HP firmware update blocks non-HP ink cartridges

By Martin Brinkmann at ghacks.net:

“HP released a firmware update on March 12, 2016 for several of the company’s Officejet printers that renders non-HP ink cartridges useless.

HP customers began to complain about the issue on September 13, 2016 on various online forums, the official HP forum, and on community sites like Reddit.

All reported that a HP Officejet printer blocked non-HP ink cartridges from working, and that the device displayed [a “Cartridge Problem” message] to the user.”


From consumerist.com:

“A recent firmware update to HP printers cut off some third-party cartridges’ access to printers. Printers told users that their ink cartridges were “damaged,” but the only thing wrong with them was apparently that HP didn’t make them.

Here’s the interesting thing, though: there was no printer firmware update in September. Instead, a self-destruct date for these cartridges came in an update back in March.”


From arstechnica.com:

HP’s DRM sabotages off-brand printer ink cartridges with self-destruct date
Firmware rejected non-HP cartridges as “damaged” after September 12.

This past week, thousands of HP Inc. printer owners were notified by their printers that their ink cartridges were “damaged” and needed to be replaced. The reason, according to a statement from HP, was a firmware update intended to “protect HP’s innovations and intellectual property.” But some users report that even HP’s own cartridges failed in their printers—and that they weren’t able to get the printer to respond in order to remove the offending ink.”

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