From: "Tony" lizandtony at orcon dot net dot nz

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:
On 10/15/2014 03:05 AM, Tony wrote:

My son bought a new, in the box HP Photosmart B209a for $10 at a garage
sale. The scanner works fine, the printer won't print using the black
546 cartridge unless the 3 color cartridges are installed. I have no
desire to buy color cartridges so I'm asking if there is a workaround.

HP obviously wants me to buy the ink. Even though I select Black Only
Greyscale in the HP Device Manager print settings, the documents just
sit in the queue. "Device busy"

If there is no workaround, then I have a very large, heavy scanner.

My understanding is that this printer uses a printhead with separate ink
cartridges.
The printer is therefore quite correctly designed to not operate if any
of
the
cartridges are empty or missng.
This is to protect the printhead which would otherwise permanently fail.
Printheads need lubrication and/or cooling; this comes from the ink.
No workaround is possible without in depth and serious electronic
skills.
There is no subterfuge in this approach by HP with whom I have no
affiliation.

Our OfficeJet 7135 has *separate* printheads for each color but
nevertheless will not print black if a whole set of working color
cartridges is not present -- and I haven't found any aftermarket
cartridges (#14) or anyone who will refill them.

Why would the color printheads need cooling if they are not activated
(as in printing only black)?

They don't. If each cartridge has a built in printhead then we are talking
about a very different matter and I cannot think of a technical reason why
printing would be suspended if colour cartridges are not present except
that
many ink printers enhance black prints with colour. Maybe the manufacturer
wants to keep the print quality "as designed". The response I made was
specifically for printers with separate ink tanks and printheads.

A distant relative by marriage who used to work for HP's printer
division said that they made a fortune out of the ink cartridges.

The business model followed by most, perhaps all, printer manufacturers
for the
entry level to mid range marketplace is to almost give the printer away
and
charge heavily for the ink or toner. This model was started I believe by
Gillette with their safety razors (cheap razor, expensive blades). HP are
not
alone in this by any means. Aftermarket ink cartridges are available for
many
printers (I'm not getting into the argument about relative quality here)
so the
consumer usually has a choice. Some manufacturers make their printers
detect
aftermarket cartridges and either refuse to work with them or make it a
pain to
do so. I believe this is illegal in Europe now but maybe not in the US???

[Snip}

Tony


I think the real problem with ink cart. sales is that the normal ink cart.
is only half filled.
They then charge a premium to buy a full ink cart.

Then there is the environmental impact. People will tend to buy the half
filled ink carts to save money. The consumer then ends up throwing away
twice as much packaging material.

--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp