Printer missing colors or printing the wrong colours

Read the wrong colour to find the missing ink

Colour printers mix cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y), plus black (K). Take one away and the result shifts in a predictable direction:

• Prints look pink, red or purple: cyan is missing, so greens and blues fail.
• Prints look green or teal: magenta is missing, so reds, oranges and skin tones turn green or yellow.
• Prints look blue or purple: yellow is missing, so greens turn blue and reds turn pink.
• Black text is fine but one colour area is blank: that ink is empty or its nozzles are blocked.

This is a starting point, not a diagnosis: driver settings and paper can shift colours too.

Confirm it with a colour test page

1. Print the color printer test page or the CMYK test page at 100% scale with background graphics on.
2. Look at the separate C, M, Y and K patches. A patch that is missing, pale or striped points to that ink.
3. Compare the R, G and B patches: red needs magenta and yellow, green needs cyan and yellow, blue needs cyan and magenta.
4. Keep the sheet. You will print it again after each change to compare.

Check settings before blaming the ink

• Grayscale or black-ink-only may be switched on in the print dialog or the app.
• Paper type: plain paper selected for photo paper, or the other way round, changes how much ink is laid down.
• Colour management: some apps and drivers both apply colour correction, which can tint photos. Try printing the same page from a different app or as a PDF.
• Ink level warnings: check the printer's screen or app. Some printers stop using a colour they report as empty.

Run the printer’s own nozzle check

The nozzle check pattern is printed by the printer itself and shows each colour channel in fine lines. Gaps in one colour mean blocked nozzles for that ink. If the pattern is complete but prints still look wrong, the problem is more likely settings, paper or colour management.

If gaps appear, run one cleaning cycle from the printer's maintenance menu, then print the nozzle check again. Do not run cleaning after cleaning without checking in between: each cycle uses ink, and some printers recommend leaving the printer for a while before trying again.

Inkjet and laser printers are different

• Inkjet: missing colours are usually an empty cartridge, a blocked nozzle, air in the line after a new cartridge, or tape left on a new cartridge.
• Laser: a missing colour usually means an empty or badly seated toner cartridge, or a problem with that colour's drum or imaging unit. Laser printers have no nozzles to clean; follow the manufacturer's procedure for the colour unit.

Photos and colour casts

A slight tint across a whole photo, rather than one colour vanishing, is a colour cast. It usually comes from settings, not hardware: the wrong paper type, an app and the driver both managing colour, or a photo that looks different on a bright screen than on paper. Print the grey steps on the color printer test page: neutral greys that turn warm, green or blue show the cast clearly. If the greys are neutral, the photo itself or the screen is the more likely cause. Remember that printed colour never matches a backlit screen exactly; a test page tells you whether the printer behaves consistently, not whether it is calibrated.

Change one thing at a time

Replace or reseat one cartridge, or run one cleaning, then print the test page again and compare it with the first sheet. If several things are changed at once you will not know which one helped. If a new genuine cartridge, a clean nozzle check and default settings still give wrong colours, contact the manufacturer's support with your test sheets. For black problems specifically, see printer not printing black.