I have a question for all the great computer people here. I have a Macbook, which I love. I have an HP PSC 1510 All in One printer that I USED to love. I did not change any settings (and since I’ve been attempting to fix this problem, I’ve found that changing settings is a complicated affair-one I would remember doing).
I used to get my PDFs printed in black and white, the way the good lord intended them to be. Now they are a strange orangey slightly blurred color. It’s hard to read.
I have done thus so far:
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changed my printer cartridge (but not the color one).
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calibrated my printer colors, including scanning the test sheet (I had high hopes for this, but nada).
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sworn at the printer many times. This seems to do nothing as well. Odd.
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attempted to somehow get the PDFs somewhere else on my computer besides my desktop to no avail (I’m pretty much computer illiterate).
My Word docs all print out in B&W, as do my emails.
Any ideas? I’m slowly going blind over here…
And thank you in advance for all your help. Please keep the snickering to a minimum.
I had a similar problem with my Macbook and HP printer. It sounds like you need to download the new driver for the Intel Mac from HP. Before you install it, find your old driver and printer preferences and trash them.
As a PC user I’d gloat at all this talk about Macs and problems with printer drivers and maybe even say something like, “I thought Macs were immune to that sort of thing,” but that’s inappropriate in this forum and likely to trigger another Mac vs PC debate. Instead I’ll empathize because I can really feel your pain in a “Welcome to my world since I got my first PC” sorta way. Let’s blame Intel.
Do they come out orange when printed from both Apple’s PDF viewer (Preview) and Adobe’s Acrobat viewer? The easy solution might just be to switch to the other one.
Um…and here we hit the wall of Rigby’s ignorance. When I get a PDF (this is for grad school stuff), my computer automatically downloads (?) it to my desktop, after, of course, I click on open. If I then click on the lil icon that appears on my desktop, I am sent immediately into Preview.–it is Apple’s preview. How do I get Adobe’s?
If there is a way to change viewers, I don’t know it. Is there a way you could tell me? Speak slowly and repeat yourself. 
What is this, please?
How do I do that, and why would I have to? What is a driver? This sounds ominous to me and if I dread anything, it is jazzing up my Macbook…
I have not gotten any pop up that tells me that my printer needs updating or similiar, and believe me, Mac loves little reminders… Why would it suddenly change from black and white to color?
Also, just so you all know I’m not totally a moron, I have pressed the “black” button on my printer, prior to printing PDFs–they still come out orange.
Thanks again, all.
The printer driver is the piece of software that allows your Mac and printer to communicate properly. Each model of printer has its own driver, which you would have installed when you bought your printer. Over time, those files can become corrupted, or, if you were using your printer pre-Macbook, the driver you have may not work for the new Intel Macs and/or the latest version of Tiger.
And the software update utility isn’t going to catch this one, because it only looks for Mac software, and this is HP’s software. Why orange instead of black and white? Who knows? All I can say is I had this same problem.
I searched the HP support site and found this. All-in-ones are a bit more complicated than dedicated printers, it appears.
Your eyes may bug out when you read it, but just go through it step by step. If there’s some way we can connect by phone and I can walk you through it, I’d be happy to do that.
Having said all this, let me add that IANA Apple or HP technician, YMMV, and all the standard disclaimers. 
I’m just a lowly unsupported Mac user who, over the course of nearly 20 years, has become pretty fearless when it comes to fixing things myself.
many thanks. I will do this Wed morning. I hafta work tomorrow, and dont’ have time (read patience) to start this tonight. I haven’t upgraded any software, period. Both the printer and the macbook were bought in June, and have never been connected to anything but each other (does this make them monogamous?). I am baffled, but that is par for the course with computers and me…