Monday, September 19th 2016

HP Deliberately Cripples Third-party Inkjet Cartridges?

Sep 19th, 2016 14:09 Discuss (49 Comments)

A legal storm is brewing for HP, one of the world's largest manufacturers of inkjet printers. Users around the world are adding to empirical evidence that HP programmed its printers to not play well with third-party ink cartridges. Apparently, HP Inkjet printers and PSCs (AIOs) are programmed to malfunction when a non-HP made ink cartridge is used, on an arbitrary date of 13/09.

The printers are programmed to recognize that a non-HP cartridge is installed, and tell the driver to report a "damaged cartridge" error to the end user. HP has been responding to individual support calls from end-users so far, that the problem is caused by using third-party cartridges. The company recently redacted this statement, replying that a firmware bug is causing this error. Users on online boards were quick to retort that printers with no Internet connection, and no scope for OTA firmware updates, too are exhibiting this behavior. The only explanation that make sense is that HP programmed this date to deliberately make third-party cartridges malfunction, and drive up sales of its own brand cartridges.

Source: MyCE

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49 Comments on HP Deliberately Cripples Third-party Inkjet Cartridges?

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

I know. Slow day.

64K

If true, what a stupid thing to do. Surely someone in upper management would have known that they would get caught doing this and axed the idea.

aldo5

HP - If you're going to do something, make it matter.

Octopuss

It's not jus InkJet. I had a thread here where I was boiling mad from HP fucking me over with a firmware update that turned third party toner for my LaserJet printer unfunctional.
I hope they get sued their asses off.

SimpleTECH

btarunrI know. Slow day.

I guess you could say your day..

( •_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

..has been halted.

alucasa

There has always been the suspicion on this for various printer manufacturers because it's the ink they make profit from usually.

mistme

btarunrI know. Slow day.

I like this news bit, and I have missed this story yesterday.

64KIf true, what a stupid thing to do. Surely someone in upper management would have known that they would get caught doing this and axed the idea.

Like every other (corporate) screw up before that?
It's the same old playbook - cutting corners until it starts cutting the skin.

dj-electric

Genuine HP cartridges are very cheap here. I wouldn't go 3rd party even if it was half the price

alucasa

Dj-ElectriCGenuine HP cartridges are very cheap here. I wouldn't go 3rd party even if it was half the price

I used to be able to buy 10 pack black ink for an old Brother printer for the price of 1 genuine black in cartridge.

The 10 pack came from China and worked well.

#10

TheDeeGee

I was gonna buy Third-party Cartridges tomorrow... well i guess ill hold on for a little longer untill this has been cleared up.

#11

ensabrenoir

......this was not known by the general public? most cartridges have a chip in them so the printer will know.....

#12

ZoneDymo

my Lexmark printer always semi pulls this stuff as well, claiming cartridges are empty etc.
Just hit ok and ignore etc and it prints it all just fine, but it is highly annoying for sure

#13

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"

ensabrenoir.this was not known by the general public? most cartridges have a chip in them so the printer will know.....

Same Chip that is suspected to house a fail cut off date so you cannot stockpile cartridges to use later

#14

xorbe

Consumer printers are so horrible, and the way they treat their customers, I gave up. I print at the office or FedEx Office. Luckily I print very little. Couldn't find a consumer laser printer that didn't arbitrarily pre-expire toner cartridges. Maybe dot-matrix could make a return ...

#15

natr0n

I use a cannon pixxma mx922 with 3rd party ink cartridges no issues.

#16

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

and the sad thing is HP has just recently bought out Samsung's printer business. I guess they will be castraighting those printers too eventually.

Good thing you can get a small B&W laser printer fairly cheaply these days.

#17

ensabrenoir

This is also why you dont see the at home ink refill kits anymore. Cartridge could be full but if you dont reflash the chip to read full....printer believes its empty.

#18

evernessince

These printer shenanigans have been going on for some time. Printer companies charge out the wazoo for ink because they can. I'd bet anything they have conspired to fix ink pricing, just like what Samsung, Toshiba, and a load of other TV companies got caught doing keeping TV prices at a healthy profitable margin. The only reason there are so many different cartridge types on the market is because each manufacturer deliberately makes each printer they come out with have a little groove here, a chip to read it, or a piece of plastic sticking out to prevent anything but one cartridge type from going in. If the industry wanted, It could have created standard ink cartridges in multiple sizes by now easily. It's funny because I can go and buy the highest possible quality japanese ink off Amazon and it would only cost a fraction of the price many of these companies charge for their ink and I would get more of it.

#19

Recon-UK

That's funny my HP printer died the second day of owning after only 1 print!

#20

AsRock

TPU addict

btarunrI know. Slow day.

Slow for some one that[s for sure as it's being going on for a hell long time.

#21

TheGuruStud

xorbeConsumer printers are so horrible, and the way they treat their customers, I gave up. I print at the office or FedEx Office. Luckily I print very little. Couldn't find a consumer laser printer that didn't arbitrarily pre-expire toner cartridges. Maybe dot-matrix could make a return ...

Brother is the best consumer stuff overall. Cheap and easy to get dirt cheap ink/toner for with no shenanigans. They're all in ones are killer for 50 bucks.

#22

xorbe

TheGuruStudBrother is the best consumer stuff overall. Cheap and easy to get dirt cheap ink/toner for with no shenanigans. They're all in ones are killer for 50 bucks.

Funnily enough, I still have a Brother HL-1040 b&w laser from 20 years ago. I recently replaced the drum, but the drum stock has been sitting around so long, the wipers are stuck to the drums, damaging the drum on first use as it unsticks and peels off the coating. It's only good for my own use, as every page has a nasty horizontal line every 4" or so.

#23

HTC

I used to have an epson stylus photo RX620 but the cartridges were quite pricey, @ nearly 110€ for all 6 of them, and they lasted for a very short period as well. For a while, i used compatible cartridges but, suddenly, the colors started getting weird to the point that my brother's black and white kat would print as blue and lighter blue ... right ... and the only way i got it fixed was to use original cartridges again, so i made an investment in another printer but, this time, i made sure re-filling the ink was gonna be allot cheaper.

Sure: the printer was a bit expensive but each full ink charge prints @ least 10x more then with the previous printer AND it costs less then half to re-fill, so it's a win-win, IMO.

#24

yotano211

Good thing I use a Zebra thermal printer for my ebay business, never needs ink.

#25

thesmokingman

OctopussIt's not jus InkJet. I had a thread here where I was boiling mad from HP fucking me over with a firmware update that turned third party toner for my LaserJet printer unfunctional.
I hope they get sued their asses off.

So glad I moved away from HP.

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HP Deliberately Cripples Third-party Inkjet Cartridges?

49 Comments on HP Deliberately Cripples Third-party Inkjet Cartridges?

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