My Pinnacle Pro 901 is set to print using black ink only but it keeps telling me I need to replace color cartridges and won't print.

Check this link out. Print using only the black ink cartridge when the Color cartridges have...

The printer would need all cartridges to have sufficient ink levels to continue printing - that's to prevent damaging the printhead. Every time a cartridge is replaced, all colors are primed simultaneously thus the need for all cartridges to have ink.


To save on your ink investment, try printing in draft mode and by making sure that your printing preferences is set to print using black ink only.

Check if your printer is up to date. Just go to http://bit.ly/ghfW8H to download the firmware update.

Also, make sure that you're using genuine Lexmark cartridges. If there's an error message on your screen that your black ink is low even if you replaced it, you won't be able to print or scan. It will send a busy signal or communication not available to your computer. If this is the case, replace the cartridge.

If it still doesn't work work, try to reinstall the software: http://bit.ly/d3ftso

Touch the Ink Levels on the touch panel of your printer, press on More Options > Replace Printhead > Open the cover > release the latch > Pull the printhead.

You can only use the black ink cartridge without the color ink. But no need to replace them in your printer.
When you print just choose black and white for the printed text must be black not colored. But if you still received such notification...just try to replace the color ink cartridge to continue printing
Note: As per my experience. printer with exclusive black ink alone will damage the printer easily due to unbalance printing of ink

remove the black ink unplug the unit then clean the contact in the black cartridge inside the printer carriage then replace the black ink again

You're just going to have to keep printing until you see which cartridge is getting dry. It'll be either the black one or the colour one. This way you won't buy the wrong cartridge. If you print black text and it starts to come out grey then it's the black cartridge that needs to be replaced. The same with colour, if the picture looks faded then you'll need a new colour cartridge.

Hello, try this: Start Menu, > Printers and Faxes> then right-click on your printer. Move the pointer down to 'Printing Preferences' and click the 'Advanced' tab. There you will (should!) see 'print in greyscale' . Select this then click 'Apply' then 'OK' at the bottom of the page.
Regards,
nicam49

your unused cartridges has been dried, so these should be replace with newer one.

i had the same problem with the hp 4580. i needed to replace the black ink which i did. then the error message appeared "incompatible print cartridge tri color"...chatted with hp customer support, wasted a hour. claimed its a hardware problem need to have it fixed. i asked would i be charge he said yes but the printer was under warranty. he asked other questions...bottom line i left the chat box....bought another hp 4580, used same cartridges, same message...THEN finally i replaced the color cartridge...and BAM! it worked on both printers. solution...replace the color cartridge...cons..if this happens again its a waste of money to keep buying the colored ink...