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Martin Brinkmann at gHacks reports
HP released a firmware update on March 12, 2016 for several of the company's Officejet printers that renders non-HP ink cartridges useless.
HP customers began to complain about the issue on September 13, 2016 on various online forums, the official HP forum, and on community sites like Reddit.
All reported that a HP Officejet printer blocked non-HP ink cartridges from working, and that the device displayed one of the following messages to the user:
Cartridge Problem.
The following ink cartridges appears to be missing or [damaged].
Replace the ink cartridges to resume printing.
[Continues...]
Cartridge Problem.
Until cartridges are replaced, make sure the printer is turned on to avoid damage to the printer.
One or more cartridges are missing or damaged.
The ink cartridge listed above is an older generation ink cartridge that does not work in your printer. It can still be used with some older printer models.
If you do not own an older printer model and your ink cartridge is a genuine HP cartridge, contract HP support for more information.
It appears that HP programmed the firmware update that it released in March to block non-HP ink cartridges from working starting September 13, 2016.
[...] HP customers affected by the issue cannot do much about it it appears. The printer won't accept non-HP ink cartridges anymore unless they are specifically designed for the new firmware.
[...] HP customers who don't want to experience an issue like this again in the future may want to disable firmware updates for their printer.
[...] The easiest option to do so is to wait for the next HP Update prompt to appear.
- Select Settings on the prompt.
- On the HP Update Settings page, switch to Never under "Check for software updates on the web".
Also, whenever a HP Update prompt is displayed, select Cancel to block the download and installation of the update.
So, what's the complement of "delayed gratification"?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by stormreaver on Monday September 19 2016, @04:48PM
First off, I have no financial interest in Maroo, but am just a very happy customer.
I stopped using my Officejet 6500 some time ago, as the ink was atrociously expensive (I forgot what it was, but I'm thinking about $85 for a full replacement). Recently, though, I came across a third party producer of ink cartridges (Maroo). Replacing all four of my ink cartridges cost me a little over $9 (yes, nine dollars), so I ordered some out of curiosity. They are filled to capacity, so sometimes leak a little when first removing the nozzle cover, but that is where the deficiencies end. Print quality is excellent, and the cartridges are transparent.
The transparency is where things are interesting. The printer told me a few weeks ago that three of my four cartridges were critically low, and needed to be replaced. When I took the cartridges out, I could plainly see that they were still half full. So I put them back in, and continued printing. The printer is still telling me that the cartridges are empty, but I'm still printing from them at full quality.
So all those stories we read about inkjets lying about cartridge capacity are verifiably true with these cartridges.
When I first installed the cartridges, the print quality was so bad that I thought the cartridges were faulty. When I emailed tech support, they immediately offered to send replacement cartridges at no charge, and without even asking me a single question to verify my claim. They were even going to pay shipping. It turned out that the printer's heads were very dirty, and a few iterations of print head cleaning fixed the problem.
So now, the cost per page with my inkjet is so close to my laser, and the hit to my wallet is so insignificant, that I love my inkjet again.
Fortunately, I was not subject to HP's sabotage (I don't run Windows), so I can keep using my printer.