Hi all,

I have developed a printing problem that maybe someone can shed some light
on.

I have an HP DeskJet 722c which has worked well for years. It runs under
WinXP Pro. This is a printer that has two ink cartridges - one is black only
(HP45) and the other is a tri-color cartridge (HP23). A few days ago, I
started to get faulty colors so I bought and installed a new color
cartridge. The new cartridge will NOT print yellow, and therefore will not
print colors that depend on a yellow component. If I print a test page, I
get a total blank area wherever the yellow should be, and as a result some
other colors are not right either.

I would suspect a faulty cartridge, except for the fact that another
phenomenon is happening at the same time. I can't get BLACK only text
printouts unless I go into "normal" (not draft) print mode. If I print a
text document in draft mode (my usual), the color is purple, not black. If I
switch to "normal" mode, the print color is black. So I know that the black
cartridge is not dry since it CAN print black, it just refuses to do so in
draft mode, no matter what I do. Since I print a lot in draft mode, I don't
want to use the extra black ink in normal mode, but then again I don't want
to deplete the color cartridge prematurely either (since I assume that is
the only place the purple print can be coming from?)

Here's what I have tried so far:

* Uninstall and re-install the printer several times (no avail)
* Search for an updated driver (there is none)
* Clean the contacts on both cartridges (no avail)
* Clean the printer's internal contacts (no avail)

At this moment, it strikes me odd that two (seemingly independent?) "color"
problems would beset me coincidentally at the same time. Could this be
something gone awry in the printer's internal electronics? Is there
something else, short of buying a new printer, that I can try?

Kind thanks in advance,

Michael

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