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General discussion

Does HP install chips in new cartridges to not work if expd?

Nov 19, 2009 10:18AM PST

I have an HP C5280 photosmart inkjet printer which is about a year old. The printer uses #74 black and #75 color cartridges. This afternoon I had to replace the #75 cartridge, on the back of the box containing the cartridge I installed earlier today it said warranty ends February 2010, when I opened up the box and removed the cartridge from the box the date on the plastic bag containing the cartridge read August 2009 which is the install by date. I know it's about 3 months since the install by date but I went ahead and installed it anyway.

It wasn't long afterwards when I tried to print something I received an error message to check printer documentation, cartridge problem. Then on my monitor's screen another box popped up saying there was a problem with my recently installed #75 color cartridge, check printer documentation. I went ahead and removed the newly installed #75 color cartridge and installed another #75 color cartridge which had a better install by date, a July 2010 install by date with a warranty end date on the back of that cartridge's box of January 2011. The printer now seems to be working fine. This is a first for me. Does HP have built into their newer cartridges a chip or a sensor which will prevent the cartridge from working if the cartridge is installed in a printer past the cartridge's install by date?

Discussion is locked

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Yes.
Nov 19, 2009 10:40PM PST

HP has to do this to prevent issues with jets and more. If you get an outdated cart from a retailer then HP is known to replace these if you ask them to.

Since you didn't heed the install by date and cracked it open I can't be sure if HP will replace this one but do ask.
Bob

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Re: Yes.
Nov 20, 2009 12:18AM PST

Why does HP do that? To sell more cartridges or to protect their products from possible damage? Did HP start using that feature in their newer model cartridges only? I also have a 10 year old 895Cse inkjet printer hooked up to an older PC which I don't use that much but this is the first time this has happened to me using HP cartridges. Someone posted on an Ebay discussion board that there was a way to override the HP chip which prevents the cartridges from working past their install by date so you could continue to use them but I wasn't going to try it.

So I went to my desk drawer and pulled out another cartridge with a better install by date and warranty end date. Fortunately I bought the cartridge from a seller on Ebay who I have purchased from before, the cartridge including S & H cost me less than $10.00 USD but I certainly would not attempt to use a cartridge with a 2 year or more expiration date but since this cartridge's install by date was just a few months old and the cartridge had a warranty date into the year 2010 I thought it would be alright, well apparently it wasn't.

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All been discussed before.
Nov 20, 2009 12:51AM PST

You see two lines of discussion on this. One is the conspiracy angle of selling more cartridges. I will not honor that discussion with any more words.

The second is simple. You buy a printer and it has a warranty. As the inks do degrade over time they must have the use by date and drop dead or else risk clogged jets or such. HP took steps to stop this in its tracks and only the conspiracy theorists will think otherwise. Same story for locking out refills.

HP does exchange unopened carts that expired so what's the beef?

Hope this helps,
Bob

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Re: All been discussed before.
Nov 20, 2009 3:43AM PST

Bob, whatever.

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(NT) Glad it helped!
Nov 20, 2009 4:26AM PST