HP690C only prints in B&W

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nigel Mason
  • Start date Start date
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Nigel Mason

My Trusty old HP690C has just decided to print everything in
B&W...no colour at all.
I have checked ink cartridges, de-installed and re-installed the
printer drivers, and still no colour.

My PC is running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2...
any ideas how to fix the printer to get colour back ?

All help welcome !
 
Nigel Mason said:
My Trusty old HP690C has just decided to print everything in
B&W...no colour at all.
I have checked ink cartridges, de-installed and re-installed the
printer drivers, and still no colour.
Click to expand...

First try printing a diagnostic as shown at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd07098&dlc=en&lang=en#N100F2.
If this prints in color then the problem is probably in the driver. Check to
make sure the driver does not have the "print in grayscale" checkbox selected;
this might stick even if the driver had been reinstalled.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
I am not sure I can help and I am not familiar with your model.
However, I am using W2K +SP2 and did have a problem on my HP990 when I
upgraded the driver. Certain features were not behaving properly. I
solved it by:

1. Uninstalling the Driver
2. Reboot
3. Installed the original driver that came with the machine - If that
does not work than use the one in Windows
4. Reboot

The problem went away.
 
Thanks for the 2 suggestions. I have tried both - but no improvement
I'm afraid.
The HP diagnostics ran and all passed OK ... no error messages but the
pages were in b&w.

I then de-installed the driver, rebooted the PC, then re-installed a
new driver....

and it still only prints in b&w !....
seems a pity to scrap it though ....any more ideas ?
thanks all.
 
Nigel Mason said:
Thanks for the 2 suggestions. I have tried both - but no improvement
I'm afraid.
The HP diagnostics ran and all passed OK ... no error messages but the
pages were in b&w.

I then de-installed the driver, rebooted the PC, then re-installed a
new driver....
Click to expand...

If the diagnostics print in only B&W then the driver and/or communication with
the printer are not an issue as the diagnostic is printed entirely by the
printer. It is possible that you have a clogged or defective color cartridge.
I would start by removing the color cartridge and carefully cleaning the
cartridge contacts. If that does not help try blotting the cartridge on a damp
tissue. If you do not get a blot of color on the tissue you probably need a
new color cartridge.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
Another possibility. The ribbon cable leading to the printhead in a 690
series printer is prone to corrosion and failure. You might look at it and
see if any of the leads are "open."

Terry Quinn
 
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