Black & White printing How can I force the printer to use the cli-8 black cartridge. I have now gone through my first -5 black cartridge, but the little guy, the -8 is still full. Seems like a waste if I can't do something to start using that one. I don't mind printing in B&W to get the job done. Any suggestions?Thanks. Black & White printing How can I force the printer to use the cli-8 black cartridge. I have now gone through my first -5 black cartridge, but the little guy, the -8 is still full. Seems like... » Read More Black & White printing How can I force the printer to use the cli-8 black cartridge. I have now gone through my first -5 black cartridge, but the little guy, the -8 is still full. Seems like a waste if I can't do something to start using that one. I don't mind printing in B&W to get the job done. Any suggestions?Thanks. « Show Less
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The small black cartridge is dye based--for photos. The large black cartridge is pigment based---for documents. As long as you are just printing photos, only the cli-5 will be used.
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The default settings are the ones used to print immediately after initial printer set-up (which is automatically set to use color inks). To use the black PGI-5BK cartridge for documents you need to re-set the default settings to grayscale. Under Win XP go to the control panel/Category View/Printers and Settings/and under printing preferences you would change the setting to grayscale printing. The print quality is set to "fast" for everyday, common printing, but should I need better quality (for example to print a job resume'), I will manually choose "standard" or "high" quality. Make certain you change the settings through the "control panel" versus "properties" to ensure the changes remain permanent. The default settings are the ones used to print immediately after initial printer set-up (which is automatically set to use color inks). To use the black PGI-5BK cartridge for documents you need to re-set the default settings to grayscale. Under Win XP go to the control panel/Category View/Printers and Settings/and under printing preferences you would change the setting to grayscale printing. The print quality is set to "fast" for everyday, common printing, but should I need better quality (for example to print a job resume'), I will manually choose "standard" or... » Read More The default settings are the ones used to print immediately after initial printer set-up (which is automatically set to use color inks). To use the black PGI-5BK cartridge for documents you need to re-set the default settings to grayscale. Under Win XP go to the control panel/Category View/Printers and Settings/and under printing preferences you would change the setting to grayscale printing. The print quality is set to "fast" for everyday, common printing, but should I need better quality (for example to print a job resume'), I will manually choose "standard" or "high" quality. Make certain you change the settings through the "control panel" versus "properties" to ensure the changes remain permanent. « Show Less
1739409
Thanks for getting back to me. My problem is that the small one is the one that is getting empty, and the big one is still as full as when I first bought the printer. I print mostly documents, but don't know how to force the printer to use the big black cartridge. I am thinking of trying selecting "grayscale" more often, to see if that starts drawing down on the big cartridge. I have previously just selected color printing, even if doing only black and white documents.Again, thanks for answering my cry in the wilderness.Cheers!
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The Lexmark software has an option to use Black ink only. If you don't select this, even when you print an all-black document the printer uses a little bit of the color ink (as I understand it). So when I am printing a b&w; document I make sure I select "Use Black ink only" and it seems to stretch out the life of my color cartridges...IMHO
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The black and color are separate cartridges so if the color goes empty, you can still print in black, one of the options in the print menu is to print in grayscale if no color ink or if you just want to conserve the color ink.
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No and Yes. NO YOU CANNOT print if it is the Black cartridge. The printer prevents all printing if the Black cartridge signals empty. In truth, there is plenty of ink left to use. It's a serious problem and was the subject of a lawsuit which Epson settled in the USA. The PRINTER WILL ALLOW you to continue if one of the COLOR cartridges is out.
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There are four ink cartridges and the printer will not run if one color is empty. However, when the black runs low, it will ask if you want to use a combination of the other colors. It then runs a little longer. But, once the black is out, even that option will not work.
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You will probably have to buy a new printhead. The company misleads customers by advertising that "you can save on printing and ink. They don't tell us that it uses both cartridges to print in color and in black only too. If you don't use it frequently it will start to malfunction. I put a brand new black cartridge in and I barely used it when it malfunctioned because I didn't have a color cartridge. Not pleased with this product!
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http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/BSC/public/us/us/en/faq/faq/000000/002400/000061/faq002461_005.html?reg=us&c;=us〈=en∏=mfcj870dw_us_eu_as&Cat;=103It looks like the printer will print in black and white if the printer is set to print in grayscale or black and white only mode. Otherwise it will try to mix the colors to produce black. I am not sure how long it will allow this before requiring you to replace the color cartridges though, because it still requires enough color ink to perform the print head cleaning operations.
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Rob, the printer won't work without the grey cartridge. I tried to put a black one and it's too smart. :-) Hope that helps. I just got a good deal on grey cartridges three for $10 plus on Amazon. From Sherman Inks and toners. Great buy.
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My cartridges have not run out yet, but I'd bet that if you specify Auto/Color, then it would not work because there is no color available. If you specify (from whatever machine you're printing from) that you want Black, then it should work fine. That's how other printers have worked for me.
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You cannot print further. I've tried to print just black but the printer will not allow the setup just black and white. Beware of using aftermarket ink cartridge as the printer is picky. If you must use aftermarket brand to save money, use LD brand ( ldproducts (dot) com).
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Howdy doody! Yes you can print only in black ink if you wish. You have the option to switch. Hope this helps!!!
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You can set to print black and white only and it does only use black and white toner, but you have to have color cartridges in the machine for it to work. I don't know if it will keep printing black if out of color toner--I seem to remember that most HP don't allow this. Most laser printers when they do cleaning cycles will use up a bit of color ink no matter what. It's not terribly much, but it can eat away at cartridges over time. They do cleaning cycles when turned on and when waking up. The black toner is also more spendy compared to a black and white only only. We have this for color stuff and a HP N521DN which we use for black and white. The black and white only is twice as fast and the black ink is about 1/3 more economical.
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I am not able to print in B&W; if any of the colors are out, it is probably the most frustrating aspect of this printer. I've tried specifying black and white, I've tried removing the empty color cartridge, etc. it refuses to print and just shows an error that the cyan (or whatever color it may be) is out of ink.
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I'm not sure what you mean. If you want to use just black you need to go into properties or settings on our printer and (or computer at print) and click on black only.
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Actually, if you don't tell your printer to print in black only (for printing black), it will use a combination of color ink to make the black. There should be a setting in your printers preferences wherein you can tell it to print in black only when you want to truly print in black.
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I have not had any need to print doublesided documents, but I will try to check it out tomorrow and let you know. I do have a Mac, so my printer menus are considerably different than the ones that pop up on a PC. I have never even seen a "black ink only" option, despite searching. I will try to find it.Thanks for a well thought out and relevant response.
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Yes, just select black & white when the print selection pops up. Always buy the XXL Ink in B&W; and the color pack. Much cheaper and prints a lot more pages. If U need more on the ink just ask another ?Merry Christmas!Rich