Color feature is turned off. Need to turn it back on.

Check printer properties. Right click on printer > Properties > Printing Preferences > Paper / Quality. Color. These are default menus, but may vary with printer driver.software.

Ink is a lubricant for the print heads. Some color ink is used even if you only print in black or vice-versa. If you printed with a color missing, you could destroy that print head from the friction of running without ink to lubricate it. That's why most printers won't allow you to print with a color missing even if you aren't using it.

If you allow a color to go empty, the residual ink in the head could clog and become permanently blocked. You would never be able to print that color again. So always replace ink cartridges as soon as they are empty.

Leaving your printer on takes very little power. Every so often the printer sends a signal to cycle the ink in the heads so it doesn't clog. If you turn your printer off, the next time you turn it on it will do a cleaning which wastes a lot of ink. The excess ink is soaked up by the waste pad beneath the printer. When the waste pad is full, the printer stops working. Unless you want to spend more than the cost of the printer or waste a lot of time on a messy cleanup you will end up throwing the printer out. So shutting it off actually shortens its life.

If you leave the printer off for extended periods of time, the ink in the heads will clog and you will have to throw the printer away. Someone I know with a Canon (though this can happen with any inkjet) had to have the heads replaced twice within the first few months before the Canon tech told her to stop turning it off. Since then it has worked perfectly for over a year.

How to clear blocked print heads:
-leave the printer on for a day
-run several head cleanings and print the nozzle check pattern
-if that doesn't fix it, remove the cartridge(s) from the blocked head and drop alcohol where the ink enters the printer.
-reinsert the cartridges
-run one head cleaning
-wait about an hour then run some head cleanings.
-dip the print heads in Isopropyl Alcohol overnight, which you can buy from chemist
-if that still doesn't work, your heads may be clogged to the point where they need repair or replacement, which will probably cost more than a new printer.

sounds like when your in the print page, go to layout to either print in black or in color. i'm sure you've done this already but thought i would mention
also try this, take out the color cartridge and put back in. turn off all systems and turn on again to see if it reconfigures.
lastly, HP has an awesome web site for trouble shooting, check this out.
hope this helps and good luck

select print black only from the print or page set-up.

It means that the printer has detected a problem with the color cartridge. If it holds multicolors one could be empty & the cartridge must be replaced in order for it to work. Best advice would be to try a new cartridge and see if the error message goes away. Hope this helps.

you cant print without color cartridge

hi!!!!
perform maintenance and
try to clean up nozzles may be the ink
clog

or removed the cartriged and clean with alcohol
use cotton buds then placed it back properly

well there is always a way to reset the ink reading from the printer software or drivers thats the first thing i can think about

but did you try to remove the color cartridge and put it back in after turning off and on the printer

i mean take off the cartridge and turn of the printer
turn it on and put the cartridge back

see if that is going to help

and as i said check the printer driver and right click on it go to properties and check the color management bar.

i hope that would be

take care

Yes, this printer has fixed printheads and must have ink in each color to prevent damage to the printheads. Even when printing black only each color is spit in the servicing area to keep the printhead unclogged.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, Microsoft MVP Printing/Imaging

I just got off the HP help line.  After changing my black ink cartridge a test page was printing each time I turned the machine on.  This is very costly, in both time and ink as the cartridges themselves for this machine hold very little ink.  I tried to learn from HP tech how to turn off the test-print while keeping my color cartridge empty.  It turns out that you cant do it.  HP requires you to keep buying and using cartridges whether you need them or not.If you buy the color ink it will use it up in its testings.  And if you dont buy the color cartridge it will use up your black ink by printing the test each time you turn on the printer.  The printer was inexpensive sure, but I'm paying for it in wasted ink.