Lexmark Lexmark Platinum 905 printers claim to have the lowest cost of black ink cartridges on the market which is true. However, the low cost black ink cartridges will not function unless all color ink cart Internet

However the black ink will only work if all the color cartridges are full and the color cartridges cost five times as much for each cartridge and are very, very small so they're continually having to be replaced.

I have a Pinnacle Pro 901 which is the 905 without the second paper tray (I purchased the 2nd tray on sale at a later date.)  I like this printer very much.  My printer will indeed attempt to print if one of the ink cartridges is empty-I like this because I KNOW that the cartridge is actually empty.  However, all of the ink cartridges must be installed.  There are 3 printer preferences for ink usage which are set in the "printer preferences" box.

1.  "Print using all available ink"  With this preference, all ink cartridges must be installed and have usable ink-the printer will print all print jobs using all inks (even for black and white.)  This setting will use all 4 inks and has increased costs.

2.  "Print using black ink only"  With this preference, all print jobs are printed using only BLACK ink.  No color ink is used, although all the ink cartridges must be installed.  This is the most economical setting.

2.  "Print using color ink only"  With this preference, all print jobs are printed using only color ink.  No black ink is used although all ink cartridges must be installed.  This setting will burn through color ink quickly and becomes very costly.

I contacted Lexmark to try to get my Lexmark Platinum 905 printer to only print with the black ink for certain jobs and their position is that you must go out and purchase their color cartridges, end of story, no other option.

How did you contact Lexmark?  Did you call the toll free number that was provided with the printer?  This is a special number for consumers with Pro901 and Pro905 printers which is premium tech/warranty support.  It always connects to a live person and I've found them to be very helpful-this is in the printer documentation under the 5 year warranty (another great deal - 5 frigging years.)

All 4 ink cartridges must be installed for the printer to function, but they do NOT need to be full and one can even be empty.  Mine will attempt to print with an empty cartridge.  You can set the printer driver default to "print  using black ink only" which is another feature that I like.  The only time I tell the printer to use color is when I need to print something in color, otherwise it defaults to black and white.  It does a decent job of printing color photos in grey scale when defaulted to print using only black ink.  I have found my printing costs (ink) to be greatly reduced with this printer.

If you're using a windows OS you can go to PRINTERS, open printer properties, and change the default printer settings.  You merely need to click in the box for "print using black ink only."

Your symptoms would indicate to me that your default printer settings are set to either "print using all available ink" or "print using color ink only."  In either of these 2 options, the printer WILL USE COLOR ink for all printing jobs and you will indeed go through color ink cartridges quickly.

Hope this helps.