Printer has ink but wont print in color test page wont print in color, also aligned printer and it worked in color. cleaned printer head as well which printed all the colors. what else can i do? It seems to me that there is a problem between my computer and printer.

Have you tried setting the color to black cartridge only. You may be printing the black with a combination of colored inks. I occasionally have a similar problem. Sometimes I can get the black to work by taking a paper towel dampened with distilled water and holding it against the cartridge print head until I see black ink coming out. Replace the cartridge and try printing again. If this doesn't work try a new cartridge and run through your Printer Settings, making sure they are all set properly.

Important thing: HP inkjet printers having self align technology & its aligns automatically after replacing the ink cartridge/s.In the process of align it will prints align page &it will read it on the model.
Suppose if you replaced yellow cartridge, as usually it will print align page, but if one or more cartridges not printing properly align will not completes. Results every time it will prints the align page when its switching on. Align will completes only when all cartridges/print heads are in healthy condition.. Check the alignpage find out which colors are not printing properly, replace it to over come from this issue. Now you decide what to do?..

If Printer heads health condition is not good, alignment wont completes..
Four individual cartridges & Two print heads, each print head prints two colors.. Black& Yellow, Cyan & Magenta.. Verify which color is not printing properly(Color missing Or white bands)..
Perform 2 or 3 times print head cleaning through printer menu..Try for alignment.. If success end.. if no, replace the print head which is not printing properly.. Before replacing the printer head ensure that cartridge ink should be above 30%...

Hi is this a new printer? If you've just installed a new color ink, it would prompt you to align the cartridge or print some test page.. If the RED doesnt show on the test page, then try to perform maintenance on it.. Like Clean cartridge or clean print head.. it may be clogged.. if it still does this, try changing the color ink.. If you color ink is from a stock, it may have dried up.. if you bought it just days ago, ask for a replacement.. If all has been done, it maybe the printer itself..

Hope this helps.. :D

Check the alignment. Press the key for Ink or Ink Management on the Control Panel. Select Test Print (the up/down arrows) and hit Menu/Set or Set. Select Alignment and press Menu/Set or Set. Next hit Mono (Black) Start. Look at the Alignment Sheet that prints out. Press 1 if the number 5 sample matches line 0 for both 600 and 1200 DPI samples. Press 2 and then the number for the line that matches that matches the 0 sample.
Then press Stop/Exit. Repeat this for color printing by using the Color button.

You should also check the Print Quality. (Very similar menu choices - just choose Print Quality after choosing Test Print but you only need to hit the Color button to print the test sheet.) This will initiate a cleaning cycle for any poor quality ink test pattern. You will need to respond Yes or No for the print quality and each ink (if you answered No). If you do the cleaning 5 times with problems, replace the cartridges in question.

Finally try cleaning the printhead (Press Ink or Ink Management and then 1 for cleaning) If 5 repeats do not help, contact Brother support, the print head may need to be replaced. (Unfortunately, this isn't the only reason for the problem. Once you put in a print head, it isn't returnable. It could be that the entire printer is ready for recycling.)

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

o.k. I can give you a few tips that may be of assistance.

you need to run a printer alignment page like you do when you put in new cartridges.

unplug your printer plug it back in.
open door and take out print ink cartridges.
put them back in and then close the door.

It should now prompt you to do a test alignment page.

Also, Another thing to try is to hit file, top left of page, hit print, click properties. color tab.

make sure you are printing high quality on chose different color management options.

FINALLY TRY THIS:

When Printing Becomes Faint or Colors are Incorrect
When printing becomes faint or colors are incorrect, even if ink remains in
the ink tanks, the print head nozzles are probably clogged. Follow the
procedures below to maintain the print head.
Important Before maintaining the print head, check the following;
􀁺 Open the front cover and make sure that the ink tank
contains ink. If it is out of ink, replace it.
􀁺 Ensure that all the orange tape of the ink tank has been
peeled off.
􀁺 Press "PUSH" on the ink tank and ensure that the ink tank
is installed securely.
􀁺 Increase the Print Quality setting in the printer driver
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Printing the Nozzle Check Pattern
Print the nozzle check pattern to determine whether the ink ejects properly from the print
head nozzles, and to verify print head alignment. Use this function when printed results are
blurred or the color is incorrect.
1 With the printer on, load a sheet of Letter-sized paper in the printer.
2 Open the Printer Properties dialog box.
See "Opening the Printer Properties Dialog Box Directly from the Start Menu" on
page 25.
3 Print the Nozzle Check Pattern.
(3) When the confirmation message is displayed, click OK.
When the confirmation message is displayed after the nozzle check pattern has
been printed, click OK.
See "Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern" on page 52.
Note Nozzle check pattern printing can be executed also from the printer
itself. With the printer on, load a sheet of Letter-sized paper in the
printer. Hold the RESUME/CANCEL button until the POWER lamp flashes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Print Head Cleaning
Clean the print head if you suspect that the nozzles might be clogged. Cleaning the print
head consumes ink, so perform print head cleaning only when necessary.
The print head can be cleaned also from the printer itself. With the printer on, load a sheet
of Letter-sized paper in the printer. Hold the RESUME/CANCEL button until the POWER lamp
flashes once.
1 Ensure that the printer is on.
2 Open the Printer Properties dialog box.
See "Opening the Printer Properties Dialog Box Directly from the Start Menu" on
page 25.
3 Start Print Head Cleaning.
(1) Click the Maintenance tab.
(2) Click Cleaning.
(3) Select the print head to be
cleaned.
(4) Click Execute.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Print Head Deep Cleaning
If print quality does not improve by standard print head cleaning, try performing print head
deep cleaning, which is a more powerful process. Print head deep cleaning consumes ink,
so perform this procedure only when necessary.
1 Ensure that the printer is on.
2 Open the Printer Properties dialog box.
See "Opening the Printer Properties Dialog Box Directly from the Start Menu" on
page 25.
3 Start Print Head Deep Cleaning.
(1) Click the Maintenance tab.
(2) Click Deep Cleaning.
(3) Select the print head to be
deeply cleaned.
(4) Click Execute
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligning the Print Head
This operation must be carried out when using the printer for the first time. Aligning the
print head positions allows you to print without shifts in the color registration.
Print head alignment is performed either automatically or manually. This section deals with
automatic print head alignment only.
1 With the printer on, load a sheet of Letter-sized paper in the printer.
2 Open the Printer Properties dialog box.
See "Opening the Printer Properties Dialog Box Directly from the Start Menu" on
page 25.
3 Print the pattern.
(1) Click the Maintenance tab.
(2) Click Print Head Alignment.
(3) Check that paper is loaded in the
printer and click OK. If a message
warning you not to perform other
operations appears, click OK.
It takes about one minute to start
___________________________________________________

this covers everything you should solve the problem with my advice.

please give me a good rating for my time and effort! Thank You

All colors need to be present to pass alignment. Usually what I see is the yellow is empty. You can blot the print cartridge on a damp paper towel to verify the inks are working and this also cleans the head.

I was working on the Pixma mx850 for 3 weeks now. I have found that you need to reset the using back to factory default. On the display look for the "printer head" cleaning and alignment. Go through the steps that it gives you for printer head cleaning. Print a test page. have you tried to copy in "black/whte" and not color? that will use the large black and not the small black cartrdge. Try a couple of black circles in "paint" if your running windows XP. make a test page of your own and print it.

Perhaps the CMY color heads need alignment. If you have not already done so, run a head alignment from the driver maintenance section. It will print out a page containing several lines and text, and request you select the closest-aligned images. After this is done, do another image print to check for improvements.
Normally, the printer uses the black cartridge for text and the CMY inks for images (even for black on photo and specialty paper). So when you are printing normal text pages on plain paper, only the black ink is used. A good check for this would be to print a normal text page, but select photo paper in the driver to trick the printer into using the CMY inks to make a substitute black text page. If this looks ok, then you are having issues other than cartridge alignment.