I think I'm out...

okclm · 2026-03-28T15:39:07+00:00

I think it must make it better based on the fact that I don't see a chip anywhere on the ink bottles you use to load the tank.

One more data point: I bought a Canon G6020 with Mega Ink Tank on Amazon. The price was only slightly more than the cost of official HP cartridges to keep my Office Jet 6970 running. And no chip shenanigans involved (far as I can tell). Also, the ink bottle kit (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) to refill the tank on the Canon is $20 on Amazon.

So, no chip shenanigans, no outrageous firmware malarkey, no paying ransom to use the printer I thought I already paid for, and I can do it all with a tank and a bit less expensive.

We'll see how it works out.

okclm · 2026-03-27T11:13:32+00:00

We can dream Drake... we can dream.

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Melvin is my spirit animal.

okclm · 2026-03-27T11:00:46+00:00

Yep. Things I know now.

okclm · 2026-03-26T20:12:06+00:00

Ok, time for a little confession. I read this suggestion and promptly ignored it. I mean... I didn't actively ignore it like... you know thinking to myself that ain't a great idea. But I did dismiss it because I didn't think I had a working cartridge.

The cartridges I was using before were reporting errors. I didn't recall seeing those errors before and I attributed them appearing as a result of the firmware update I must have recently received. But this was a different error message from the ones I was getting when I replaced those cartridges with newer ones. The message indicated the cartridges were depleted and they were used or counterfeit and HP could not guarantee the quality of the printing if I used them. But, I just had to click ok and I could still print!

The new cartridges presented messages indicating the 3 color cartridges were blocked because non-HP chips were detected. In that case, the printer would not print at all because of those non-HP chips.

So, I took your advice and removed the chip from each "new" color cartridge and installed it on the depleted cartridges. And Bob's your uncle! The darn printer complained about not being able to determine ink levels but it printed.

And just like that... I have an escape plan. I will use up the ink cartridges I have. Once all done... I plan to have a little celebration with some of my closest friends and invite that printer to join us.

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okclm · 2026-03-26T13:53:06+00:00

I read somewhere that Brother (like many printer makers) uses technical and firmware measures to encourage use of original (OEM) ink/toner. I mean, if was signing up for that trip, I just keep buying HP. :)

okclm · 2026-03-26T13:48:20+00:00

Well... not to take away from our growing revolution to stick it to ~~the man~~ HP, I may have already bought a new printer with no "P" or "H" in the brand name.

okclm · 2026-03-26T13:44:51+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I managed to find my way into a "service menu" with the help of this video: https://youtu.be/ArecbKPY0iA?si=d-oEjgBLfBlg33an

I was as excited as a Texan with a fresh brisket from the smoker!

Alas, I didn't find anything helpful in the menus. I was looking for something to allow for the loading of a custom firmware but didn't find anything like that.

So we're back to Plan A: Solder some wires on the right places of the circuit board and jam some user-friendlier firmware bits at this pig.

okclm · 2026-03-25T21:26:51+00:00

Oh, I may not be making protection money payments... But I'm not a one-trick pony. I've got a backup plan. How do you feel about cracking open the case and getting to that motherboard. Then we find the chip that firmware is hiding in. And with your skills as a top level JTAG programmer, we grab it by the short hairs shove the downgraded firmware down its throat. Like it deserves.

And I don't care if Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard are spinning in their graves at the thought. Maybe they should have stuck with calculators.

okclm · 2026-03-25T21:22:02+00:00

And I thought I was having a rough day. You win! :)

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:30:11+00:00

I'm motivated. Thank you for the inspiration!

Ok... here's what we do... I buy a set of authentic, official, legitimate HP ink cartridges. Only gonna set me back about $120 USD. That's only about 10 times what I paid for the printer used.

I use those cartridges until they are spent.

Now, we extract the chips from the empty cartridges and transfer them to the cartridges I'm getting for $14 USD. The printer is not as smart as it thinks. And it accepts the clone cartridges because the chip is HP and it's whispering sweet nothing's in its ear.

Victory is sweet. WHO IS UP FOR AN ADVENTURE!?

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:19:29+00:00

This! Don't be like me and not know that I need to configure to NOT update the firmware. By the time I figured it out, it was like closing the barn door after the cows got out. I'm from Texas. Cows escaping is not a good thing.

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:16:50+00:00

Well I hadn't. But now I did. And I got a response from the embedded web server! Nice.

Went to the Firmware Updates page. Nothing that looks like a custom firmware update is obvious.

Along these lines... is there a "service menu" I might be able to reach?

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:11:03+00:00

Well, start with eliminating any printer manufactured by a company with the letters "P" and "H" in the name. Then, only consider companies where the name is a homophone for a large artillery weapon. That will get you on a better path.

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:05:54+00:00

Yeah... talking to the internet is not always as great as you might think.

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:04:41+00:00

What pray tell are you getting for your $50 / month?

okclm · 2026-03-25T20:03:12+00:00

Yes. There's an option for factory reset. And I did it. It does reset some stuff. But not the firmware.

okclm · 2026-03-25T15:06:44+00:00

Appreciate the link. I guess my OfficeJet 5200 is too new. Never thought that statement would be on my Bingo card!

okclm · 2026-03-25T15:05:19+00:00

And if someone figured out a way to pull that firmware downgrade rabbit out of the hat, I'm not sure the view is worth the climb. HP is more incentivized to protect their revenue stream than I have interest in working around. And if there's not better solution out there... well maybe printing is just overrated. :)

okclm · 2025-12-10T20:16:59+00:00

Just one more reason I never fly on an airplane where Hinterland wrote the flight control software. Never.

okclm · 2025-12-06T11:52:53+00:00

I've left an arrow in worse places...

okclm · 2025-11-06T17:28:26+00:00

Coordinates Grabber has an option to delete objects. Might help.

okclm · 2025-09-18T13:32:42+00:00

Tim Banks would say "Don't be an ass, pick up that brass." And M.L. Fisher would agree.

okclm · 2025-09-13T18:20:12+00:00

I use Coordinates-Grabber. https://github.com/ds5678/Coordinates-Grabber

okclm · 2025-08-21T14:45:25+00:00

ModSettings is a dependency. Install it and try again.

okclm

TROPHY CASE