Printer won't print B&W even though black cartridge is full but 2 colours are empty.

The printer requires both cartridges to have ink before the printer will initialize and operational. Even if you are only printing black and white both cartridge have to contain ink or the printer will error out. This is standard on all ink jet printers from every manufacturer. You will have to get ink before you can print.

Even though the interface says the cartridge is full, if the printer detects it being empty, odds are you will have to replace the color cartridge, even though you are only printing black.
You can try taking the cartridge out and cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser and reseat the color cartridge. If no change, replace the cartridge.

Try using the HP Print Diagnostic Utility in Windows - HP Customer Care (United States - English).

If you need more help come back.Post / thumbs / testimonial are welcome!

1) The Brother printer is structured in such a way that it will stop all the printing operations if any one of the ink cartridges are empty.

2) If the printer continues printing inspite of having anyone empty cartridge then the cleaning cycles would suck air from the empty cartridge.

3) This would damage the print head.
However, the black and white print mode can operate exceptionally well when the cartridges are empty.

There is an override sequence and it works well. Press the select button (checkmark) to indicate Main menu. Press right-arrow (RA) to select System Setup. Press Select , then RA to Print Quality, Hit select. RA to Replace supplies and hit Select. Now, RA to Override Out and Select. Confirm with Select again. Your 2600n will now run even with an empty toner cartridge.

Print heads may be clogged. Other carts may be empty, some printers will not print if any carts are empty.

Hi,
If you go to your printer properties, there should be a setting whereby you have to select the option to "PRINT USING BLACK CARTRIDGE ONLY". Make sure this option is selected, otherwise your printer will use ALL colors even if you only print black.
Let me know if you need any further assistance.
Best wishes,
Graemevm

Hi, this is not a solution because I don't think there is one apart from buying new inks. Epson and all other inkjet printers do this to prevent the coloured print head nozzles from getting blocked. If they are not used for a long time the ink dries up and blocks the nozzles. Epson recommends printing at least once a month with all colours to prevent this. Printing in black only option will only work if the colored inks are OK. Whenever the printer is turned on it performs a head clean, this is why the coloured inks get used over time even though they are not used for printing.

This printer does not let you print if even one of the cartidges is out of ink. I suggest you replace them and then in the printer properties change your settings to the way you want color to be spent.

Unfortunately, like most multi cartridge ink jet printers when one ink is empty the printer will cease printing regardless of whether you just want to print in black and white and you have plenty of black ink left. I have heard of people tricking the printer into believing the cartridge is full by placing coloured tape etc in front of the ink sensing device but I am not sure how the Brother senses the ink levels as i have some aftermarket ink cartridges for mine which seem to be completely non-opaque (unlike the originals). The need to have colour cartridges in even if you only ever print with black ink is good news for Brother as the MFC-210c uses a large amount of ink during it's routine cleaning cycles (that you cant stop) and will empty all 3 cartridges in under 6 months without ever printer a single drop of colour ink. Sorry about all the bad news, at least your not alone......