Get those face-palms ready folks. About the same time last year, HP pushed out a firmware update for its inkjet printers that blocked the use of third-party cartridges. This did not go down well with anyone and within a month, the company removed the block and we all moved on. Except HP of course, which appears to have done it again.
Late last week, tech blogger Günter Born was made aware of the new firmware and its effects by a third-party cartridge vendor in Germany. Anyone attempting to use a set of non-HP cartridges in their printer would be greeted by the following message:
One or more cartridges appear to be damaged. Remove them and replace with new cartridges.
Why HP would go down this path again after the backlash it faced last time, I have no idea. Fortunately after investigating further, Born discovered the cause — and fix — for the block:
The US HP support page addresses the issue. HP’s new firmware update seems to force HP’s Dynamic Security Feature to block non HP cartridges. A description of this feature may be found here.
Users can download another firmware update that disables Dynamic Security, after which “non HP ink cartridges should be accepted again”, reports Born.
The fix isn’t very well advertised by HP — no surprise there — but by providing it alongside the blocking update, I suppose it gives the company an out of sorts when customers do complain.
Firmware Update blocks again non HP Printer Cartridges [Born City, via gHacks]
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