Problem printing in color using El Capitan with HP 5740

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Level 1

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Problem printing in color using El Capitan with HP 5740

Our newly purchased HP Officejet 5740 printer will not print in color with El Capitan 10.11.3 and Safari 9.0.1 using a desktop Mac from 2011. Color copies are no problem, so the color cartridge appears to be working fine. HP Help for OS X suggests updating the Media and Quality Menu for the Print in Grayscale option. I don't seem to have the ability to make any updates to Media and Quality. Mysteriously, our old HP 6210 printer recently stopped printing in color, which we had attributed to a printer problem, but now I'm wondering if some change were made in El Capitan.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Safari 9.0.1

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 6:07 PM

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Answer 1

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Feb 18, 2016 6:35 AM in response to spottykitty

Did you try reinstalling the HP Drivers?

Unplug the printers

Go to ->System Preferences->Printers & Scanners.

Highlight and remove the printers [-]

Then plug in the printer and allow Apple to D/L the drivers (you may have to open ->App Store).

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Answer 2

spottykitty Author

Level 1

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Feb 18, 2016 10:07 PM in response to Tony T1

Thanks! Here's what happened. I deleted the driver for the newer printer (HP 5740) but not for the older printer (HP2610). When I went to the App Store I noticed that there was an El Capitan update available, which I downloaded. This was the key. The older printer, with its original driver, was now able to print in color. In fact, the Print menu had been updated to include a choice for "color." I subsequently got the newer printer also working correctly after I had reloaded the driver. What remains a mystery is why El Capitan stopped printing in color to begin with. It had worked fine since installation last fall, but stopped very recently. The latest release appears to have fixed this problem, however. This was a useful learning exercise, overall, and we now have a newer printer with additional features. Thanks again!

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