

There is a procedure, however. You turn on the
printer, take the color cartridge out, and turn
off the printer. Then turn the printer on and off
three more times, waiting a few seconds between
each turn off. Finally, turn the printer on and
reinstall the color cartridge. The printer should
now recognize the cartridge as a new cartridge and
begin a calibration check.

 

[A. Jacobs]

I still do not understand.
As soon as I take the color cartridge out,
these HP printers will not allow me to go on with no cartridge.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

I still do not understand.
As soon as I take the color cartridge out,
these HP printers will not allow me to go on with no cartridge.

What do you mean go on? You don't go on, you turn
the printer off. If necessary you pull the plug.

Your questions as I understood it was how to get
rid of the annoying low ink level message. That
is what this is about, clearing the memory of the
ink cartridge (status) so you don't get the message.
And no, you can't print without a color cartridge
in place.

Ok, you don't understand. so here it is.

(1) Turn on the printer. open the cover and the
ink cartridges move to an accessible area.
Unlatch the color cartridge and remove it and put
the latch down. push the on/off button. The head
moves to the park position and goes off. (2)Wait
5-10 seconds and push off/on button. The head to
the far left, rollers turn, the head moves to the
far right, then moves to the far left and then it
moves to the "problem with color cartridge" stop.
Turn off the printer. The head moves to the
right and parks. (3) repeat step (2) two more
times. (4) put the old color cartridge back and
close the lid. Wait (might take several seconds
to start) and the head should do an alignment.
(if not, click print on the computer and go to
tools and do an alignment (click "Calibrate the
device").

Now you should not get the low ink message because
the printer thinks a new cartridge was installed.
When you do get another message just repeat the
above procedure).

I just ran the procedure on my 970 and it seems to
work fine.

 

[A. Jacobs]

Thank you very much George.
OK, we have many same type of HP970cxi in several floors of offices here.
I have a new color ink cartridge and many old empty color ink cartridges.
I would like to keep the empty color ink cartridges in the printers and
print in black only. Can I set up the printers? Thank you.

 

[George E. Cawthon]

Well, I'm confused. Sure you can set up the
printers (whatever that means). But if you have
several printers, just switch the empty
cartridges among the printers. Might want to keep
track of where the cartridges come from and go to
so that the next time you need to switch them they
don't go back to the printer they came from.
Remember all you have to do is put a new (to the
printer) cartridge in the printer. The printer
will assume that it is new full cartridge and
operate without any adverse message whether or not
the cartridge is full or empty.

Thank you very much George.
OK, we have many same type of HP970cxi in several floors of offices here.
I have a new color ink cartridge and many old empty color ink cartridges.
I would like to keep the empty color ink cartridges in the printers and
print in black only. Can I set up the printers? Thank you.

Well, I'm confused