What is ink expiration and will it make my HP inkjet printer stop working? Why does it exist?
There is a computer chip that is built into HP ink supplies that can make them stop working on a certain date. There are also computer chips built into all of HP’s laser toner catridges.
According to HP, “Basically ink expiration is a built-in date on which certain HP ink cartridges will stop working. Air ingestion and water evaporation can cause ink to change over time. In printing systems where the printhead and ink supply are separate, older ink can adversely impact the printhead and the ink delivery components within the printer. With ink expiration, however, HP can prevent this from happening.” “If the cartridge still has ink on that date, it either stops operating or displays a warning message ..”
According to my HP customers, “It was just working, and that $*%# catridge is full” “It’s planned obsolesence to make us buy more ink.”
HP printers WITH ink overide procedure:
Printers HP Officejet Pro 8000, 8500, K550, K5300, K5400, K8600, L7400, L7500, L7600, and L7700 Series, HP Photosmart 3110, 3210, 3310, 8250, C5180, C6180, C6200, C7180, C7200, C8100, D6160, D7160, D7200, D7360, and D7400 series, HP Photosmart Pro B8800, B9180, HP Designjet 510, 5100, 8000, 9000, 10000, L25500, L65500, LX600, LX800, T610, T1100, Z2100, Z3100, Z3200, Z6100 series, HP CM8050 and CM8060.
HP printers with NO ink overide procedure
HP Officejet Pro K850, HP digital Copier Printer 610, all HP Business Inkjet, HP Officejet D series, HP Officejet 7100 series, HP Officejet 9100 series, HP Professional series (2000 and 2500), and HP Color Inkjet cp1160 and cp1700 All other HP printers.
Some cartridges cease to function 12 months after the “Warranty Ends” date, or 18 months after the ink cartridge is installed, whichever comes first.
Other cartridges cease to function 24 months after the “Warranty Ends” date, or 30 months after the ink cartridge is installed, whichever comes first. Do not expire.
Ink cartridge Override is performed by following instructions on the printer, in the user manual, or in the ink cartridge expiration message that comes up on the computer screen.
It seems that HP is playing tricks on consumers! Ink cartridges with expiration? That makes the effort of some HP users to save on ink useless because they may end up with filled cartridges that they can no longer use. This isn’t fair.
I have a HP OfficeJet Pro K8600 printer. Pro apparently means that I have been welcomed to the broad club of HP Cartridge Rip-Offs, It entitles them to force the owner (personal in this case) to either continually override the warning message or spend a great deal on money replacing cartridges that are still nearly full.
I also have another older OfficeJet 9600 that never has a problem with ink cartridges being old but still filled with ink.
This is the biggest rip-off, and YES, I agree that it is prime time for a CLASS ACTION SUIT against HP!
I’m sick and tired of HP and other printer firm’s forced cartridge renewal programmes.
If I’m this frustrated, there must be a huge demand for a simple B&W printer capable of using generic handicrafts-shop bottled ink, and invite startups to give it a go
Most important:
o like emergency calls on your phone, you should ALWAYS be able to print B&W
o no ink expiry.
o no cartridge replacement, just ink refill
Huh-i bought an HP printer last year (Deskjet 1050,J410) and thought i was getting a fantastic deal, as printer/scanner/copier all in one for £24.00. Now i find i cannot use it most of the time as i can’t afford the ink cartridges which seem way too expensive for the small amount of work they do.
O how i long for the days when i could just take my cartridges to a local print shop and they just refilled them for me for a mite sum(in contrast to buying another new cartridge & todays prices) or i could buy the bottle of ink & kit and refill them myself. It’s absolutely disgraceful (& in my opinion ought to be against some trade & standards law)that the printers manufacturers now make refilling the cartridges yourself impossible, so that we forced into paying exhorbitant prices for new cartridges all the time which seem higher prices for less ink. If some enterprising company came along and made printers catering for the refillable cartridges again, i’d ditch this money making machine of HP tomorrow and buy theirs (and i reckon so too would many other people p*ssed off at the current daylight robbery) then once one company manufactures such an economical printer, hopefully it would serve as precedent for other companies to do the same.Perhaps it’s time we exercised more people power, in that if folk didn’t buy the printers because of the catridge costs(just said we can’t afford to print anymore)then prices would have to fall(otherwise the firms would go out of business)Its like i say re the BBC licence fee, stop watching tv and paying this fee, then the tv corporation would have to do something. Drop their fee or take aboard advertising to survive. People should stick together more to get things done, Unity is Strength. & by the heck all the companies stick together in arranging prices so that it’s hard for us to find the cheaper deal,and yet competition ought be good for the consumers.But it isn’t. Well that’s my ten penneth for the day.
Kindest from pennine ( north-east England)
I am also the ‘victim’ of these ink levels wich HP found necassary to ‘protect’ your own ivestment. Unfortunately they offer no real or possible solution to this problem. Oh wait, yeah! Just buy genuine cartridges and all you’re problems will be solved. Well mister HP this is the last time I have bought such a crappy product!
Oh yeah, I own and use a Photosmart D6160. The ink signal keeps blinking no matter what I do. After reading the story above I came to the conclusion this isn’t any hardware failure only the dailure of HP itself.
Well it is time for a class action lawsuit
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One of the major complaints about the iPad when it was first introduced was that one could not print from it. Apple heard us and with the release of IOS (iPhone Operating System) 4.2 the company included Apple Air Print a technology that allows, or is supposed to allow the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to print wirelessly from the device to an ever-increasing number of Hewlett Packard printers like the “HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus Inkjet Printer.” Hewlett Packard upped the ante with this All-n-One (AIO) unit by including wireless and giving the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus Inkjet Printer an e-mail address (@hpeprint.com address) from which one can print from any computer, iPad–or other mobile device–via a technology called “HP e-Print.” One can also print wirelessly to an Apple mobile device like an iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone etc. via Apple Air Print.Un-PackingMake no mistake the “HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus” is a hefty printer checking in a 21 pounds. And while the unit does not require a two-man lift, it will require some finesse to get it out of the box and onto a flat surface. One unboxed it took me a little less than 15 minutes to completely assemble the printer including the duplexer unit. Thankfully the power supply is built-in, so no heavy power brick to find a place for. Network Setup Before connecting the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus network via Ethernet (RJ-45), or Wireless the decision must be made to utilize one or the other communications medium, but not both. USB can be utilized with either configuration. Since I wanted my iPad to “speak” to the printer and print I installed the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus utilizing wireless and USB and I can print either way as well as utilize the scanner to print-to-computer. Wireless set-up was effortless using DHCP; all I needed to know was the network WPA2 passcode. Wireless Printing & e-PrintOne of the selling points of the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-AIO is of course the ability of the iPad to print to the device either wirelessly (Air Print) or via e-Print. I am happy to report that both work! As I stated above Apple IOS version 4.2 shipped with Air Print, which allows the iPad to wirelessly “talk” to Air Print enabled printers like the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus. Once the printer was set up on the wireless network I could see the printer on the iPad from Air Print enabled applications like Safari, select the printer and print. G that was it, no setup needed on the iPad. HP’s e-Print also works like a charm, most of the time. With e-Print the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is assigned a customizable e-mail address to which one can forward e-mail’s to be printed from iPad, iMac, iPod, or PC as long as the printer is connected to the Internet. This feature works reasonably well; it is supposed to be able to print attachments, but this is a hit or miss proposition; i.e. sometimes it works, sometime not, sometimes it print half a page. However, overall, I am pleased with e-print. Software InstallationMy HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is connected primarily to an Apple iMac 2.7GHz machine with 4GB RAM, 1TB hard drive running OS X Lion Version 10.7.2. Out of the box the software disc will not work with Lion 10.7.2, so I had to download a software update from Apple and another from HP, but both worked seamlessly and I was able to get up and running with full functionality (including scan-to-computer) in under 15 minutes. And I have to say for the record I like the iMac interface for the printer better than the Windows 7 interface. Printing Pretty straight forward; the software installation process installed a full set of print drivers which in turn give you complete control over the printing process, including two-sided printing. The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus can also print from inserted USB flash drives and or MMC/SD Media cards. ScanningThe HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus offers up both a 50-sheet ADF and flatbed scanner for use. Initialing the scanning process can be accomplished from the included software, inserting a page(s) into the ADF, or the units control panel. Once an item is placed into the ADF or on the flatbed scanner glass surface, you can push the Scan button on the front panel, at which time you choose where to scan to: Computer, USB Flash Drive, or Memory Card. Once a destination is chosen, you can then chose to scan to file (.PDF is an option), e-mail, or photo. Copy ProcessThis process, like printing is pretty straight forward; both color and black & white copies can be made, up to 99 at a time. Because there is a duplexer installed two-sided copies can be made in a number of different configurations, including 1-side original/ 1-side copy; 1-side original/ 2-side copy; 2-side original/ 1-side copy; 2-side original/ 2-side copy. Copies can also be enlarged up to 144%, or reduced down to 25% of original. Working with PhotosAs stated above, the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus will accept input from a number of commercially available portable memory storage devices, slots for which are located on the left hand side of the printer underneath the cartridge insertion flip down panel. Simply insert the memory card and the photos it contains are displayed on the small 4.6″ touch-screen color display on the right hand side of the unit. ConclusionOverall I like the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-AIO, because it works seamlessly with my iMac and I can print to it from my iPad. The design is a little austere; there are no buttons to push because everything is controlled from the color (touch screen) display panel, which might prove problematic if it ever decides not to work. But, there is always the control set on the computer, so… The built-in wired Ethernet capability, coupled with USB and wireless make the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-AIO Inkjet Printer a versatile, flexible unit that is ideal for a small home office setting and well as workgroup setting. If you or your small workgroup need a scanner/ copier/ printer/ fax, and need to print from your iPad–or other mobile device–in some form or fashion the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus should be given serious consideration.
Yes, my ink cartridges are NOT empty, but the bloody HP L7580 printer stopped working. This is the FINAL HP product I will ever use. This is the worst way of marketing their product. Already their customer service will not even clarify anything to customer just because you have not bought their warranty. Their service center does not give proper replies even if you tell them you will carry the 15kg printer to them. Their software will be so bloated in size. Now this ink expiry DATE …
Why should they force (under the funny excuse of safeguarding printer from old ink) customer to consume one cartridge per expiry period ? Is it trying to sell such cheap stuff to gain customers and fleece them recurrently at regular intervals whether they print less or more, and hold them to permanant ransom for becoming their customer (the mistake in the first place, i regret.)
I have decided to throw this printer and buy a samsung instead, since cost of 4 cartridges can as well buy me a printer itself.
I have done the same. Last HP product I will ever purchase was the one I just binned. After years of loyal HP purchasing, printers, laptops etc I will never buy one or recommend one again. Now the best idea is to pick a printer with the features you want at the best price you can get, use it until the toner or cartridges run out, then bin the printer & get a new one. It’s actually cheaper than toner or ink cartridges & you always have the latest printer & it’s under warranty.
All this stuff is now just “Techno Junk” anyway.