HP Playing Dirty Tricks? - Comments Page 4

Am I the only one here who remembers System Enhancement Associates' ARC program and .ARC compression format, and what happened to it when it attacked Phil Katz who had launched a (free?) competitive version? SEA whipped Katz in the courts. However pretty well every BBS system abandoned ARC when he introduced ZIP and made it available without restrictions. If .ARC isn't dead it must be living in exile somewhere.

Maybe HP should duck.

(Ironically a strong case can be made that SEA was the wronged and real victim here.)

Bob I also have a HP B209a that was given to me by a co worker It was printing fine but had low ink levels. I purchased a HP black cartridge from Wal mart and installed it, Got the message defective or missing cartridge. Spent hours on HP website. No usable info. Let it sit for four days and it started printing correctly. To me the HP website is nearly useless. I have two other HP printers that worked perfectly always.

Great article, Bob, and thanks for the warning. I haven't experienced this problem (yet) but if I do, now I know what to do about it.

Same thing happened to my HP printer some time ago. My Canon printer now works fine with the reman cartridges. :-)

I have had most of the problems that
have been written about here. When my printer dies, I have resolved to never buy another HP product of any kind. I will give an honest effort to fix the problems by using some of the many forums available on the net first, if that doesn't work, I will toss the printer. I have had some good luck with refilled cartridges purchased at MicroCenter, but they are a bit more expensive than internet ink. I hope some HP exec reads this.

I turned off automatic updates years ago. Printer still works without issues. Yet another reason to keep those automatic updates turned off. Otherwise, I have been using HP since 1986 and love their products. Except I buy toner cartridges online and not from HP.

About 2 years ago I ran into the same situation with my HP 8600. I also use LDProducts. I called LD, explained the situation and they said exactly the same that they told you. They knew that the chip on the cart was no longer compatible. Got the new cartridges in two days and started printing again. Does HP do this on purpose? I think so, but thanks to LDProducts my problem was relatively painless.

Found the same thing with HP940 cartridges on my HP 8500 printer. Refills always failed the expiration date code and wouldn't work. Even "date expired" OEM cartridges fail to work properly. Anyone have a workaround? Will think twice about HP in the future. Really sleazy business practice.

With the exception of TP, I've given up paper. I've even gone through rebuying some books so from a wall down to one shelf for books I can't get anymore or when the author has signed it. Everything else, I've donated away. My newspapers and magazines are all electronic. I back up a lot, and some are backups of backups. I prefer reading on a screen. If the occasional paper comes by, I scan it and shred the paper and give to recycler. I've done that for about 5 years now. I do know that somethings must be kept on paper, but I try my best to not proliferate. I just sold one of my houses completely electronically, with signatures in DocuSign except the transfer of property of new owner, required Notary Public. It also has alreary been tested, email is legally binding. If you think maybe for the young, I am a late baby boomer. I was riding in the car to visit my aunt, when I heard JFK was shot.

Is there not a way to turn off firmware updates? And if so where?

Interesting . . I have an Epson workforce 500 printer and I use an HP Pavilion 6300 PC. Just before Christmas I purchased new cartridges for my printer at Walmart (Canada) on sale. When I installed them I received a message that the cartridges were NOT LEGIT! even though they were. I thought, because the cartridges were on sale and I purchased them at Walmart, perhaps they were 'forgeries'. So it is not just the HP Printers that are to blame, it is also the HP Computer!! The printer works fine, despite this. I have Windows Vista on my HP Computer, perhaps this is a factor as well.

Reading these remarks makes me think that I would not now purchase any H.P product .

My Canon E510 printer is a really reliable piece of equipment and can be highly recommended.

Thank you Bob for your very good & informative article as always your helpful info is appreciated .
Regards Burt

When I put generic cartridges in my Epson Printer I get a message telling me I am not putting in a genuine cartridge. It then asks me if I want to continue with my cartridge. I say yes but I get the message a second time on my PC.

It just comes down to revenue raising by said company who has a record of screwing the customer with there brand products and lack of customer support.

Has everyone forgotten that printer manufacturers aren't in the business of printers? They sell ink, and toss in a printer to print them with. This is their obvious intent when a full compliment of refill cartridges of XL size costs more than you paid for the printer...??

Bob why you do not let us know where the update turning off setting is located for an hp7660 and hp 4180?
Thanks

I decided before reading this article that HP will be my last printer from that company. I have had a 178XL cartridge stop printing although the window on the cartridge shows it still has plenty of ink and my finger comes away from the sponge full of wet black ink. Printers should be made with reservoirs for the inks that can be topped up from bottles for all makes of printers. I drive a Chevrolet but I don't buy fuel for the car from Chevrolet. I would pay more for a good quality printer rather than paying extra on consumables from the printer company. HP should learn to understand their customers only need the software to drive the printer and not all the other junk that they force on users that is not need. Only a basic windows 7 ultimate 64bit driver for the printer, scanner and copier is ALL that I need from HP. Normally a box proceeds the installation of all programs and one checks a box for the items the customers wish to load onto their system. Since I have OCR and Photoshop software already on my system it stands to reason these programs will not be need and the HP supplies program where cartridges can be purchased will also not be needed. Are we all considered too stupid to make decisions for ourselves that these installations are forced upon us?

Apparently "HP (is) playing dirty tricks". I assume that somebody has come up with a workaround that will not force us to change printers until some time in the future when they are no longer viable. My Pro 8600 will no longer use anything other than HP Ink, though it used to use LD brand. When the LD brand failed a couple of years ago, I had no idea of the reason, and simple went back to purchasing HP ink. Now that I know that HP has manipulated the software, I'm very unhappy with them, but I do not want to purchase another printer until the 8600 is dead. So is there a workaround? I'm sure that someone in your network, or at least a subscriber of your newsletter has come up with something. Perhaps somebody has come up with a firmware file that can set the computer back to the point prior to the installation of the malware that HP has sent out? Or perhaps some government agency can make the firmware update illegal and force HP to change the firmware for all HP printers? It is, after all, malware, and it should be illegal to send it out for all their printers.

Apparently "HP (is) playing dirty tricks". I assume that somebody has come up with a workaround that will not force us to change printers until some time in the future when they are no longer viable. My Pro 8600 will no longer use anything other than HP Ink, though it used to use LD brand. When the LD brand failed a couple of years ago, I had no idea of the reason, and simple went back to purchasing HP ink. Now that I know that HP has manipulated the software, I'm very unhappy with them, but I do not want to purchase another printer until the 8600 is dead. So is there a workaround? I'm sure that someone in your network, or at least a subscriber of your newsletter has come up with something. Perhaps somebody has come up with a firmware file that can set the computer back to the point prior to the installation of the malware that HP has sent out? Or perhaps some government agency can make the firmware update illegal and force HP to change the firmware for all HP printers? It is, after all, malware, and it should be illegal to send it out for all their printers.

I'm still using an HP Deskjet 6122. It's around twelve years old and works great! BUT...as has been said above, I cannot use anything but an HP ink cartridge in it. Cartridge World? No dice. Staples generic? Fugeddaboudit!

And it's not just HP. I was given a Lexmark X7550 multifunction printer by an attorney friend who was sick of dealing with the cartridge issue. Yes there's ink in the cartridges. No they are not Lexmark. No, the printer will not print. What's worse, Lexmark's ink is more expensive than HP's! Before someone asks why the Lexmark when the HP was working, the Lexmark was a gift, and it has wi-fi, which the HP doesn't, so I can connect every computer in the house to it--when I finally get ink, that is.

I also had an Epson printer in my office at a former job. We tried generic cartridges in it, and not only would it not print, it just plain quit working even when we replaced those with genuine Motorcraft (oops...Epson) cartridges.

So it's not just HP.