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How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

kevin.deldycke.com

91–100 of 259 posts

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#91

Instead of disabling auto-updates you can also clear the default gateway on the printer. No gateway = no Internet access, but it's still LAN addressable.

I have a Brother printer with wifi. The day it upgrades and block me from using reasonably priced toner, I'll set up to a Raspberry Pi as a print server and hook it up via USB. I'm wondering how much of a market there's going to be for this and if cheaper devices could be used.

> The day it upgrades and block me from using reasonably priced toner, I'll set up to a Raspberry Pi as a print server and hook it up via USB.

By then it would be too late. Alas it seems Brother doesn't do these things. It's HP. People should stop buying their products.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#92
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that approach would be sustainable. Printer manufacturers are in the business of loss leading as far as I can see. They probably don't make any significant profit on the printer itself, judging by what I've paid for printers in the last few years. The price of the printer is subsidised by the projected profits from the ink/toner. And they are not insignificant, I agree. But in the current market, selling…

A Color Laserjet can be bought for roughly $450. A high-capacity replacement for all 4 toner cartridges will cost just over $700. That makes my Laserjet disposable - once the toners are nearly empty, I will sell it on eBay and replace mine with a new one.

Be aware most printers come with "starter cartridges" which are much smaller.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#93
post #30

I can understand HP wanting to prevent their customers from being conned into buying false cartridges, or wanting to ensure the best possible experience for customers. But. Is it not enough to bring up a dialogue or warning telling the user it's false and they are breaking warranty, rather than outright disabling the cartridge? This seems like HP is acting anti-competitively, such that a third party would struggle to…

In the US, I believe the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents HP from voiding your warranty for using third party cartridges.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#94

Besides all the obvious stuff, what also bugs me about this tactic is that it makes people weary of performing (or allowing automatic) firmware upgrades for printers, historically one of the least secure devices on a network.

What happens if you give them local WIFI but block them from reaching outbound?

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#95

Mine doesn't have the allow downgrades option I think. But this worked for me: > "Unplug printer’s power cord from the back of the printer Press and HOLD the power button Plug power cord back in (keep holding power button) The HP logo will appear then the screen will go blank Hold power button for 10 seconds and then release it Press HOME BUTTON ONCE (top left) Press RETURN/BACK ARROW ONCE (bottom left) Press HOME BU…

How do I use a printer without an Internet connected computer either connected to or integrated into it?

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#96
post #53

Home printers are dead anyway. The one thing I did still need them for (printing labels for packages) is being taken over by QR codes

Thermal label printers (printing directly onto adhesive labels) are a good replacement for this use-case, with none of the downsides of ink or cartridges. Furthermore their usage in businesses means there's an endless supply of labels in various sizes so you don't depend on the manufacturer for anything.

don't the thermal labels fade (or turn black) over time?

Or do you mean toner i.e. heated plastic ink

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#97

Instead of disabling auto-updates you can also clear the default gateway on the printer. No gateway = no Internet access, but it's still LAN addressable.

I have a Brother printer with wifi. The day it upgrades and block me from using reasonably priced toner, I'll set up to a Raspberry Pi as a print server and hook it up via USB. I'm wondering how much of a market there's going to be for this and if cheaper devices could be used.

Assuming you can downgrade the firmware. The engineers probably thought of consumers trying to get rid of their malware, and design ways to make this difficult.

I know some products blow physical fuses when updating the firmware and if you go back to the old firmware it won't run when it detects the blown fuse.

You'd need significant electrical skills to restore/replace the fuse to the original state.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#98

I don't want to be an apologist for HP or any other printer manufacturer, but there is at least one point that seems to be missed in this debate. If I design a printer, whether inkjet or any other type, I probably design it to some pretty tight tolerances in terms of the ink or toner. So I probably don't want people to drop in cartridges where the manufacturing tolerances might be way off the mark as they might well…

If the printhead is part of the cartridge, what problems could there be? When HP test the machine with a HP cartridge, there will be no fault found.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#99
post #95

Mine doesn't have the allow downgrades option I think. But this worked for me: > "Unplug printer’s power cord from the back of the printer Press and HOLD the power button Plug power cord back in (keep holding power button) The HP logo will appear then the screen will go blank Hold power button for 10 seconds and then release it Press HOME BUTTON ONCE (top left) Press RETURN/BACK ARROW ONCE (bottom left) Press HOME BU…

How do I use a printer without an Internet connected computer either connected to or integrated into it?

Usb. If you want, set up a raspberry pi as a cups print server.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#100

Why would you buy an HP printer and try 3rd party ink, when you know the whole business model is subsidizing the printer and selling you expensive ink, and you also know that the whole printer cartrige space is full of DRM roadblock? Do this: look at what a printer + as many 1st party refills as you'll need for several years will cost you. Compare that number across multiple manufacturers. If the number seems high -…

> Why would you buy an HP printer and try 3rd party ink, when you know the whole business model is subsidizing the printer and selling you expensive ink, and you also know that the whole printer cartrige space is full of DRM roadblock? The vast majority of people don't know this because HP spends tons of money on marketing to distract consumers from the fact that they do this. Stuff like this is why consumer protecti…

consumer protection is just a workaround / band-aid on proper advertising laws. Corps can take massive liberties on promotion, then CP needs to negotiate where "too far" wrt misrepresentation is.

How about product categories have mandated upfront declarations, e.g. DRM / no-3rd-party printers need to state as such, in an unambiguous way on the box in some mandated-minimum font size.

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