As the title says, the printer just refuses to print in color. I got it second hand and just got around to setting it up after having it in storage for a while, so I don't know if it was defective when the last owner had it (they said it was fine, but maybe they never printed in color) or if it's something that's happened since.
It detects the ink levels in software, but on the diagnostics page (and on a test color photo I printed) no color is ever printed, only black. It doesn't just print images as if they were grayscale, it seems to be trying to print in color but only the black ink is actually being used. It also claims that the print head alignment is failing any time I try to do that, probably because the alignment page has no color marks on it.
Things I have tried so far:
Reseat the ink cartridges (they are new and should be full)
Align print head (fails)
Manually clean print head according to HP instructions
I have no idea where to go from here. HP recommends buying a new print head. That seems to be about a $30 investment - is it likely to work? Is there a better solution to get this printer working again?
If there is there any more information that would be helpful in getting an answer?, please let me know and I'll add it in.
The ability to print in color is pretty important to me, so if I can't get this guy working I'll probably need to invest a few hundred in a new printer.