TR4520 won't print Black even though only the Color Cartridge Is Empty [

[ckm]

I've been printing from a long succession of black cartridges, while my color cartridge is empty, with no problems

Suddenly the printer won't print using the black cartridge. Instead, I get a popup saying "color cartridge is empty". What can cause this ? How can I make the black cartridge print ?

 

[stratman]

Welcome to the forum, ckm.

Was the color cartridge long ago marked as "Empty" or only recently before the message appeared?

The answer to both questions may be as simple as you need a color cartridge that hasn't been marked "Empty" yet.

 

[ckm]

The "empty color cartridge" came with the printer and was emptied over a year ago. I've only printed in black since then

Just today, on Canon Support, I found an on-line TR4520 printer manual (570 pages) I didn't know existed

It took a while, but I discovered a tip (in the manual) related to my problem that said a blinking red triangle on the printer front could be overridden by pressing the stop button for at least 5 seconds

By so doing I'm able to print black again, but with possible limitations I have yet to discover

Thanks for your rapid reply. If this doesn't work long term I'll report back on this forum

 

[stratman]

a blinking red triangle on the printer front could be overridden by pressing the stop button for at least 5 seconds

Which cartridge have you overridden - the Black or the Color cartridge?


Typically, a Canon cartridge marked by the printer as "Empty" either needs to replaced with a non-Empty marked cartridge OR Ink Level Monitoring overridden before the printer will work. Typically, when a cartridge is marked as "Empty" by the printer a pop up a window stating you to replace the cartridge or turn off ink level monitoring. Seems you found out how to override ink level monitoring. I believe the same functionality occurs with both Windows and Mac operating systems. I do not know about Linux-based OS.

If you disabled the Color cartridge then your printer may print black if there is a working Pigment Black cartridge, but anything with color in it will not print because you still have no ink in the color cartridge.

If you disabled the Pigment Black cartridge then soon you will use up all available drops of ink left over when a cartridge is marked as Empty. Eventually you will not even print Black.

FYI - Choosing Plain Paper setting will use the Pigment Black cartridge +/- Color (if color is supposed to be printed. Choosing any Photo Paper setting uses ONLY the color cartridge, even for black. The Pigment Black cartridge is not used.

It is inexplicable to me that printer continued to print with either of your cartridges marked as empty, let alone for a year. Either you are incorrect in your assessment, you have a printer that is able to continue to print in Pigment Black only, or somehow your printer malfunctioned for a year before the safeguard kicked in.

There is one other possibility is printing in Black only was set:

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART177375

I do not know this function or if it would explain your ability to print as described by you.

Consider yourself fortunate (for more than one reason).

 

[ckm]

I do believe I overrode the Ink Level Monitoring. I think such systems are seldom
reliable or needed anyway. But there's no doubt I have been printing black only
for over one year. I know I chose greyscale at some point

 

[stratman]

Congratulations on getting back to printing.

Ink Level Monitoring. I think such systems are seldom
reliable or needed anyway.

This touches on what I said in my last post -

Consider yourself fortunate (for more than one reason).

You were fortunate that by whatever happened that you were able to continue to print AND that you have a printer that uses inexpensive cartridges that have the print head built into the cartridge.

Ink level monitoring is not there just to let you know when to replace a cartridge. It is also used to prevent you from burning up nozzles irreparably if you run out of ink but keep printing anyways resulting in missing ink on the print permanently. Canon uses the ink to cool down the nozzles which heat up the ink before spitting it out on the paper. With printers that use separate ink cartridges for each color, there is a standalone separate print head that the cartridges are fit into. If you burn out the nozzles of this standalone print head then you need to buy a new print head (not a new cartridge like you) which can be expensive.

Additionally, turning off ink level monitoring may cause the printer to do more maintenance purging of ink. This adds time to your print session while the maintenance is done, adds more cost from increased waste ink, and fills up the waste ink pads faster necessitating in either buying a new printer or resetting the waste ink counter if you can (something that may or may not be able to do with your printer).

Ink level monitoring should return to function once you replace the empty cartridge.

I know I chose greyscale

Grayscale uses ALL the colors, not just Black, even on Plain Paper setting.

 

[ckm]

I replace my black cartridges at the first sight of pale lettering. And my printer shows no sign of diminished results.
In any case I appreciate your explanation of everything. Should I turn off the greyscale setting ?

 

[stratman]

Should I turn off the greyscale setting ?

Try it on and off. If one looks better than the other then use it.

As I wrote, if the nozzles on your tri-color cartridge are irreparably damaged then who cares. You use the inexpensive cartridges with the print head built into them. If you ever buy a new tri-color cartridge then you will have a new print head built into the tri-color cartridge. This is the singular advantage of these models, besides cost, over the more expensive printers with separate cartridges for each color.

I replace my black cartridges at the first sight of pale lettering.

I asked before and got no answer: Which cartridge did you turn off ink level monitoring? If it's the Pigment Black then why? You are still using that cartridge. Even though you don't care about nozzle burn out, at the very least, ink level monitoring warns you about getting a new cartridge ahead of "Empty" so you won't have to go to the store or wait onm a delivery to complete your printing.

 

[ckm]

I didn't choose a cartridge to turn off. I just used the tip I found to press the off button for over 5 seconds ---- which got the result I wanted. And I always keep a spare cartridge on hand