HP Accused Of Expiring Ink Cartridges

from the must-use-by... dept

What is it with printer manufacturers and their increasingly sophisticated means of screwing over the customers who buy ink from them? Even going beyond various attempts at using technology to block out competition, printer makers have long been accused of having their printers claim a cartridge is empty when it’s still 25% full. However, some consumers are claiming that HP goes a step further, and includes a “must use by” date encoded in the chip in their ink cartridges, meaning that if you don’t use the ink by a certain date, no HP printer will let you use it any more. It’s not clear if the complaint focuses on the fact that this exists at all, or (more reasonably) that the expiration date isn’t given to consumers. HP’s defense, of course, will most likely be to point out that older cartridges may clog up, causing damage to the printers. Which may, in fact, be true. However, without telling the buyer that the cartridge expires, they may have opened themselves up to trouble, as many people will assume the cartridges will remain good.


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Comments on “HP Accused Of Expiring Ink Cartridges”

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141 Comments
Mr. Lexmark (user link) says:

False Advertising

I would certainly think that a sealed ink cartridge would be good until opened.
I’ve bought several cartridges when on sale ( to save a little $$$ ) and think that if these things expire then that needs to be clearly stated.
To use technology to disable a product for which you purchase under the assumption that it will function as implied is criminal.

Michael Kohne says:

HP Cartridge harming printer

All the HP printers I’m familiar with have the nozzels in the cartridge. So it’s pretty much impossible for a genuine (but out-of-date) cartridge to do any harm to the printer. It might or might not work (every old one I’ve ever used has been fine), but the ‘harm the printer’ argument isn’t one HP will likely try to use.

Mel says:

HP G85 stored for months

I had to store my belongings for a while – had an HP G85 that I just put back in the box. It was in a metal building – cold in the winter hot in the summer – for 14 months. The ink was 6 months old when stored.

Pulled it out of storage, set it up, printed a test page … and it worked flawlessly.

Yeah sure – “They go bad”. Maybe I was just lucky, but then I haven’t had any real luck in years.

Jared (user link) says:

No Subject Given

Yeah, ink lasts a while, especially if unopened. However, there’s a difference between letting it sit exposed in your printer when it’s about dry, and leaving one sealed away.

Did this woman crack open a cartridge and watch how much ink spilled out in numerous test cases? Did she bother to check the nozzels to see if they were clogged? I doubt this case will get anywhere.

Peter says:

True for Cartridge Type 10 and 11 - and a workarou

At least HP printers that use Cartridges 10&11 do indeed not accept cartridges beyond a certain date. In some higher-end models like CP1700 it does not even help to set the PC’s clock back, because these printers have internal CMOS memory that invalidates the cartridge once it is over its time.

The good news is that if you disconnect the lithim battery inside the printer for a moment AND set the PC clock back, then the cartridges print just fine.

haiki says:

Printer ink cartridge conspiracy

Think about any ink cartridge, for example, HP ink cartridge that has a warranty. Bad ink cartridge, color bad, light ink which appears watery, what-ever, they give you another one. That’s the way a warranty works. You buy a recycled ink cartridge, with no HP warranty. It may work momentarily, but then you get these same messages, remove cartridge. Why should my printer shut down after purchasing a recycled ink cartridge? But then if you buy an HP ink cartridge, your printer is up and running again. Or until that time HP thinks you have printed long enough, even if you have plenty of ink. HP forces you, according to HP predetermined usage, in order for your printer to work, to buy their ink cartridges, or HP will shut your printer down.

Don’t focus on the ink cartridge, focus on the fact HP, and other printer manufacturers, stop your printer from working, because of some silly game they are playing of cheating customers before the ink runs out, or wrong ink standards, or what-ever. I say, go ahead send these stupid messages, but don’t stop my printer from working. This is anti-competitive, and in violation of anti-trust laws.

To be perfectly clear

Hewlett Packard recycles their ink cartridges by promoting that HP cartridges be returned for recycling, using a self addressed, stamped envelope. Allowing HP, through their “refurbishing and reselling” effort to conserve resources, using the various recycling facilities of manufacturers around the world contracted by HP. Thus, the mere fact that there also are other recyclers available to refurbish, and recycle ink cartridges, but except for lower cost, and the free choice of the consumer, HP has restricted the consumer the full use, and the operation of HP printers.

Smith and Roberson’s Business Law, ninth edition. West Publishing. Chapter 43; ANTITRUST.

“Characterizing a type of restraint as per se illegal therefore has a significant effect on the prosecution of an antitrust suit. In such a case, the plaintiff need only show that the type of restraint occurred, she does not need to prove that the restraint limited competition…..Tying arrangements. A tying arrangement occurs when the seller of a product, service, or intangible (the “tying” product) conditions its sale on the buyers purchasing a second product, service, or intangible (the “tied” product) from the seller….Because tying arrangements limit buyers’ freedom of choice and may exclude competitors, the law closely scrutinizes such agreements.”

Hewlett Packard has, unbeknownst to customers who purchased HP printers (tying product), tied as a condition, the purchase of new HP ink cartridges (tied product), or HP recycled ink cartridges, through the use illegal anti-competitive consumer practices.

After all, what are we talking about, it’s a ball point pen refill morphed into a printer ink cartridge. It’s a recycled auto part! Again, I say Hewlett Packard, and the rest of the conspirators, play your silly games by cheating consumers on ink cost, and supplies. I say go ahead! But don’t stop me from the use of my printer.

janet (profile) says:

Re: Printer ink cartridge conspiracy

So …. besides NOT getting another HP printer what is the answer for now. I have used ink purchased from refills on the net for several years, without a problem. But now, all of a sudden I’m getting messages saying the ink I’m using is not something my printer will accept. How can I get rid of that message and use the cheaper ink cartridges that are not HP’s?

I should be able to use what I want, NOT what HP dicates. Thank you for any assistance. I have a HP Oficejet J648 All in one printer. Janet

Steve says:

HP Ink Cartridges

It has been long known that HP makes its billions of dollars of profit each year primarily from their imagining and printing group. 90% of all profit from this division comes from the sale of printer ink. HP’s IPG strategy was changed more then 10 years ago to one which employees extremely inexpensive printer cost as a drive safe which is made up for in the consumables required to use the printer itself. They have initiated many law suits against refill kit companies over the years with little success. Class action law suits have gone on for years at a time with fines eventually being levied against HP to settle the suits which in comparison to the profit they make is pennies on the dollar.

Not until some legislation is put before the government will this practice ever be changed. I suggest the millions of unhappy customers to start writing your congressmen to start some type of restriction to this monopoly HP has over its practices. After all I purchased the equipment from HP not leased. If I want to assume the liability of using a non HP cartridge I should have every right to do so with out HP controlling my equipment. Considering my warranty is no longer valid after a period of 90 days or one year, what ever it is, HP should not have the right to program my equipment from working if I do not use their replacements.

That would be like Microsoft programming my computer to not work if I choose to use word perfect for my word processor over Microsoft Office.

I own a high monthly volume printer which will do 30,000 pages a month of which I only print less then 75 to 100 pages of month. I have yet to use a cartridge completely before it has rendered my printer inoperable. My HP Cartridge Replacement retails for over $50 each which requires four cartridges to operate. Even if I only need a black and white page printed it will not work with an expired color cartridge making it useless. This brings my business to a stand still at my slow time of the year with little to no operating cash flow in which to purchase $200 worth of replacement cartridges of which I do not need.

If I could afford the high priced lawyers which HP has on retainer I would sue the pants off of them and own a portend of the company. I suffer, my company suffers, and worse of all my clients suffer because of this unethical money sucking grip they have on me.

Lets all pull together and get our government representatives working on a solution for this issue.

Thanks so much for joining the team to fight these big corporate pimps.

Mac says:

Re: HP Ink Cartridges

We’ve got too much government as it is; the last thing we need is more. The power to fix this problem lies in the hands of the consumer. If people quit buying HP products, HP will have to change in order to remain competitive. That’s how a free market economy works.
So, if you you don’t like the way HP does business, buy from their competitors and leave Congress to do what they do best: Tax and Spend…

Lisa says:

Yes, join the fight!!!

I, for one, am taking a stand. I’m not going to be sucked into giving HP any more of my hard-earned money. On top of their ridiculous and monopolistic ink cartridge techniques, they now farm all their customer service calls out to India, which not only makes the American economy suffer, but makes it really hard to get any actual help when you call! I’m donating both of my HP printers (an AIO Deskjet and a color laser) and using the money I save on replacing “expired” cartridges, printheads, coating kits, and other replaceables to buy the best Canon printer I can afford. It’s sad that I can’t support an American company for this purchase. Does anyone know if any other companies besides Canon sell printers without “expiring” ink?

Onque says:

Expired Ink cartridge

The expiration feature of the HP printers can be disabled by simply removing the printer battery. If the printer does not have a fax then the battery can be left out. Printers with faxes need the battery to preserve the date/numbers when the power goes out. In this case, the battery can be removed for an hour or so then placed back in the printer. The printer will operate normally and ignore the expired cartridge warning.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Expired Ink cartridge

I have a d135 and I am trying the fix at this very moment.
Look at this website and you should be able to find the battery. http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/letters/hpPrinters.php It looks like a normal CMOS battery from a PC.
Get a small flashlight and a small mirror if you can’t find it easily. Good luck.

Doug says:

remove the CMOS battery

The workaround suggested by Onque does in fact work – I just did it to my CP1700. The battery is located in a very awkward place (by design, I’m sure), on the left inside wall behind the end of the carriage slide. I used a paint can opener – like short screwdriver with a hooked blade – to pop it out. After doing so the printer worked fine with no expiration messages.

Biff says:

remove bottom of good cartridge, put on old

Some cartridges like Hp11 that fits the CP1700 and other printers have a bottom that can be pulled off. This piece contains the “date chip”. Simply pull it off an unexpired cartridge and put it on an expired one. I don’t think this will work for those cartridges that are a combined print head/ink cartridge.

Jules says:

CP1700 Battery Removal

Lovely printer but being a very ocassional user 3-4 times a year and HP cartridges going out of date and still 90% full of ink and the dreaded amber flashing light making the printer unusable I decided to do something about it. I scoured different websites and tried various methods ie resetting my computers clock both in the OS and BIOS but no difference. I then removed the printers battery and hey presto – it works. I’m not a techie but it’s a 2 minute job. Make sure you disconnect the power then lift up the lid and with a screwdriver to the far left of the printer carriage you’ll see the battery. I just levered it out gently and let it fall inside the machine.

sue (user link) says:

hp 8250 expired ink fix

I have the 8250 and was so mad when my 3/4 full black ink wouldn’t work…did some digging and you all said to remove the battery…sounded a little weird and a little too easy to really fix but what did i have to lose? i tried it and gained $$ cause it worked! i found the following on how to remove the battery for the 8250. i love hp but comeon with the expiration date on ink! by the time you keep replacing full ink you could buy a new printer!
thanks guys!

http://hpphotosmart8250.blogspot.com/

bob says:

Re: hp 8250 expired ink fix

Thanks Sue.

Not sure how you found that %$#&* battery, but I am sure glad you did.
I followed your procedure except I did not bother to put the battery back in! It is working great with NO messages!!!
I can now use the expired black cartridge I bought about a month ago, AND IT IS ALREADY EXPIRED!!! %$#^& HP. You fixed them!!! I sure hope that law suit goes through.

jozef szmigielski says:

CP1700 cartrige expired date

HP sold me printer CP1700 where they used the ink cartriges with blocking the work. I have the printer and I cannot used its because the manufacturer work against me. The expired data is blocking the work and now I am going to Canon. During the time of search for A3 printer was choice/. To buy the Canon where I before worked on BJ 330 and after I wanted to see the HP it was wrong decision one year before I have worked on HP 1125C and after one year it was out of order the I decided to buy newer and now I have to go to printing office with every A3 page. I am so upset that I will never more buy any HP product doese matter it is good or bad. I have enough pain to finish with them. With Canon I was so happy that I forgot that on this Word the crooks can ve as HP.

John Arnette says:

EXpiration Early inl cartages

I have one HP printer left. I will no longer buy HP Printer any longer nor will i recommend there printer any longer, OVer the years I may print 50 pages and then when I need it again have to buy another cartage. Too bad they no longer build like the HPIII 3D, I still have and it works fine.

John A.

robin says:

Costco ink

Arinda, I just got back from Costco looking for HP ink. I had already been clued into the expiration date thing, having had an expired cartridge quit working in my printer (a fresh non-expired cartridge got the printer working again). So now I ALWAYS check the expiration date before I buy. I didn’t check all the cartridges at Costco of course, but all of the ones I did look at were expired. Some as old as December 2007. Your beef should be with Costco, not HP. I intend to write to the store manager to point this out. They may just be clueless about this expiration date thing, not intending to fleece their customers (at least I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt). There is this wording on the box: “Ink cartridge limited warranty ends 6 months after install by date.” Those December 2007 cartridges are already out of warranty. And equally-clueless customers won’t, well, have a clue.

Alicia says:

My Letter to HP President and CEO Mark Hurd

I never knew ink cartridges expired. Worst yet on my HP Printer (PSC 2355xi) it doesn’t give you a this is expired error message. It just randomly stops working and tells you that you do not have the correct ink cartridge installed. See my letter below….

While I do not expect that this concern will be corrected, I feel that I must join the many to issue this complaint. This is regarding the built in product obsolescence into your ink cartridges. I personally have had to discard 2 sets of perfectly good ink cartridges (over 50% full) because they expired. I did not realize what was happening until the second set gave me the same error message “ink cartridge installed is not the correct one for this printer”, or something along those lines. The product does not even tell you, I’m expired. I searched why do ink cartridges expire and found multiple rants about your company and a few others as well. I cannot believe that you think such a business practice will allow your company to remain successful into the future. I have reinstalled my old printer, which uses ink cartridges until they are low in ink or have no ink remaining. This product is an older Lexmark. It does not accept camera cards but I can load my pictures through the USB cable and the camera itself. I am very disappointed in my HP product and do not expect I will ever purchase HP again.

I am a business major (currently in school) and I work fulltime. I cannot afford to continue to buy ink cartridges when it is not necessary to do so. I know from my business classes that what you are doing is wrong and will hurt your business in the long run. It ruins your reputation and product image. HP is a money hungry, poor quality, worthless corporation. This is the image you now portray.

J Martinez says:

HP

I filed a complaint with the Consumer Protection Agency several years ago about this problem. HP contacted me and sent new cartridges to appease me, but one little problem has been overlooked. Since cartridges are “expirational”, how is a person or business to know what the latest dated cartridge is? That is to say, when you go to buy a cartridge, are you expected to get the store to bring out their whole inventory so you can check for the latest dated one? So you see, this not only hurts the individual, but the business that sells them.

Don, Wyandotte MI says:

HP ink expiration dates

I own a HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-one printer and all the ink cartridges have an expiration date. I purchase a large supply when they were on sale and did not realize that there was any expiration dates. I just put a cartridge in and the printer rejected it advising that I was installing an expired ink cartridge. It did give me a note on the printer screen advising that I could override the printer and use the expired cartridge (exp Oct 2008) but I put my service warranty in jeopardy. I have never had anyone tell me that ink expires when I purchased it nor did I realize that we could be purchasing ink that is near expiring at the store.

Karen says:

HP1100D or 1200

There is a couple of different ways to decieve the printer. Using expired tanks requires you to either set the date back on your computer. Of course this changes things when posting and such but the printer will work. The other way is to remove the bottom portion of the cartridge where the chip is and change it out with a working one. I have a rotation of 4 on hand. The printer will only memorize the last 4 cartridges.

Dan says:

hp ink

I use a Hp 2600N laserjet in my office
The ink levels are shown to be low or empty without use. We typically print 40-50 pages per day using black ink only. 9 weeks after installing all new cartridges the machine says they are all running out at roughly the same time. The rub is in this time period we have not printed anything in color yet the color cartridges are said to be empty. These particular cartridges retail for $82. each. When you remove them you can shake them and feel that they are still full. The machine will shut down and not print until new cartridges are installed.

Matthew says:

HP run by Crooks

I own the Photosmart C5180. Technically, its a decent all-in-one printer. However….

HP are bastards. My black cartridge is at least half full; i know this because it was last week – and because I just picked it up with my hands, shook it and can hear and feel at least half a cartridge of ink inside there. My “Supply Level” utility is claiming that my level is at 0%. That’s right, it says there is nothing in the cartridge. Maybe its because it has passed its “expiry date”… I call Bullshit! And I have had the same issue with all of the other cartridges.

HP is operated by crooks.

I know it says “Ink levels are estimated” but you have got to be kidding me.

I get hassled every time I need to print and sometimes it doesn’t even allow me and I have to start swearing at the machine and restart the computer and re insert the cartridges until it takes.

We as consumers should not have to find work-arounds that involve opening the lid and removing internal components, or hunting for drivers and altering them just so we can perform the most basic of functions for what we bought the printer for in the first place. PRINTING!

Suck it HP. Suck a big one. I will never buy a product from you again. Corporate scumbags.

Jim Hutchek says:

Here is how to bypass 1100 and 1200 HP expirations

Ok it took me a while to realize this but it is actually really simple to bypass them. The bad news is you must first go out and buy a new cartridge of that same color. Then take a knife and cut the lower stripe on both sides of the cartridge right where they assembled it. Dont worry you wont damage the cartridge. Then simply un-snap it on the new cartridge. The chip that you need comes off with it all in one piece. Then take your old cartridge and do the same thing. Finally snap the newest one in place on the old cartridge and your are ready to go. Its that easy. When you finally run that one out of ink remove it and put it back on the new cartridge and you can then run it.
Yes its that easy….. And it really works no damage no problems.

Mike says:

HP 9110 CMOS battery location

Some have asked where it is so that it can be removed to cancel the bogus expired ink cartridge message. The battery is located right next to the RAM slots on the board, right next to the USB connection. Remove the two screws at the top of the left end panel, with a srewdriver opo that panel off. It’s right there.

jen says:

Expired ink

It is true that when the ink is expired the printer will not print anymore. my colored ink has 65%-90% ink level but it is not printing in colored anymore (i always used the black ink when printing) . THE REASON WHY, MY INK IS EXPIRED when i did the diagnosis. I wonder why they did this. Those HP company requires the customer to buy an ink YEARLY? This is ridiculous, I need to buy all the 5 colors just to used my printer. I am one of the dissatisfied customer.

jen says:

Expired ink

It is true that when the ink is expired the printer will not print anymore. my colored ink has 65%-90% ink level but it is not printing in colored anymore (i always used the black ink when printing) . THE REASON, MY INK IS EXPIRED when i did the self test diagnosis. I wonder why they did this. Those HP company requires the customer to buy an ink YEARLY? This is ridiculous, I need to buy all the 5 colors just to used my printer. I am one of the dissatisfied customer.

Anom says:

HP Business Inkjets 1100 & 1200

HP business inkjet 1200 solution for expired cartridges. There is a 9 pin connector located behind the bottom cover under the ink cartridges. The cover can be removed by prying it off. It is held in by 4 fingers that lock it in place. After the cover is off, there is a plastic barrier that I cut the middle section out of to get access to the connector. I unplugged the connector and removed the white wire. I plugged the connector back in and now my expired cartridges worked just fine.

Anom says:

HP Business Inkjets 1100 & 1200

HP business inkjet 1200 solution for expired cartridges. There is a 9 pin connector located behind the bottom cover under the ink cartridges. The cover can be removed by prying it off. It is held in by 4 fingers that lock it in place. After the cover is off, there is a plastic barrier that I cut the middle section out of to get access to the connector. I unplugged the connector and removed the white wire. I plugged the connector back in and now my expired cartridges worked just fine.

Cambiot says:

8250 expired ink - any legal remedy?

I have an 8250 and tossed out several seemingly still good cartridges before finding this discussion. Does anyone know the status of any suits against HP re this issue?

On a related note – this is THE LAST HP PRINTER THAT I WILL BUY. This tactic, combined w/ HP’s deliberate & misleading underfilling of cartridges, their active undermining of 3rd party vendors, and their ridiculous cartridge prices, have all resulted in losing me as a customer. I doubt HP cares, but I won’t be shy about voicing my experiences.

JerryT says:

HP policies on cartridges inexcusable

I will never buy another HP printer, even though I think they generally have the best on the market. Setting up their cartridges to deliberately fail after a certain date, to force consumers to buy more cartridges is an arrogant, inexcusable ploy. I’ve got well over $300 worth of cartridges we’d purchased for spares (so we wouldn’t run out) still NEW and UNUSED, but that we cannot use because of this OFFENSIVE AND INSULTING policy.

HP can take their printers and shove them.

ron dexter (profile) says:

rip off

Not only do they put a expire chip in the ink cartgage,they conspire industry wide to price fix.Another complaint is how much ink is actually in the cartgage.The cartgages are divided into 7 compartments in all. The amount of ink contained only touches one third of the space on the sponge.You are paying for ink that you don’t get.Next time your cartgage says empty,open up the case and pull out the sponges and see for yourself.These printer companies should be sued for stealing from the customers. Where are all these class action lawyers when you need them?

mrgcav says:

Hp expiring cartridges

I have several HP PSC3310.
Recentally two of them have told me that:
“hp the ink in the following cartridges are nearing its expiration date”

What the HELL ! I do not even use HP cartridges. I have refillable cartridges that are not supposed to expire.

I use Vista Ultimate x64.
The printer works fine, for now. But has me worried. I am heavily dependant upon this series of printers.

The pencheck=0000 trick FAILED.
Tried DJK’s Unplug, plug in, unplug, plug in, unplug, plug in. Trick. FAILED

Been Googling for two days. Found nothing.
Need help.

Elmbrooke@gmail.com

Pamela Renke says:

Bypass hp business inkjet 1100 expired ink cartridges

I found response previously on how to bypass by changing the year on my PC without actually making any changes to the physical ink cartridge (which worked GREAT); unfortunately unable to locate procedure on web or my print out of same.

I need to follow that procedure, but am not able to recall sequence of procedure to do so.

HELP!!!

prenke
pam_renke@q.com

bnmiller2 (profile) says:

HP Photosmart 3210 bypass reset for empty cartridges

I am done with HP. They can stick all their products where the sun don’t shine. I have bought nothing but HP computers,printers,etc., for the last 20 years but I am all done after this printer and their tactics for selling ink cartridges. Here is how I reset my 3210 to work when one or more of the color cartridges expires. Press ok,cancel,black & color and turn off at the same time. You may have to do a couple of times but it works. This may work on other models as well but not sure. If it does, please post. Lets stick it to HP like they have stuck it to us.

GBond says:

HP Photosmart 8250 Expired Cartridge Solution

Simple routine solves HP8250 expired cartridge:-
Switch On.
Message “Ink Cartridge Expired”
Press Right Arrow
Message “Attention Printer Service or Repairs Required”
Press OK Button
Message “Ink Cartridge Expired” again
Open Cover
Close Cover
Message “Replace Cartridges Soon”
Press OK Button

Works every time for me.
G Bond

Ben says:

I move around a great deal. For simplicity I keep a printer set up in each place I visit. But because I move around a lot, my print cartridges don’t see a lot of action. Recently my All-in-One office jet gave me errors about first the black, then a few weeks later, the colour cartridge. It seemed not to recognize the embedded chip software as HP cartridges even though both cartridges had not been altered and were genuine HP products. I suspect, since both cartridges were well beyond (2 years or so) their expiration date, that HP indeed has a failsafe that prevents the cartridges from being used after a certain date. If anyone has the hardware for it, I would sure be interested in seeing if my suspicion is correct.

Either way, I am pissed. And though I have never bought knock-off recycled cartridges before, I’m damn well going to start. I don’t pay top dollar for name brand stuff so HP can embed a suicide program in the product that guarantees that I will have to spend more money again soon.

c7250 says:

c7250

I found that by updating my printer drivers on Windows 7 that it allows me to shut off the ink expiration and to continue to print. Previously it wouldn’t allow any of my buttons to work. Not even the Okay button. And I couldn’t print anything.

But now I just turn it off on the computer in the HP Center when the screen pops up.

Hope this helps everyone.

RichT (profile) says:

Photosmart B9180

The HP con goes beyond stopping the printer with expired ink. My B9180 will happily let me print after warning the ink has expired, but it purposely degrades the print quality in a way that looks just like blocked print heads. I have proved this by replacing all the inks and setting the computer clock 2 years in the future… at which point the printing becomes poor. Then simply putting the date back and rebooting and the printing is fine. This can be repeated time and time again. I am so annoyed I’m going to buy a new Epson printer just so I don’t have to let HP have any more of my money. I always have kept a good stock of spare inks and it has completely backfired on me, having now had to throw out 6 brand new inks!

Antonis (profile) says:

HP 3210 expired ink

I own a HP photosmart 3210 printer and I have same problem as many many other people. The black ink has expired and unfortunately the trick with the “ok,cancel,black & color” that bnmiller2 wrote about earlier, didn’t work. I read that you can also reset the printer by removing the battery for a while but I don’t know where the battery is located. Can anyone please help me with that?

a_katsikaris@hotmail.com

thank you and sorry for my English 🙂

John says:

Re: HP 3210 expired ink

The battery is on the right. I took out the screw in the back (holding the right panel); then the 3 screws on the top-right (lifting the top exposing the ink area; removed the conver on the paper tray; then gently removed the front right panel covering the memory slots and removed the right panel (push on the holding tab on the top-right-center). This exposed the board. I removed the screws on the board and did not allow any tension on the wires. You can see the battery on the board (toward the front).
Of course, make sure your printer is disconnected from everything (power, usb, etc).

Trish says:

HP expired ink issue

Anyways, I have had these two full sets of ink for this printer and finding it at a price I could afford was great.
I went to print and guess what?, the ink was expired, well duh, I knew that, but it was still sealed and I was sure it was ok. So I went to U Tube with my delema and was happy to find the step by step instructions on how to remove the printers battery. This worked and I printed beautiful photos and was able to print documents once again ! It has been about 2 months and the ink levels are still nearly full. however I am now getting the “ink cartridge failure” and HP is once again in cntrol of my means to make money and function a busy household just because they think I
have nothing else to do but give thim money or waste time figuring out how to trick my printer into doing its job!
Any ideas for a second fix? I tried a restore back to when it was working, maybe putting tape over the chipset?

Luis Ventura says:

HP ripoff

About 4 years ago I bought 2 HP Photosmart 3310 all in one units, at the tune of $700 for both of them.
Soon after I began to receive the messages of ink out of date and cartridge is out of ink, the all 12 of them one after another.
To my dismay, I found out that HP had been doing that on purpouse since 2001 in order to make money selling their ink cartridges not only in my models but in others as well.
Now, about three months ago, I received a notification that they have a Class action sue against them for these reasons and had settled out of court.
Well, I don’t know who was involved in that, because all they are going to do is send you cupons to buy their own cartridges again (that will end up having the same problems again since they had refused to modify the software that goes into these machines),that by the way had mostly end up in the trash like my two units because it is plain and simply imposible to pay for the cost of continuosly buying their cartridges.
I really don’t know who in that company came up with such idea of making money, because now that the news are out, HP is not only not selling their printers, but also their computers and monitors, and as far as I am concern, at soon as I see the HP logo on any product, I walk away as fast and as far as I possible can.
At least Toyota got in to problems by accident, but HP di it intencionally.
Nice going guys.

mrg says:

HP 3310 repair

HP Photosmarts:

C3210, C3310, C5180, C5183, C6150, C6180, C6188, C6288, C6288, C7160, C7180, C7268, C7280, C7360, C8250, D7460 and all other Photosmart fixed inkjet head printers
This printer has six colors and no less than 12 inkjets, two for every color. A Fine inkjet for printing fonts and a wide inkjet for larger areas such as pictures and graphics. Each inkjet is made up of several lines or vents.
Note, Black Fonts use only black ink, Black graphics use a conbination of magenta, blue, yellow and black.
Troubleshooting:
1. Press * and # at the same time, and then release both keys. This will open the Mfg Commands Menu and say; ?Enter Special Key Combo?.

2. Press 123. “Support R0045” will apear.

3. Press Right Arrow Cursor button: (uiaux Menu)
Once for: Information Menu > Info menu
Twice for: FAX Diag Menu > Run FAX Test > Reset FAX Params > Change FAX Params > FAX Param Report > FAX Trace Report > Speaker Mode > Ring Monitor > CNG Monitor > Signal Monitor…. Repeat.
Three Times: Print Tests Menu > Nozzle Test. Pressing OK gets you this:
http://forum.naddabiz.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=269

4. Press OK on one of the three Service Menus.

5. Press CANCEL several times to back your way out as needed or until the normal screen appear.

LCD Screen & Cursor Test
Play Pong Game:

1. Press * and # at the same time, and then release both keys.

2. The display should read ?Enter Special Key Combo?. Press 7664.
3. A yellow paddle appears. It moves only Horizontally using the right & Left Cursor Keys.
4. Press OK to pitch ball.
5. Press Cancel to exit.

Extended Self Diagnostic Test
1. Press OK & Cancel Button simultanously

Semi-full reset
This will reset the All-in-One to the factory default settings by using these instructions:

1. Unplug the power cable from printer while the printer is powered on.
2. Press and hold Plus (#) and 6 while plugging in the power cord.
3. Repeat steps one and Two, Two more times for a total of three times.
This will perform a maintenance cycle upon the third restart.

Now you may want to print a self test report by pressing “Setup” and then 1, then 1 again. or Clean the heads by Pressing Setup > 5 > 2

OOB NVRAM RESET (Remove Air in Hydrolic lines)
1. Turn Power off using power button.
2. Hold down the CANCEL & OK buttons & keep them held while powering on the printer.
Keep them held till the printer shuts itself back off. (It will shut off without you hitting the on/off button.)
3. Then power it back up normally by hitting the on/off button. It will warm up normally except it will display a message “OOB NVRAM RESET” & it will then do about 3 minutes of priming & pumping up the ink in the tubes that run from the cartridges to the print head.
4. You then can run a test print in the tools section.
YOU MAY HAVE TO DO THIS PROCEEDURE AS MANY AS 6 TIMES. IT WILL EVENTUALLY GET ALL AIR BUBBLES OUT OF THE SYSTEM.

Semi NVM Reset
1. Unplug the power cable from printer while the printer is powered on.
2. Press and hold the (#) and 6 buttons while plugging in the power cord and keep both buttons depressed for at least five seconds.
3. Printer will shut off
4. Press Power on and unit will begin the Semi NVM reset.
The unit will clean its heads and the pump will cycle several times to prime the hydrilic lines and purge out any air.
Then a Maintaince cycle will begin.

Burping method
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-printing-questions/HP-Photosmart-C7280-Black-Ink-won-t-print/m-p/397781#M26999

Complaints
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-printing-questions/HP-Photosmart-C7280-Black-Ink-won-t-print/td-p/2157

Nuke (profile) says:

CP1700

The CP 1700 is getting on a bit now (as is this thread) but mine is still going as it has only light use. Hence I come up against the expiring cartridge problem. One day it was printing OK with 80% full cartridges, the next the printer was dead.

I tried setting the date back on the PC BIOS as some suggest here. My advice is DONT, at least not with Linux. I knew that the PC would have reset itself anyway as they get their date from the Internet these days, but I tried anyway and Linux freaked out. It reported some file dates were in the future, decided that my file system must be corrupted, and dropped me into command line recovery mode. I restored the true date but I still had to to “repair” the file system with fsck before I could return to normal. I am guessing that a modern version of Windows would react similarly.

Then I tried the “momentary” battery disconnect with a slip of plastic, and that did not work. Disconnecting it for an hour did however, getting rid of the “Expired Cartridges” message. But my network print server (HP JetDirect 300X) also seemed upset by now, maybe by the date trick, and I had to reset that too. Btw, you won’t reach that battery without taking off the left panel unless you have exceptionally thin hands.

An afternoon wasted, thanks HP, but at least ?100 saved.

Three years ago Mac wrote :-


We’ve got too much government as it is; the last thing we need is more. The power to fix this problem lies in the hands of the consumer. If people quit buying HP products, HP will have to change in order to remain competitive. That’s how a free market economy works.
So, if you you don’t like the way HP does business, buy from their competitors and leave Congress to do what they do best: Tax and Spend…

Well the “free market” hasn’t worked. has it? Choosing a printer is not as simple as that, there are many factors. I bought HP because they do the best drivers for Linux, and some other makes and models would not work for me at all. If I refused to buy things because something about them p$$es me off, I would never buy anything. Anyway, I was unaware of this scam by HP when I bought, as would most people probably – unless they are techies who read web sites like this one.

And a scam pure and simple by HP is what this is. It would be like Ford cars stopping in their tracks after 2 years because Ford “did not want their cars to be seen to get old and tatty”. Anyone who kicks HP around over this gets my approval, and that would include government. Stopping dishonest scams is indeed a job for governments IMHO, as is stopping theft (which is not much different) – or at least trying to.

KB says:

HP 3210 Printer - How to print with expired cartridges

Press 4 buttons at the same time… (With your right hand)
Color, Black, Reset, and OK.

Now press the “OFF” button wait for the printer to shut off and then turn it back “ON”

When you print, the printer will put the expired cartridge message. Press “>” ignore the warning, and Press “OK”

Go ahead and print all you want….

You will have to start the process over when you unplug power from your printer…..

Thanks to the Don in MI, who wrote about this, he deserves the credit for this find. HP will not tell us how to do this. Boycott HP!!!

Marian Yoest says:

HP inl cartridge still 3/4 full

My HP K5400 printer disconnects when I go to print something even though my ink cartridges are 1/2 and 3/4 full, because it says they are expired. What the heck is that all about? I have 4 printers in use and I stock up on ink cartridges so I don’t run out. Up until now I would have sworn by HP, now you know what I’d like to do.

Michael says:

hp ink cartridges

here is my little story about hp I have a HP photosmart pro B9180 and I have seen this machine go from cartridge getting low to depleted in 2 weeks but what is strange is that I had not used it so that can pretty much some up that they are on a time chip that shows empty when they are not? or it just vanishes in the wind so im going to try shutting it down during my down time and see if that helps then after changing 3 cartridges the next time i turn it on 2 other cartridges show there getting low pretty good racket it’s like we are junkies and hp is the pusher man selling us are fix.

Gurukrishnan (user link) says:

Don't Buy Chip Based Printers

Hi,

I have got lot of problems with HP Printers which has lots of restruction of using their product in long period. Their products force me to buy a new one. For example you can’t refill and use their Printer cartridge or Toner Cartridge. Now i am totally stop using HP based products and I am happy now. I am now using products of other brands which is working good for me. It is good not to use chip based products.

Roger F. Gay says:

Yep!

It’s maddening. When I first encountered the rip-off, I went to the HP site to find out what was going on. HP representative flatly denied they were doing it. I stopped using HP cartridges, but now they’re still making up use by dates and getting in the way of using the printer. I bought the printer to print, not as an automated sleazy HP salesmen in my own home.

jason says:

Ink Cartridge Scam!!

My HP ink cartridge expire even though I know there is plenty of ink left in there. Also, I tried filling the old cartridge and it figured out that it was expired. I will never buy another HP printer in my life. Also, all my color ink cartridges expired at the same time even though I only print in color about once a month and I know there was plenty of ink left when I checked right before expiration. Also, don’t do any HP printer updates from computer as they put patches to make sure your ink keeps expiring!

LT says:

Expired print head

My black ink started smearing…thought it was odd because the cartridge wasn’t very old. Replaced it…still smearing. Called HP customer service, had a difficult time understanding the thick accent of the rep, found out that the printer head had expired a full month prior to the printer’s manufacturing date. Huh?? Why would HP put in an expired printer head on a new printer? Now I have to locate my receipt to prove it is still under warranty. What a racket. Never, never again will I purchase anything from HP.

Haili Liu says:

Stupid and Greedy HP

I am being driven mad with a stupid “Ink Expiration Near” message show up on HP Photosmart 6100! It is telling me that the yellow ink is about to expire (if I understand correctly), so why the hell I cannot use it any more? It basically stop there and does not allow you to push any button! Any single button!

So how do I print the thing I need tomorrow morning? My ink has not expired yet, why should it stuck here? Tell me! Stupid and greedy HP! I will never ever by another HP printer in my life time!

scew says:

HP tieving thru INK indication manipulation

It’s just plain theft./…Never will I buy any HP any thing SCREW HP forever !1 Crew the FEDS for being in bed with them!! Evetythime I ATTEMPT to ptint it’s a halh hour cluster F*&& to get the job done..when this ink is gone( won’t be too long ) I’ll buy a reputable printer ..Like I saud SCREW HP and their ying , theiving fire their POS employees and let’s not foeget the POS programmers who helped them with teh fraud !!

Kathy Lawrence says:

Printer Ink - Yes they Do - Issue an Expiration

HP – Issues an Expiration – Date – this is a PITA and Costing Consumers a lot of Money . They don’t like getting Nickered and Dime’d to Death ! As these which Use to cost
$7.50 – $9.00 – are Now $24.00 – $36.00 & UP !

I heard Ford & Chevy – will do the same thing , Sorry You
have had Your Automobile to Long – which means
1. Your Insurance Co – will have to give You a Fat Discount !
2. You won’t be generating Sales Tax – Oooopps !
3. You might save to much money,and won’t be easy to Control. It all a Big Communist Plot – They are a Bunch of M.F.’s

Really Go back to the Cheapo Shock absorbers, Cheap Brake Pads , No Rust Proofing , Soft Windshields , Cheap paint
Now it’s Computers that say You must Pay More – to have Your Codes Read , You Must Pay More to have Your Tires Changes ( Air Pressure Sensor ) especially If You change Rims – OMG $24.95 for a Seal Kit which is for 1 Rim !
HHhhhaaaaa ! WTF !
Fuel Pressure sensors that cost $139.00 – Last I Knew
these Sensors were like $3.95 as Electronics – Prices have all come Down !

It’s all a Bunch of BS – just to generate Money and Jobs !
They better Figure a way to generate Money from building
Huge Water Purification Plants .
Keeping Our Salmon 12 million from going to Japanese Boats
that’s why only 3 million came back !
Plus I have another 42 Reasons !
That these Congress and Senators-should all get Pissed ON !___!!__!!____!!)________!!

Kathy Lawrence says:

Printer Ink - Yes they Do - Issue an Expiration

HP – Issues an Expiration – Date – this is a PITA and Costing Consumers a lot of Money . They don’t like getting Nickered and Dime’d to Death ! As these which Use to cost
$7.50 – $9.00 – are Now $24.00 – $36.00 & UP !

I heard Ford & Chevy – will do the same thing , Sorry You
have had Your Automobile to Long – which means
1. Your Insurance Co – will have to give You a Fat Discount !
2. You won’t be generating Sales Tax – Oooopps !
3. You might save to much money,and won’t be easy to Control. It all a Big Communist Plot – They are a Bunch of M.F.’s

Really Go back to the Cheapo Shock absorbers, Cheap Brake Pads , No Rust Proofing , Soft Windshields , Cheap paint
Now it’s Computers that say You must Pay More – to have Your Codes Read , You Must Pay More to have Your Tires Changes ( Air Pressure Sensor ) especially If You change Rims – OMG $24.95 for a Seal Kit which is for 1 Rim !
HHhhhaaaaa ! WTF !
Fuel Pressure sensors that cost $139.00 – Last I Knew
these Sensors were like $3.95 as Electronics – Prices have all come Down !

It’s all a Bunch of BS – just to generate Money and Jobs !
They better Figure a way to generate Money from building
Huge Water Purification Plants .
Keeping Our Salmon 12 million from going to Japanese Boats
that’s why only 3 million came back !
Plus I have another 42 Reasons !
That these Congress and Senators-should all get Pissed ON !___!!__!!____!!)________!!

Dylan Thomas says:

Re: Printer Ink - Yes they Do - Issue an Expiration

communist plot?????
more like a facist plot. hp is a big ALEC supporter. just another TOO big, TOO powerful corporation BUYING more power from our “FOR SALE TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER” government.
this is fraud, plain and simple, and as long as there are laws that protect hp from me steali8ng their ink cartridges, it’s only fair and just that congress pass laws to protect us; the consauner from fradulant practices such as this. i never knew anything about this until today. i have trashed 2 probablly good printers because of this. i went with cannon this time, but our new printer at work is having this same problem. i personally won’t buy another hp product. they are crooks in my book.
that’s american free market capitalism for ya. if we, the people do it, it’s fraud, it’s stealing, but if corporations like hp do it, it’s business, it’s free markets.

Mr. Dan says:

I have been able to refill - but Once the date expires !

I have been able to refill – but Once the date expires Your
Screwed – sure seems there should be something We Consumers should be able to do Like take HP to Court !

I mean is Ford telling Us all we must Use BP – Oil Products Only or Our Car will Stop to Function ?
REALLY ? / It’s all Out of Control !

Windows & Mac’s Oh It the New Operating system , and Bam
Time for a New Operating system ,and Oh Version 1 & 2 Will
Not Be Supported any Longer !

Windows 95 was Supported for How many Years ?
Till 2005 – like 10 yrs. – Now It’s like 10 months and It time for a New System !
LOL – when I retire , No Computer , No Cell Phone , If Possible NO Car !
Hell It’s Time for NO Insurance – they just take away Items from – Company Plans every Yr. – use to be every 3 yrs. – Now It’s every yr. -Pretty Soon- Be No Sense in having a Plan !

I Believe the older Generation has just declared War !

Mr. Dan says:

I have been able to refill - but Once the date expires !

I have been able to refill – but Once the date expires Your
Screwed – sure seems there should be something We Consumers should be able to do Like take HP to Court !

I mean is Ford telling Us all we must Use BP – Oil Products Only or Our Car will Stop to Function ?
REALLY ? / It’s all Out of Control !

Windows & Mac’s Oh It the New Operating system , and Bam
Time for a New Operating system ,and Oh Version 1 & 2 Will
Not Be Supported any Longer !

Windows 95 was Supported for How many Years ?
Till 2005 – like 10 yrs. – Now It’s like 10 months and It time for a New System !
LOL – when I retire , No Computer , No Cell Phone , If Possible NO Car !
Hell It’s Time for NO Insurance – they just take away Items from – Company Plans every Yr. – use to be every 3 yrs. – Now It’s every yr. -Pretty Soon- Be No Sense in having a Plan !

I Believe the older Generation has just declared War !

Mr. Dan says:

I have been able to refill - but Once the date expires !

I have been able to refill – but Once the date expires Your
Screwed – sure seems there should be something We Consumers should be able to do Like take HP to Court !

I mean is Ford telling Us all we must Use BP – Oil Products Only or Our Car will Stop to Function ?
REALLY ? / It’s all Out of Control !

Windows & Mac’s Oh It the New Operating system , and Bam
Time for a New Operating system ,and Oh Version 1 & 2 Will
Not Be Supported any Longer !

Windows 95 was Supported for How many Years ?
Till 2005 – like 10 yrs. – Now It’s like 10 months and It time for a New System !
LOL – when I retire , No Computer , No Cell Phone , If Possible NO Car !
Hell It’s Time for NO Insurance – they just take away Items from – Company Plans every Yr. – use to be every 3 yrs. – Now It’s every yr. -Pretty Soon- Be No Sense in having a Plan !

I Believe the older Generation has just declared War !

KB says:

Reset your Printer to Print expired cartridges...

For the 3200 series printer try this….

Press 4 buttons at the same time… (With your right hand)

Color, Black, Reset, and OK.

Now press the “OFF” button wait for the printer to shut off and then turn it back “ON”

When you print, the printer will put the expired cartridge message. Press “>” ignore the warning, and Press “OK”

Go ahead and print all you want….

JoeKSU93 (profile) says:

Scam on cartridges installed in computer

I had a HP Photosmart printer last year and it’s cartridges were failing to print. It was admitted by tech support that the initial cartridges that come with the printer have less ink than regular ones bought in the store. Hmm. I thought I was buying the same thing that came with them? They look the same? Is Lexmark doing this trick too? I just got a new set of cartridges from them and printer head since mine was failing to print. In a very short time I was out of black ink. Did they offer the print head and a set of half full cartridges to satisfy me, so I would not feel bad by throwing away my full cartridges I just bought? I wonder!!

shanen (profile) says:

Not just a calendar thing

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve seen this kind of thing repeatedly with my oldish HP 2750 printer. However, I’m pretty sure it can’t be hard-coded on a date in the print cartridge. One reason is that HP can’t be sure the printer will know the correct date. Even if it’s a network printer, it may not have any access to a time server. The other reason is just from the evidence of my latest round of experiences. First it fails, then it works, then it fails, then it works… Right now it’s working, and the sensor apparently reports 3/4 full, but I definitely haven’t printed much with this cartridge.

Having said that, I don’t print a lot and this printer has been fairly problematic over the years. Less so than other brands I’ve tried, but about par for HP. My guess is that it’s just in their interest to allow the ink to clot up after a while. It’s confusing because touching a tissue to the print head seems to show plenty of ink coming out, but I’m guessing the ink has actually changed its consistency enough so that the printer thinks it’s dry. Perhaps there is a temperature-related aspect, too.

If you want to put it in more polite terms, why should HP try to make print heads that last a long time even if you only print a little? They just optimize for the needs of most of their customers, and you can always ‘restore’ the printer with a new print cartridge since that includes a new print head.

Yeah, I feel a bit swindled with ink that I didn’t use, and I wish they sold an even smaller cartridge for my case, but it’s still better to spend $30 for a new cartridge than much more for a new printer–except that the new printer would have various new features.

shanen (profile) says:

Re: Not just a calendar thing

“Warranty” means something after all. When I looked at it yet again and more closely, I realized the printer cartridge in question had a FUTURE date written on it. Only two months in the future, but there’s still no way to interpret that as a manufacturing date or anything along those lines, at least not without a time machine.

Armed with this new information, I returned to the HP website. That was actually kind of unpleasant because of the language issues, but I don’t want to make a big issue of it because when I finally managed to find the right phone number and received the return call from the right person, they quickly agreed to replace the ink cartridge. It hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m confident it will soon. The policy of quickly standing behind their warranty actually makes a lot of sense, though I still think they could do a bit better–except that it seems they have now gone the other route…

He told me that the ink cartridges for their their new printers no longer integrate the print head. I actually think this is a bad decision for the consumers, but probably more profitable for HP. I guess I’ll have to rest content as a HP shareholder, and just mask my consumer-level dissatisfaction behind the replacement ink cartridge.

Still, on balance I have to give kudos to HP on this one. Not sure if I’ll have to buy another printer given how rarely I need to print these years, but I’ll probably go with HP if it happens. (Don’t get me started on my evil experiences with printers…)

fed up says:

nice try, HP

I call total bullsh*t to HP’s claim that they are only trying to protect us because expired ink can cause damage to the printheads. Maybe it can, but I’ve had a Photosmart 3310 for 6 years now and it NEVER told me my ink was expired until the past few months. Must have been downloaded in a recent update. BOOOOO on you, greedy corporate scumbags trying to milk money out of us wherever you can!

shanen (profile) says:

Should close out my relatively happy story

Well, I see that I left my story in suspense, and that was about 5 months ago. Anyway, I did receive the new ink cartridge, and it is working well, and I’m even making a bit of an effort to print on a more regular basis in hopes of preventing this one from dying prematurely. I’m not exactly thrilled, but I still think that HP is mostly being treated too harshly in most of the other posts here. (And no, I’m not working anywhere in the HP food chain, though (as mentioned below) I once sold their printers among other brands.)

I offer my poor joke about how all printers after Benjamin Franklin are the spawn of Satan, and their only goal is to mangle and ruin as much paper as possible. Having said that, I basically think that HP is the best of the troubled lot. My own personal experience with printers has been kind of limited to three or four brands over 30+ years, but there was a period when I was in sales in a computer store, and I collected lots of stories from my customers, so I feel like I have a pretty broad view. In conclusion, I feel the printers have mostly gotten less evil over the years, and HP deserves a lot of credit for the inkjet technology that brought color printing to the masses.

Having said that, I doubt I’ll refill this particular HP again, so I’ll be shopping for a new one when it dies, and support for extremely low-volume printing will be a feature that I’ll be searching for.

Dave says:

HP 3300

I have had an HP3300 for several years with no issues. Recently I got the EXPIRED Cartridge warning saying it may ruin my computer and viod my warranty, which did not exist. I just kept using the cartridges then the black quit working. I put in a new black cartridge but it would not work. I took the battery out. Located on right side. Remove black screw on back and the 2 black screws – on top and front securing right panel. Once the board is exposed remove the silver screws to access the CR2032 battery. I removed the battery and the printer now works.

Bob Smith says:

I"ll never ever buy another hp printer

HP’s latest venture into dishonesty is to make officejet 6500 Aplus printer, impossible to use. I installed refilled cartridges, HP’s lying popups on both the pc and printer claim they are damaged, it doesn’t matter how many refilled cartridges you buy or where you buy them. The popups on the pc and printer window will hold your job up, and refuse to print. HP should be prosecuted for what they are doing. I’d like to see them and their headquarters dosed with toner. I’ve never seen a more dishonest, viscous, and POS action by any company in the tech industry. **** you HP

Susan says:

remove bottom of good cartridge, put on old

I tried this and it worked! I spent a lot of time looking for a work-around on my HP Business Inkjet 2800 and this is the only thing that I could get to work.

I had an in-date cartridge that was out of ink and an expired cartridge that was full. I switched the bottom panel of the cartridges (just trim the labels and pull off the whole bottom plastic piece) and I could print again.

Thank you!

Victor says:

HP8500A

Please does anyone know what the “work around” is for expired Ink Cartridges and for expired Printheads for the HP8500A plus e Printer.

There are 4 ink cartridges HP940XK in the printer and two printheads each dealing with 2 of the 4 coloured inks.

Presumably, if you installed a cartridge a few months before it expires, it will continue to work after it expires? Or am I wrong about that?

Thank you for any advice.

Lisa says:

HP OfficeJet7700 Series

I too bought expired cartridges that are PERFECTLY fine. You an hear the ink in it just as I do when the printer tells me to replace my cartridge. I just give the artridge a shake, reinsert and press OK. Works until it actually is empty. But expired cartridges are another thing. Don’t think HP doesn’t troll forums like this to find out what people are doing to override it. I tried to set the clock back on the computer but that did not work. I can copy til the cows come home on an expired cartridge, but I cannot get a document to print from my computer. So it has to be something related to the connection with my computer and the printer.

bikeamtn says:

My 2ȼ
Been an HP longtime advocate, Convergent Technology engineer (and even cert. HP tech) but after the royal ordeal I just had regarding the HP short-lived/high-cost ink and billable In-Warranty support web-chat/voice-prompt loop nightmare and how the printer drive utility first asked if I wanted to print in B&W after the one color cartridge emptied but only ?one time? and now refusing to allow me to print in B&W text ? I?ve had-it!

As a Convergent Technology integrator/engineer, the day a device takes the human completely out of the decision process, is the day the device dies.

Time to demo other vendors.

Mark says:

My Letter to HP President and CEO Mark Hurd

I agree fully. This is what happens when corporations run wild with no controls. If they can screw the consumer, they will and do. Thanks to this farce of a Supreme Court that through Citizens United allows elections to be bought and thanks to the fact that 72% of all Congressmen become lobbyists to buy whatever is left of our democracy, we have criminals running companies and doing what HP has done.

I will never buy another HP product again and will spread the word of what they are doing. This is nothing more than restraint of trade and unconscionable! Count me in on any class action lawsuit. This has gotten to the point of absurdity.

It’s bad enough that they put sentinel chips in the cartridges for no reason other than stopping us from refilling them. If we bought it, we have the right to damage it well after the 3 month HP Warrantee. HP is a latter day Big Brother. And worse, they decide when the ink expires? This is nothing more than a scam to suck money out of the consumer’s pockets without conscience or regard.

What needs to happen is that this has to get out en masse and people need to blackball HP. The only thing they understand is feeding the greed. The only way to stop this is to find printer manufacturers that allow for refills and support them while getting the word out about HP’s horrendous practice of sucking the consumer’s blood. Let them lose market share and you’ll see how fast these refill halting chips and these bogus expiration dates go away. HP stands for Hypocritical Pirates.

Animal says:

Battery is problem with HP OfficeJet Pro L7650 and the expired cartridges problem

I’ve got a L7650 and was having the problem with it complaining about expired cartridges and wouldn’t let me print anything. I also have a CISS.

I finally located the CR2032 3v button battery. It was a real pain to remove. I don’t recommend trying unless you’re hardware savvy. The battery is behind the PCBoard under the RHS lower cover (facing toward the inside of the machine). It is very hard to get at and there is the possibility of breaking your machine.

This requires a Torx screwdriver set (like Allen keys but with a six pointed star shaped head).

  • Open the machine up so you can see the printer heads.
  • Then remove the power/network cables from the back.
  • Take the three screws out of the lower white case side (one top, two back).
  • Slide the side-case directly backwards and then it falls off to the side.
  • Then you have to unsocket all the cables and ribbons attached to the PCB.
  • Remove the screws holding the PCB down.
  • Carefully manoeuvre the PCB out (Valium might help). The battery is on the other side.
  • Pop the battery out of the socket and set it aside

I’ve left my battery out and the printer seems to work fine without it.

To reassemble you just have to reverse the dis-assembly. I found the PCBoard really difficult to get back into place. Be gentle and patient — you don’t want to damage the board. One of the ribbon cables had a tiny(3/4″ x 3/32″) hinged black clamp piece which fall off but is easy to replace (comb side towards socket, clicks on).
Good Luck!

Christine Jones says:

My Letter to HP President and CEO Mark Hurd

I agree 100% with you. I have had more HP printers than I want to admit and EVERY one died within a year or two. I have one that uses 88XL cartridges and just now starting giving me the message. I generally buy cartridges from Sams Club and Office depot. I bought the printer in Feb 2012 and bought two sets of 3 multipack cartridges so I would not run out. I just discovered that the ink Sams Club sold me in June 2012 has an expiration date of Dec 2011 which they tell me they will replace. I have the receipts. I also have two magenetas from Office Depot that I purchased in December 2012 and Office Depot says they have a two year warranty and it is now Nov 4, 2014. I also have that receipt. Hopefully I can just replace the expired ones for new cartridges with those companies and be satisfied and will continue to do business with both.

This information may help some other people since I suspect many with this problem were sold expired ink in the first place since we didn’t even think to look for an expiration date and we did not know our printers would stop using them.
HP is VERY VERY scammy and somewhere in the last few years we have lost any checks and balances we had in consumer protection. It is a sin that even though a lawsuit was wont on this issue, that all ripped off consumers got was a max of $6 person and I wonder if a cease and desist was ever issued.

I will Boycott all HP products when all my HP’s finish dying and will stick with Canon and Epson which have been more reliable(ink still pricier than gold). Consumer reports gives too high of rating to HP printers in the most recent issue because they do not consider their ink games or their average age at death in their ratings. If people knew the truth perhaps they would make better choices. I have an old reliable Canon copier I have had for 25 years and it still works fine.

I will also say that my printer wast making great copies until it decided to scam me. There was absolutely no problem with expired ink.

Thank you for sharing how to remove the battery. Most people with the problem would be tossing it in the dumpster.

sadsue says:

HP instant ink program ripping me off

I purchased the HP instant ink program and was told that whatever pages I didn’t use would roll over to the next month and then after having them jam my printing all printing could not print at all could not use my printer even off line I asked why I should keep paying monthly when I can’t even use all the ink in the cartridges I have installed cause they jammed my printer all they could tell me after an hour on the phone was Nothing,that the cartridges are chipped and that in order to continue printing I would either have to get billed for another month or buy unchipped cartridges.anyways this program basically for me was a bust,a ripoff.when I can’t even use any of my 278 rollover pages

angelica says:

DID HP SELL ME OR RENT ME THE PRINTER????

i’m from a Spanish country, so forget me if i type wrong.
it’s true, the don’t allow to print. i buy an hp desingjet 110, it cost me US$ 2,225.00. it’s not cheap. i have to change the ink cartridge when it already have ink, but worst it have four ink-head, that i have to change because they are old!!!. so i buy this 4 head print and the 4 ink cartridge, each one $35, but they have been manufacture a years ago, one year after i spend almost $200, the print head red and blue are failing. my question is:

DID HP SELL ME OR RENT ME THE PRINTER????
i pay my money and i’m not printing. i never buy another hp product ever again. by the way may sister buy two hp laptos, they never fail, they only broke the power cord and the plug for the power cord * wich she repears several times until she get tired.

bruce says:

hp fraud

FRAUD AT HEWLETT PACKARD. ANOTHER CORPORATE FRAUD COMMITTING THEFT BY DECEPTION. HAS SOFTWARE THAT WONT LET YOU REFILL YOUR CARTRIDGE, OR EVEN USE A REMANUFACTURED ONE. I HAD ANOTHER HP MODEL I THINK 5600. WAS ABLE TO REFILL AT LEAST 3 TIMES. THEN IT STOPPED ME FROM REFILLING. THEN,,DISPOSED OF THIS PRINTER, AT MY COST!! THEN BOUGHT HP PHOTOSMART 110A. BIG MISTAKE!! A SOON AS IT RUNS OUT OF INK, YOU CANT REFILL AGAIN AND USE. IT WAS SO FULL OF INK, AFTER I REFILLED IT, THAT YOU COULD SHAKE IT,AND HEAR ALL THE INK IN IT!! LOADED WITH INK!! WONT PRINT ANYMORE!! PRINTS A FEW PAGES, THEN PRINTS LIKE ITS OUT OF INK. BOUGHT ONE HP CARTRIDGE…..,ONLY LASTED FOR 100 PAGES LOL!!!, SPENT $20.00 + TAX. THEN BOUGHT A REMANUFACTURED CARTRIDGE; ONLY PRINTED ABOUT 140 PAGES, EVEN THOUGH IT IS AN XL!!!!! FRAUD BY THIS HP CORPORATION. I HAVE SPENT 3 MONTHS WRESTLING WITH THIS PRINTER. TRIED EVERYTHING; INCLUDING GOING TO THIER WEBSITE, AND DOWNLOADING ALL THEIR TOOLS,SOFTWARE,,,ETC. I HAVE DONE IT ALL…CLEANED HEADS,,,ALIGNED HEADS,,,MANUALLY CLEANED. NOTHING ALLOWS YOU TO REFILL YOUR CARTRIDGE. POS COMPANY,,,ONLY RIPPING OFF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC…CLASS ACTION SUIT IN ORDER!! COUNT ME IN!! ALSO,,NOT CONCERNED WITH THE ENVIRONMENT…,YOU ONLY NEED INK,,,NOT THE WHOLE CARTRIDGE. CAUSING ENVIRONMENT TO BE POLLUTED WITH ALL THESE EMPTIES. HP ONLY CARES ABOUT CORPORATE PROFITS! DONT BELIEVE HP LIES THAT THEY TELL YOU!!! I HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ABLE FOR YEARS TO REFILL EMPTIES,, AND WAS LIKE NEW!!! THIS ACTION BY HP IS WRECKLESS, MALICIOUS, AND IS A FRAUD ON AMERICA. THEY HAVE CREATED SOFTWARE TO JAM THESE REFILLS AND REMANUFACTURED CARTRIDGES. CORPORATE CORRUPTION!! ALL OF MY CARTRIDGES HAD 1 OR 2 YEARS LEFT BEFORE THEY EXPIRED. THESE WERE NEW CARTRIDGES,,UNEXPIRED!!

Nige1912 (profile) says:

Printer ink cartridge conspiracy

Hewlett Packard Printer ink Scam.
I purchased a HP Envy 4507 earlier this year for use at the museum. Now because of our refurb, I decided to take it home to print out some new information cards. SO, I get it home, set it all up – wireless now – no messy cables running everywhere, and as soon as it goes online to set itself up it goes into shutdown mode because of a £7.99 missed payment on our ink cartridge payment plan. Long story Short – I have spent the last 24 hours trying to get HP to take a damn payment from a card (which DOES have funds on it before anyone asks), and no joy – their call centre (Yes you guessed it – somewhere in bloody India) are utterly hopeless. They can take a card payment which takes them 24 hours to process! SO thats now 48 hours that the printer has been locked.
And you know what really gets my goat? What REALLY gets me angry? What ABSOLUTELY gets me seething with rage? It’s this interfering “Big Brother” approach where HP can now totally lock up your printer and prevent you using it. I paid £80 for this thing to then have some remote program shut the thing down and prevent me using it???
How VERY dare they! Who DO they think they are that they can treat customers like this!
BOTTOM LINE
If you are tempted by the monthly ink packages that HP are pushing (As I was) BEWARE THIS FACT – miss ONE payment, and they WILL and CAN lock up your printer and prevent you using it.
If I had the cash I would get a bloody lawyer onto it and sue their ass.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON AND MAKE EVERYONE AWARE OF THIS STING

Allister Hughes says:

HP Envy printers

The is a good looking printer, flawed by HP greed. Not content with trying to charge you more than the price of gold for their ink cartridges, this printer becomes a paper weight if you try to use anybody else (it won’t print if you buy compatible/refilled cartridges!)

PLUS: it constantly communicates with HP servers WITHOUT your permission or knowledge.

Tim Santa Cruz says:

HP is a Criminal Enterprise

I have been a lifelong victim of HP printers and their deceiving, fraudulent ink schemes – now enhanced by wireless, built in web servers, etc. This company is a disgrace to America, period. They are financial terrorists.

I have (2) college degrees with Honors (one in Mechanical Engineering); have been an Engineer and Product manager for (4) tech companies in Silicon Valley over 20 years; and have traveled extensively in 25+ countries as part of my work.

I am ashamed that HP is an American company.

Rod Smith says:

HP Photosmart D7460 Locked up by NEW "Expiered" Cartridges

I foolishly replaced all 6 printer cartridges with new-in-box ones that I had purchased awhile ago when I had the extra $$$$ to do so. Now I have a piece of crap printer that tells me I have a ‘ ink System Failure” every time I turn it on. it is a Photosmart D7460…I already tried removing the CMOS button battery and resetting the date back. Has ANYONE found a solution that will let me print with these perfectly new (but past expiration date) cartridges? My next trip will be to Staples (where I MAY be able to get a few bucks for the printer cartridges, then trashing this POS printer). HELP!

Howard Waller says:

HP cartridges

Just another clever way for the rich to get richer on the backs of the rest of us. How about coming up with a way to bypass the cartridge internal coding. Yes I know HP apologists this would cut into their profits but it is a good stop gap until the best method becomes popular: lynching the money grubbers who run the company.

KoolBreeze420 says:

HP photosmart C7250

So my father gave me this printer and I bought a set of refillable ink cartridges so when I remove the cartridges and refill them the ink level resets. This is great right but I think either the firmware in the printer or the software has reported that these ink cartridges are now expired it even rendered my main cartridge useless. The black one controls the set without it all colours go down and you can use it alone becasue it somehow controls the other cartridges that’s what I mean when I say my main cartridge. In any case with this printer, you can choose to print with these out of date cartridges, you have to do it at the printer. If the power goes out or it’s unplugged you have to do it again. All you do is press ok and confirm that you will take respaoblilty for any damage the experied ink may cause then it lets me print.

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