problems configuring HP printer

[Dotan Cohen]

On 04/07/06, Felipe Figueiredo <philsf at ufrj.br> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am having some serious problem in configuring my HP OfficeJet 4225 printer
> in linux, the problem being it doesn't use black ink when printing.
>
> My (3-)color ink has almost died on testings, and I just got a brand new
> (original hp) black cartrigde, but it onlye prints in faint (almost
> vanishing) yellow.
>
> This same thing happened to me previously to installing kubuntu, both with
> Debian Sarge, and Etch (both up to date). I still have an (up to date) Etch,
> and a Windows XP for testings on a separate PC. Printing is fine on windows,
> which probably excludes hardware problems.
>
> Facts: in this kubuntu I firstly tried the traditional way of configuring the
> printer with the main tool (which I supose to be a front-end to kprint), with
> HPLIP from kubuntu dapper. The PC correctly finds the USB printer, and
> creates the hp:// CUPS backend. HPs tool programs seems to work just fine,
> showing ink levels and managing queues and jobs. It's just the black ink that
> don't come out... I then tried purging all hplip packages, and compiling the
> last version (1.6.6), following step by step the instructions. Same result.
>
> On linuxprinting.org, this model (actually 4200) reports as working "mostly",
> but it should mean IMHO that it could print with basic color cartridge. I
> don't need photo quality. On that site there is a report that it worked out
> of the box on a Mandriva linux, so it should work somehow. I just can't find
> out how.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> regards
> FF
>

I've got an HP 4255, and it prints fine. Are you sure that your black
cartridge is good? Is it an HP branded cartridge? On a different
(non-HP) printer I have had bad experiences with remanufactured
cartridges. However, refilling the original myself was not a problem
(but potentially messy).

Note that I'm using Kprint, as I've installed the KDE desktop. I think
that you can install Kprint and use it under Gnome. Might be worth a
shot.

Dotan Cohen
http://gmail-com.com