HP disabling printers that use 3rd party toner

[Vorg]

I was at the printer repair shop yesterday getting some toner and they said recently they had a bunch of people report their printers stopped working after the printers did auto firmware update because they didn't have OEM toner cartrages.

[minibois]

HP - but other brands too - seems to do this sometimes. Just a wave of "oops, your printer is now bricked because we said so" updates.

I've seen news like this a couple years ago, with 3rd party ink brands promising compatibility shortly after.

[Slayerking92]

Thats why you shouldn't buy 3rd party toner.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Thank god I still have a "dumb" printer that doesn't have any sort of internet connection. This Brother laser printer has been running strong for 10+ years so far and has mostly been using third party toner.

[Dabombinable]

1 minute ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Thank god I still have a "dumb" printer that doesn't have any sort of internet connection. 

Mine has wifi, but it can't go beyond the local network.

[Godlygamer23]

8 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

Thats why you shouldn't buy 3rd party toner.

Nonsense argument. You shouldn't be locked out entirely from using 3rd party toner just because a manufacturer doesn't want you to. That's dumb. 

[The_russian]

5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Thank god I still have a "dumb" printer that doesn't have any sort of internet connection. This Brother laser printer has been running strong for 10+ years so far and has mostly been using third party toner.

My 16 year old Dell laser printer is also still going strong, it has ethernet but no wifi. That thing is one of the most reliable electronics in my house. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

8 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Mine has wifi, but it can't go beyond the local network.

Mine isn't even a network one hahahaha. USB only, have to share it over the network via my desktop (well laptop at the moment). But that makes sense, like why would you need to access your printer outside of your house. 

 

But back on topic (sort of). It's interesting how we give Apple so much flack about reparability when printers have slipped under the radar. 100 bucks for a replacement toner cartridge, that's more than 50% of the MSRP of some laser printers on the market today. Can't really blame consumers going for 20 dollar third party replacements. It's not like a power brick where there are inherent dangers involved with shady third party replacement parts. Same goes for drum replacements. 

[Slayerking92]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Nonsense argument. You shouldn't be locked out entirely from using 3rd party toner just because a manufacturer doesn't want you to. That's dumb. 

Apple isn't the only one with a closed ecosystem, many manufactures will only support their brand of accessories. And from a support standpoint its easy to understand why. 

[WhitetailAni]

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6968 and it keeps telling me to update the firmware, but it won't let me update it or tell me how.

I'm curious what it does.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6968 and it keeps telling me to update the firmware, but it won't let me update it or tell me how.

I'm curious what it does.

Don't bother. It's like updating your BIOS, unless there is something seriously wrong with it, just leave it. For network printers, I guess security updates would be important... but I doubt brands like HP and Samsung are continuously beefing up the security on these things. 

[Applefreak]

I haven't personally used HP Laser printers, only Pro stuff like Brother MFC, CANON LBP, Xerox etc. Do HP printers have a PCB on the toner? You know, all toner cartridges have fill ports, you can open the rubber plug and just refill it that way or pour the 3rd party one in like that. 

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, ragnarok0273 said:

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6968 and it keeps telling me to update the firmware, but it won't let me update it or tell me how.

I'm curious what it does.

This is the latest firmware from HP about your printer. There are some release notes under Fixes.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-officejet-pro-6960-all-in-one-printer-series/8289579/model/11161242/swItemId/bi-215266-8

 

Not sure what all that entails though. But there is a note that says it is dynamic security enabled firmware, which wouldn't allow you to use non-HP supplies unless it was manufactured prior December 1st, 2016. 

[Godlygamer23]

5 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

Apple isn't the only one with a closed ecosystem, many manufactures will only support their brand of accessories. And from a support standpoint its easy to understand why. 

Yes, but to actively enforce it to where a customer cannot use someone else's supplies is just garbage, among other things with printers. It's also easy to see why people circumvent security measures, and why that will always be an issue if manufacturers continue to do such garbage. 

 

If a manufacturer doesn't want to provide support for an issue caused by using a third party's toner or ink, fine. But to make it so you can't use them at all is not okay.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

12 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

Apple isn't the only one with a closed ecosystem, many manufactures will only support their brand of accessories. And from a support standpoint its easy to understand why. 

Well yes and no. For a printer... where user serviceability is pretty much an expectation, disallowing third party replacement parts just pisses people off. Like imagine if your car only allowed you to use OEM branded fluids? The moment your Civic detects Quaker State oil instead of the Honda OEM branded stuff, it'll refuse to start. If it's meant to be user serviceable, the user should not be locked into using OEM parts.

 

If it's not meant to be user serviceable, well at least they knew they would have to bring it back to the manufacturer for servicing anyways so the expectation of being able to get a lower priced bill isn't there. Still rather scummy and annoying at times, but you knew what you were getting into. 

[unsorted]

1 hour ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

... but I doubt brands like HP and Samsung are continuously beefing up the security on these things. 

Most companies have financial incentives with the State to do the exact opposite. There is also the small problem of "is my printer spying on me?" which brings up a nice articles from years ago showing how printers print unique ID in the prints themselves.

[Spotty]

I would like an actual verifiable source for this, but unfortunately this behaviour from printer manufacturers is very believable.

 

2 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Nonsense argument. You shouldn't be locked out entirely from using 3rd party toner just because a manufacturer doesn't want you to. That's dumb. 

Especially if the 3rd party toner worked in the machine previously and it was disabled only to prevent competition in the toner/ink market.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Peripherals

[da na]

16 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Thank god I still have a "dumb" printer that doesn't have any sort of internet connection. This Brother laser printer has been running strong for 10+ years so far and has mostly been using third party toner.

Same!

[Vorg]

This is like buying a car and then having the cars computer not allow it to start if you don't use gas, oil, tires, etc., from the dealer. 

 

It's also forcing a monopoly for printer supplies. And a form of bait and switch. Buy the printer, then after a bit, you can't use supplies from other companies. What next? have to buy the paper from them too?

[Vorg]

On 12/15/2020 at 6:11 PM, Spotty said:

I would like an actual verifiable source for this, but unfortunately this behaviour from printer manufacturers is very believable.

 

Especially if the 3rd party toner worked in the machine previously and it was disabled only to prevent competition in the toner/ink market.

That is exactly what happened. They sell a lot of toner and do a lot of work for companies as well. The brand toner they sell is "Image Master USA" and have been selling them for years. I haven't compared prices lately, but when we started buy from them, they were about 1/2 the price of OEM and pointed out things to look for on them to know if they were a good quality or cheap knockoffs.

 

This local Printer company was awhile back offered HP servicer status by hp because they do so many, but told they could not work on any other brands. So they said no.

[WhitetailAni]

19 minutes ago, Vorg said:

It's also forcing a monopoly for printer supplies. And a form of bait and switch. Buy the printer, then after a bit, you can't use supplies from other companies. What next? have to buy the paper from them too?

I hope not...

But I imagine someday HP will make HP-specific paper with a some identifier on it.