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HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

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Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#191

Post by MrTonyD »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #108

This isn't even remotely surprising. in early 2000's work had 5 heavy duty color laser printers from HP to print B&W letters on. All carts stopped working after a certain page count. Even if the color wasn't used it would decrement the counter. We threw out THOUSANDS of full color toner cartridges.

Same experience here. I smiled as I threw out my HP color laser which had probably cost me over ten thousand dollars over its life. I've saved time, money, and customers by throwing all my HP printers away. (I didn't even sell them - I didn't want to give it away to some unsuspecting victim.)

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#192

Post by ythl »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #187

How I get screwed: My HP printer will occasionally print a black-and-white page using all three colors of ink. Discovered this one day when I rubbed a fresh page and it smeared three colors. They call it 'wear leveling' or something. But we all know it means 'using up your expensive color ink instead of your cheap black ink'. What a crock.

That's why my HP printer only has a black cartridge. The socket for the color cartridge is empty.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#193

Post by rincebrain »

neotek wrote: post #103

I don't know how the DRM works on ink cartridges, but if all the off-brand cartridges just use the same mass-produced cloned DRM "chip" (or whatever it is), it not possible this is actually caused by a certificate expiring rather than an intentionally malicious act by HP? I really don't have any clue what I'm talking about, just wondering if there's any alternative cause whatsoever.

If it only happens on printers that have received a certain firmware update, then it's unlikely to be a cert expiration on the cartridge side.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#194

Post by dfox »

jest3r1 wrote: post #159
nine_k wrote: post #146

Stop buying dirt-cheap printers that are sold at a loss. These are designed to be paid off by expensive toner / ink. These are designed to make you waste the supplies if you don't use them up fast enough. They are designed to reject third-party cheaper supplies. Pay a couple hundred more upfront for a no-bullshit device. I hope those still exist.

Ya, it's our fault for looking for a deal? How can you guarantee that paying a couple hundred more upfront would save us all from this pre meditated corporate gluttony? Stop buying printers from companies that build in mechanisms to purposely brick them. Buying a high-end HP is just as risky in my opinion, based on this story. Cannon is another company to avoid. They just settled a similar potential class action: htt…

The problem with avoiding Canon is that essentially any desktop laser printer on the market is in fact largely Canon's product (and the best of them in terms of reliability and TCO are little more than Canon made print engine in a plastic box).

On the other hand I have reasonably good experiences with OKI and Brother LED printers. These printers tend to be reasonably cheap (I've got OKI multifunction on sale for ~150 EUR), are full Postcript/PCL printers and supplies are reasonably cheap too, both original and third-party.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#195

Post by MrTonyD »

gaius wrote: post #47
henrygrew wrote: post #35

Very dishonest practice from HP i'm never going to use any of their products again.

It's very sad - I am old enough to remember when HP was synonymous with quality and doing the right thing for both customers and employees. Hewlett and Packard (the founders) would never have pulled a stunt like this. Fiorina destroyed that legacy almost overnight.

I'm in Silicon Valley and I know someone working in their outsourcing group. HP has a "secret" office where they try to get all their development offshore. They will arrange travel visas to rotate people from other countries into hotels to work on projects. It is coordinated across the entire company in order to cut costs. I wish that we wouldn't allow such companies to sell in the United States (ie. companies that hide their income and employ offshore in order to avoid employing US employees. Such companies shouldn't be able to sell in the US.)

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#197

Post by giardini »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #79

As an aside, does anyone remember the last time they were happy with ANY HP product? Everytime I see that logo I get chills knowing what a pain in the ass it's going to be. Edit: I am specifically thinking about HPSM, and HPNA here.

dec0dedab0de: "As an aside, does anyone remember the last time they were happy with ANY HP product? "

For the record, a company with which I consulted was very happy with the HP 1000/2100 series computers, and especially the exquisite keyboards that now-terminated HP employees once made, with tender loving care, for those computers. I suspect that one of these computers is stored safely in an underground cave somewhere awaiting it's rediscovery, alongside a somewhat-notorious VW beetle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctin21yrfcA

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#198

Post by pingec »

izacus wrote: post #41
woliveirajr wrote: post #21

Laser OKI color printer isn't different. Each toner (CMYK) has a life based on printed pages and stop working even if there's toner inside. No third part supplier, because the printer won't recognize it. And it's useless torefill it if you don't change some chip in each toner. And then the fusor will also stop after some number of pages, no matter if the quality was still good. To replace it you spend more than you p…

Which OKI do you have? Since I'm running my C301dn on 3rd party toners for awhile now.

I also have the C301dn and am very satisfied with it compared to previous printers (inkjets). Works when you need it even after months of non-usage and toner replacements are cheap off ebay. The only thing that worries me is the drum unit / fuser / belt life as I have no idea what happens when they reach 0%. There is a hardware hack though to reset those as well.

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#199

Post by SixSigma »

bobajeff wrote: post #110
Animats wrote: post #7

There's the Epson Eco-Tank series. Ink is in four bottles at the side of the machine, good for about 4000-6000 pages. Refill with Epson ink bottles or (a bit more messily) from bulk ink. The printer costs about $279. You do have to clean the print heads occasionally. That's the price of long life print heads.

The only problem of epson is it sounds like (from the reviews) that they have bad Wireless support which is kind of a must for some people like me who use their phone to print.

mine works fine from my phone & pc via wireless

Re: HP Allegedly Time Bombs Unofficial Ink Cartridges from Working in Its Printers

#200

Post by sly010 »

evan_ wrote: post #189
sly010 wrote: post #186

Here is a (probably worthless) idea: Create 1 or 2 good, serviceable network printer and experiment with different business models like subscriptions or pay-as-you-print, where the printer manufacturer _owns_ the printer an office or home just rents it. In such a model, the companies incentives would align with the users values: - Cheaper printing per page - Less overhead on distribution - No artificial costs and lim…

That sort of business model- leasing- is pretty common with copiers/printers already.

Yes, but that's the opposite end of the market (e.g. industrial pronting, very large size or volume). I am wondering if there is something in the middle.
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