How do I get PIXMA MX490 to use only black ink cartridge when color cartridge runs out?

[PVE]

I have a Canon Pixma MX490 printer. I never use the color cartridge, and it has now gone dry. The machine suddenly won't print at all, giving me the message that I must replace the color cartridge. I have changed the printing preferences to “Greyscale”, but it still won’t print. The little orange light on the printer is on permanently. How do I get the machine to accept the “Greyscale” instruction, and only print with the black cartridge?

[Patrick]

Hi PVE,

The PIXMA MX490 must have both ink cartridges installed and contain ink in order to use the printer.

To clear the error, please insert a new color ink cartridge into your PIXMA MX490.

Once inserted, you can the PIXMA MX490 to only print from the black ink cartridge.  To do this, please follow these steps:

 1.  Open Control Panel.

 2.  Click on Devices and Printers.

 3.  Right click the PIXMA MX490 series Printer and left click on Printing Preferences.

 4.  Click on the Maintenance tab.

 5.  Click on the Ink Cartridge Settings button.

 6.  Select Black Only from the drop down box and click OK.

Your PIXMA MX490 will now be set to only print from the black ink cartridge.

[Chris_]

Hi, I have recently changed the printer settings to print only from the black cartridge but I now get a warning every time I print that the quality may be affected because of this.  I have tried to turn off printer notifications but it hasn't helped.  I do a lot of printing and this pop up is driving me insane!  I am on Windows 10 and the printer is a Pixma MX376.  Any advice as to how to stop this notification whilst still being able to print only from black would be greatly appreciated!

TIA.

[Michael]

Hello.

When either the Black only or Color only modes are used, the warning that appears before printing cannot be removed or disabled.

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[PVE]

Many thanks for all the advice. It worked perfectly when I held down the red "button" on the printer (above the orange flashing light showing that the ink cartridge was dry) and I held it down for quite a long time (it seemed longer than 10 seconds – perhaps 15 or longer). My printer is now working perfectly, printing with only the black cartridge, and I am very happy with the result.

[pyaffie]

I used the suggestions here and was able to find my way to a resolution even though my printer is a 472 and is configured a little differently.  Thanks for the ideas.

[duchessnla]

that's just greedy to require that and then make your ink cartridges so expensive. I'm trying to get a job and print resumes and i can't pay the price of a color ink cartridge. I've returned all the old ones i have and now this printer is useless to me.

[Percy]

I had same problem, the printer gave instruction touch the button to the right of the screen of your printer (it looks a bit like a kite shape) for 5 seconds this overrides the printer knowing there are empty cartridges. I did this it worked

[llaventhal]

I found this on your site and modified it a bit because of where my red button was located...BUT IT WORKED!!! It worked perfectly when I held down the red "button" on the printer (above the orange flashing light [in my case, below] showing that the ink cartridge was dry) and I held it down for quite a long time (it seemed longer than 10 seconds – perhaps 15 or longer). My printer is now working perfectly, printing with only the black cartridge, and I am very happy with the result. [SAME HERE!]