Canon MP780 is using color ink and I only print in black and white

I never print in color. The machine has to have color cartridges even
when I am printing in black and white. I replaced the original empty
color cartridges with Staple's brand.

After about 3 months I started getting a message that one color was
getting empty. The other two colors were still showing full. After
about month one of the other colors is showing almost empty.

I took the cartridges out and looked at them. Yellow still has a
noticeable amount of color left but the other two do look empty.

I printed a maintenance page and it prints fine, although the color
looks light. Staple's said the problem might be that the cartridges
had dried up.

I should not have to be replacing color cartridges when I only print
in black and white.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

"Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net> wrote in message
news:1191967559.027047.317770@50g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com...
>I never print in color. The machine has to have color cartridges even
> when I am printing in black and white. I replaced the original empty
> color cartridges with Staple's brand.
>
> After about 3 months I started getting a message that one color was
> getting empty. The other two colors were still showing full. After
> about month one of the other colors is showing almost empty.
>
> I took the cartridges out and looked at them. Yellow still has a
> noticeable amount of color left but the other two do look empty.
>
> I printed a maintenance page and it prints fine, although the color
> looks light. Staple's said the problem might be that the cartridges
> had dried up.
>
> I should not have to be replacing color cartridges when I only print
> in black and white.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks
>
All printers run cleaning cycles periodically, depending on how frequently
and how many pages you print. A cleaning cycle uses a small vacuum pump to
pull ink through all the nozzles to keep them from becoming clogged with ink
drying in them. Remember that the ink is formulated to dry on the paper
quickly, and it can also dry in the printhead. No matter what colors you
print with, the cleaning cycle works on all color nozzles to keep them
clear. In addition, when the ink monitor shows that a cartridge is empty,
it means that the reservoir area is empty and your have printed a few pages
from ink in the sponge area. If you keep printing at this point you will
damage the printhead nozzles from which the ink has run dry. The light
printing is a sign that you have gone past the point where it is safe to
print.

You will save more money by ordering aftermarket prefilled carts on line.
Neil Slade, a good source for information, recommends G&G cartridges from
Inkgrabber. I've never used them, but he reports that the color is very
close to Canon OEM (not your concern if you only print black) and that the
ink and carts work fine. Some aftermarket BCI-3ebk carts (the large black
one) are filled with dye based ink instead of pigment based inks. I don't
know about the G&G carts from Inkgrabber. You could call and ask.

"Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net> wrote in message
news:1191967559.027047.317770@50g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com...
> I never print in color. The machine has to have color cartridges even
> when I am printing in black and white. I replaced the original empty
> color cartridges with Staple's brand.
>
> After about 3 months I started getting a message that one color was
> getting empty. The other two colors were still showing full. After
> about month one of the other colors is showing almost empty.
[snip]
> Any suggestions?

If you *never* print color then a low end laser printer would probably be a
much better fit for your application. If you almost never print color but
need it on occasion then an HP DeskJet printer that uses the #96 black
cartridge would be a good choice. Recent HP DeskJet Printers with
integrated printheads do not require ink in the color cartridge, or even a
color cartridge to be installed. They also have relatively small overhead
in cleaning compared to printers with separate ink and printheads.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging