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Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

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Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#191

Post by discreditable »

orev wrote: post #29
alerighi wrote: post #18

I stopped buying inkjet printers. They are a scam, the ink costs a fortune and they are built as cheap as they can, meaning that they will break and you have to throw them away because they are impossible to repair, they are slow and when you need them they don't work because they were not used for too much time. After having 5 broken printers in the garage I said enough, that is a useless waste, and invested some mo…

At the low number of pages printed at home, I don’t mind buying the actual name-brand toner. If you’re only changing it every 2 years, the cost doesn’t matter much, and at least the company (i.e. Brother) gets some profit from being a good citizen. Going with non-OEM toner in that situation just drives the company into needing to find more revenue streams, such as locking down the cartridges, which undermines you. At…

I switched to OEM toner after using up some generic stuff I'd been working on for two years. It's barely more expensive and it was nice they included a prepaid shipping label for me to return the used cartridge to them.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#192

Post by willis936 »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #154
jader201 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got my first printer in high school, around 90-91. It was an HP laserjet printer, when they were first going mainstream. I loved it, it always printed well, and the toner seemed to last forever. Of course, it was B/W, but that was all I needed. Fast forward to today, I have never owned an inkjet printer. Over the past 30 years I’ve owned a total of 3 laser printers. The second was in 2005, because I wanted a scanne…

Fed a diet of the necessary consumables-- toners/drums, fusers, rollers, separation pads, etc-- a 1990s LaserJet will outlive us all. For me, "peak LaserJet" was probably the LaserJet 4 w/ an integral JetDirect. The 4000 that followed was pretty solid and faster but more plastic-ey than the 4.

A fun thought, but my HP LaserJet 4050N from ~1998 crapped out after ~16 years.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#193

Post by hrgiger »

lokimedes wrote: post #7

My HP inkjet will not print any color or black if the “photo black” cartridge is removed. I consider this a similar “greed move” by HP.

If I remember right I also had to authenticate through their cloud service to send file to printer via direct cable connection from my PC.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#194

Post by Jerry2 »

Last month, my friend's HP Laserjet Pro printer started flashing "SUPPLY PROBLEM" error message and wouldn't print anything. Apparently, all he did was update the firmware after a message popped up on the printer urging him to do so.

Well, that firmware update included new DRM checks for non-HP toners. The printer would just refuse to work with 3rd party toner cartridges.

I had to help him and had to find an old firmware and downgrade to an older one which didn't contain the DRM. The firmware didn't come from HP's website because they deleted all old versions so I downloaded the version off someone's Google Drive. Who knows if that FW contains something malicious. Also, I had to install Windows because old firmware update is a Windows program. You're SOL if you use macOS or Linux.

This incident didn't make my friend go and buy $200+ worth of original toners like HP intended. All it did was make him anxious of updating anything and of using HP products and has wasted a lot of his and my time. He said he won't buy another HP printer again.

If you want to learn more, search for "HP supply problem" with your fav search engine. Or see this link on HP support forums [1]. And don't update your printer's firmware if it's working fine... because who knows when they'll disable FW downgrade option and you'll be stuck with a DRMed printer.

Edit: Just in case you found this comment through a search engine or this has affected you, I recommend downloading FW from this page [2]. It also has a list of affected HP Color LaserJet Pro printers (there's quite a few models.. the page lists 11 models). That blog also has a full saga of HP's shenanigans and their attempts to block aftermarket cartridges [3].

[1] https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-Lights-Stuc...

[2] https://borncity.com/win/2021/02/02/firmware-downgrade-for-h...

[3] https://borncity.com/win/2020/11/08/hp-firmware-update-for-i...

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#195

Post by jacquesm »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #154
jader201 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got my first printer in high school, around 90-91. It was an HP laserjet printer, when they were first going mainstream. I loved it, it always printed well, and the toner seemed to last forever. Of course, it was B/W, but that was all I needed. Fast forward to today, I have never owned an inkjet printer. Over the past 30 years I’ve owned a total of 3 laser printers. The second was in 2005, because I wanted a scanne…

Fed a diet of the necessary consumables-- toners/drums, fusers, rollers, separation pads, etc-- a 1990s LaserJet will outlive us all. For me, "peak LaserJet" was probably the LaserJet 4 w/ an integral JetDirect. The 4000 that followed was pretty solid and faster but more plastic-ey than the 4.

Agreed on the 4, those things were indestructible. I had two in the office in IJmuiden, ended up donating one when our main HQ moved to Canada. Both the donated one and the one that I still have are still running today. Toner cartridges are still available, both the originals (a bit pricey) and lots of aftermarket options for about half the price of the branded one.

I fully expect the one I have to outlast me, the other is in a more hostile environment and might not, but it too seems to be doing just fine, print quality is still excellent.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#196

Post by jacquesm »

willis936 wrote: post #192
EvanAnderson wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fed a diet of the necessary consumables-- toners/drums, fusers, rollers, separation pads, etc-- a 1990s LaserJet will outlive us all. For me, "peak LaserJet" was probably the LaserJet 4 w/ an integral JetDirect. The 4000 that followed was pretty solid and faster but more plastic-ey than the 4.

A fun thought, but my HP LaserJet 4050N from ~1998 crapped out after ~16 years.

Ah, just out of warranty... too bad, really! But do not despair, you could probably fix it if you set your mind to it, or make one working one out of two broken ones, assuming you can find another broken one.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#197

Post by rhino369 »

dghughes wrote: post #159
lotsofpulp wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not understand how the other printer brands are even in business when Brother is an option. I feel like their reputation for being the best in the consumer space would have spread far and wide by now. I have been able to scan all of my documents with their MFC line directly to my Dropbox (or box or drive or onedrive) account for over 6 years now, AND Brother Web Connect automatically OCR’s them.

Isn't Brother agressive in it's constant unclearable warnings about using generic toner?

It’s probably model by model. My brother inkjet was just as bad as a hp. Wouldnt print black if color was low, error codes from generic ink.

I got a brother laser that doesn’t complain about generic toner.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#199

Post by quijoteuniv »

alerighi wrote: post #18

I stopped buying inkjet printers. They are a scam, the ink costs a fortune and they are built as cheap as they can, meaning that they will break and you have to throw them away because they are impossible to repair, they are slow and when you need them they don't work because they were not used for too much time. After having 5 broken printers in the garage I said enough, that is a useless waste, and invested some mo…

Exact same situation. Avoid inkjet. Laser b/w if you need photo quality send to print

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#200

Post by slim »

marcodiego wrote: post #144
carbocation wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think condescending is the right word here. Can't be sure without knowing your intent, but do you mean something like "should not be so accepting of proprietary firmware"?

Yes.

Condescending is used when you describe someone who thinks he is superior to others.
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