topic Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white in Desktop Inkjet Printers

out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

akqj9 — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 18:40:13 GMT

They want to force me to their site to buy an expensive color cartridge even though I never print other than black and white and my black ink cartridge is full. I HATE THIS PRINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is slow, noisy and annoying. NEVR AGAIN CANON!!!!!

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

shadowsports — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 19:43:19 GMT

You don't have to hate Canon. This clever little "undocumented" feature comes "factory" from ALL printer manufacturers. That little microchip on the cartridge... what do you think that's for? To make you buy more ink!

This is part of the game. Ink is a company's bread and butter. If you want black and white only, I'd invest in a good B&W only LaserJet.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

akqj9 — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 20:51:48 GMT

If they deliberately won't allow b/w printing when a color cartridge is out, they are lower than whale poop on the ocean floor. Canon sucks!

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

akqj9 — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:27:34 GMT

I called there support lie and they told me the secret. Hold down the red STOP button for 10 seconds. Why should we havbe to do that???? Because they don't want us to know we don't need to buy more expensive ink from them.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

TCampbell — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 01:32:24 GMT

As John points out... _every_ inkjet printer does this. It’s not a Canon thing.

Ounce for ounce... inkjet printer ink is more expensive than fine perfumes, single malt scotch whiskey, and beluga caviar.

Years ago I bought my mother a color inkjet (Lexmark) because she *really* wanted a color printer. But she’d use it (try to use it) only about once every three months. Of course the nozzles would be dried out and no amount of cleaning would fix it... and there goes $75 on a new set of inks. I’d buy and install a new set of ink cartridges, she’d print ONE piece of paper (usually a photo of one of the grandkids) and be happy with it... then ignore the printer for the next 3 months. I told her it was costing me $75 per photo/page because of the clogging problem.

I took the color inkjet away (it was not a great printer anyway) — and replaced it with a black & white laser printer. Laser toner is basically finely ground up plastic ... since it’s already a “dry” substance, there’s no drying out problems. A single toner cartridge (usually around $75) is good for about 5000 average pages ... and some higher capacity cartridges do 10,000 or more. The “per page” cost is VASTLY cheaper than inkjet (and it doesn’t have the drying/clogging problems).

If you’re just printing B+W... consider switching to a laser. For the odd occasion when you want to print a photo, you can either walk into a store or use an online service to have it lab printed and mailed to you.

I now use color inkjet ... but I use it enough to be worthwhile.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

akqj9 — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 02:24:34 GMT

Great advice. Next time laser b&w.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

Tiggerrr2018 — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 12:07:46 GMT

Its not just Canon... I purchased Epsons for years and switched to Canon to give it a try... I like both but found Canon easier to use. With Epson I had to keep swapping out black inks when I changed paper from glossy to matte... sigh. Both companies are good but all have their issues.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

Tiggerrr2018 — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 13:31:57 GMT

I purchase all my inks now from (Removed link as per forum guidelines). I purchase their Mustache brand and never had any issues with their inks and they are way cheaper to buy. I also buy their toners for my laser printers... and the service and shipping (free btw in Canada) is excellent and fast.

I learned in the past with the use of Epson or Canon printers that they require more than just the black ink to print in B&W. Other colours are actally used to give a full, beautiful black.

Hope this helps.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

Tiggerrr2018 — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 12:16:55 GMT

Great advice... have you tried printing quality B&W photos on different kinds of photo paper on a laser printer? I am just wondering about the longevity of the ink? It would be nice to switch to a laser for B&W as its so much cheaper. 😉

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

AllPrintersBlow — Tue, 24 May 2022 18:32:08 GMT

This didn't work for my MF 644 CDW (where the MF could stand for something else) but pressing the stop button did eventually (I don't know how) to force it to print. Maybe this isn't a "greedy corp" tactic but just lazy and/or incompetent programmers. Anyway, I hate printing in general and rarely do it because it's such a headache and look forward to the day where this dying industry finally breathes its last breath.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

Tintype_18 — Thu, 26 May 2022 15:14:29 GMT

I have had three brands of copier/fax machines. They all require all ink cartridges to be full or present to even print black. Tech at a local box store said combining inks makes black or only specifying the black cartridge.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

artfesst — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 00:51:18 GMT

Wish this had actually worked. I tried - no luck. Either it shut the printing process down altogether, or it still printed in color.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

zegend — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 07:39:09 GMT

Solution: When you get the error, either press the 'Stop / Reset' Button on the printer for 10 seconds or press the Resume button for 10 seconds (Depending on the model of the printer). The printer will prompt you that it will only print in grayscale and allow you to continue. The fix lasts until the cartridge for blank runs out.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

mackpeyton20 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 04:55:45 GMT

Wow out here saving lives four years later

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

mackpeyton20 — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 04:56:42 GMT

The other guy who suggested this saved my life four years later

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

CannonDimples — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:18:36 GMT

1. To PRINT or COPY

If you intend to PRINT or COPY, you should take one of the following steps:

(a) For each ink cartridge identified by the printer as being empty, disable the function that detects the level of ink remaining by pressing the Stop button on the printer for at least five (5) seconds and then releasing it. If, due to individual usage factors, there is some residual amount of ink in the cartridge(s), you will be able to PRINT or COPY until the remaining ink is depleted. Please note that image quality may be diminished if you PRINT or COPY when there is little ink remaining in the cartridge(s).

Meaning you are able to print with only the black ink. Just keep the empty color cartridge inside the printer and hit the stop button on your printer for 5 minutes & you should be able to print with the remaining ink.

Re: out of color ink, but won't let me print black and white

CannonDimples — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:21:36 GMT

I meant for 5 seconds not 5 minutes lol… I’m sure you probably bought another printer by now. I wish I would have seen your comment sooner. But yes if you search the manual online it will tell you how to print with only black.