Thanks, Zep. Well, I figured that it wasn't trouble with a particular cartridge, or else black and white documents would not be printing all right in black and white. But in the end, I put in new color cartridges, having put in a new black one a couple of weeks ago. The colors were being reported as low, but apparently still containing ink. As soon as I put in the new cartridges, I was able to print a black and white picture in black and white again, with no red! This is a great puzzle to me. Obviously, the fact that the cartridges were low in ink must have had something to do with the problem. Yet, if a color is low, then why does the printer start using ONLY that color for printing that should be using the black, of which there was plenty? Is this some ploy of HP to force people to buy more ink even when there is still enough left in the old cartridges?

I looked on the HP tech help site and it listed about 6 reasons why the resume light would be on. I tried the one that said it might need new ink cartridges and low and behold! I replaced the cartridges and it worked. Unfortunately, I have the Linux OS and it doesn't tell me when I'm getting low on ink which is why I didn't know it. The printing wasn't faint so I had no idea.

When a printer powers off, it looks to a computer like the printer was disconnected. Turn the printer back on, and the computer should see a printer. Your printer (as I understand it) is normally connected via an Ethernet wire to the router. So that printer is accessed by all computers. That connection was lost. A printer can also connect via a USB. Connected that way is a temporary solution. Now let's actually solve the problem rather then use the temporary workaround. Everything has been 'try this' or 'maybe it was that'. Actions based in speculation. Do that enough times and something will eventually work maybe weeks later. Disconnect the printer's USB connection. Connect the printer via its Ethernet wire. When the printer is connected and powered, a light on the router will illuminate. When the printer is powered off, that router light goes off. If a powered on printer is disconnected, that light goes off. The light is a powerful tool reporting that the printer's computer is talking to a computer inside the router. This I an example of breaking a problem down into parts. Then step by step confirming each part (to avoid confusion). If computers are talking, then move on to the next step. Good diagnostic procedure is about establishing what is and is not working in a systematic way. Because your printer is from a better company, then that company provides diagnostics to see what is and is not working. Go to the HP web site. Download a program called HP Printer Diagnostic Utility or HPPDU.EXE. That program was written so that you can solve problems without speculation and confusion. It will report what HP printers are connected where. Other information that, if you do not understand it, is probably reporting what is most important. So post those facts here. Then others who better know this stuff can finally contribute. So that you have immediate and useful assistance. Also find another HP diagnostic called HP Home Network Diagnostic Utility or HPHNDU.EXE. This tool may identify this or other problems unknown and maybe related to your HP printer problems. But more important, those with better knowledge can finally help you. Hard facts from the lights and from diagnostics mean a problem that took over a week to only bypass, instead, can be identified and solved in less than an hour. Future problems that have not yet cropped up might also be identified and solved.

Last August I moved from Ohio to Massachusetts. Jan & I planned on taking about 3 weeks for the trip so we could get in some sightseeing photo time on the way. For the trip I packed my computer tower, 3 DSLR's and about 8 lenses plus an assortment of other odds & end. The remainder of my equipment was packed and shipped with an anticipated delivery date of 4 to 6 week. For my photo business I usually deliver the end item in digital format on a memory card or I have prints made through Adorama but I did need a new monitor for my computer so about a day after arriving in Massachusetts Jan and I went to Staples and got a nice flat screen(I had been using one of the old desktop boat anchors..LOL). Jan is just a beginner at photography and she said she wanter to get a photo printer for her computer, so we looked around to see what our options were. One a display in the isle they had the Kodak ESP 7250 All-in-one on sale. Normal list for the wireless model $129 and the hard wire model $99 less 25% for the next 2 days. I didn't know a thing about Kodak printers but in my mind it had three things going for it. 1.It was the cheapest printer in the store, 2. It is advertised at using the cheapest ink, 3. Would Kodak put their name on a photo printer that doesn't do a descent job of printing photos? When I got it home rather than mess with a detailed Wifi setup I just plugged in a USB cable from the printer to my router. Inserted the setup disc and sat back. Within moments I was watching a setup video that said it was all set up and went on to explain the features. Two paper trays. The top tray will handle up to 5x7 photo paper or business envenlopes and the bottom tray handles up to 8.5x11 legal size bond or photo paper. When your printing photos it will ask you which size you want and select the paper automatically. I had a pack of 8x10 generic photo paper so I loaded a sheet, went to my pictures and pulled up a photo then hit print. A couple clicks as it loaded the paper then it went silent. "What is wrong" I thought? About 10 to 15 seconds later I got my answer. nothing wrong, it just prints so quiet you can't hear it running till the finished print pops out. I then checked the print, and to say I was not happy would be an understatement. I can only eplain it in one word...trash. The print had way too much ink, was still wet and actually smeared when I touched it then the thought hit me, those are new ink catridges and usually you have to run a test print to set up the print heads. I checked the book, and sure enough, there is an easy test print to run, but I found something even more interesting. You only need to run the test print if you use non-Kodak photo paper. So here is the catch I thought. All genuine Kodak photopaper has a bar code printed on the back of the paper that tells the printers processor how to set the print head for that piece of paper. This means you can easily switch from gloss to semi-gloss or matt without changing the setup, but how much does genuine Kodak paper cost? To my complete surprise, while Kodak Paper is a bit high in Staples, at WalMart it is the same or cheaper than HP photo paper. When I began running prints on genuine Kodak paper I could not believe my eyes. The prints look better than those that we had printed at Walmarts 1hr service. To get a good test of the prints I selected 6 photos and put them on a memory card, then I printed them on this machine. I then took the memory card to 4 different 1hr photo service places around town and had them printed again, being careful to mark the back of the photos to know where they were printed. I then took all the photos to the photoclub meeting at our senior center and spread them on a table and asked everyone to select which they thought looked the best. Over 90% of the people who participated selected the prints from this printer. The printer also has built in memory card readers so it can be used as a stand alone printer, and the Wifi model will work directly from Ipods & Cell phones. Would I recommend this printer? Absolutely YES. in fact since I bought this one over half the people in our photo club have also bought one. I primarily use 4x6 paper, which is $7.00 per 100sheet for brilliant glossy white at Walmart. I have not priced the ink at Walmart but at Staples the ink is $19.89 for the color and $9.98 for the Black, but staples also gives a $2 rebate for any used cartridge you turn in. (Up to 10 empties per month). I just found a website this morning for cheaper ink cartridges for almost all printers. Thru the site I can get color cartidges for this printer for $9.98 www.inkjetSuperstore.com