HP printer - prematurely reporting low toner
Discussion
I have probably been suckered up by Hewlett Packard in this one.
Got a colour laser printer MFP M477. It takes 3 toner cartridges, 1 black, then the three colour ones.
I try to preserve the colour toner cartridges and print in black most of the time. However, my strategy seems to be undermined by HP, who must monitor toner use by pages total pages printed, so I assume it can clock up a high number of pages, but hardly any colour toner has been used. The printer then throws up messages every time it is turned on to say that magenta is low, cyan is low, when I know that they cannot be. I have to stand over the printer and clear these warning messages at every switch.
Am I getting this right. Is there a cartridge reset tool that I can reset the page count on a toner cartridge back to zero and carry on using it? Otherwise, printer in black/grey is a waste of time.
Thanks
Got a colour laser printer MFP M477. It takes 3 toner cartridges, 1 black, then the three colour ones.
I try to preserve the colour toner cartridges and print in black most of the time. However, my strategy seems to be undermined by HP, who must monitor toner use by pages total pages printed, so I assume it can clock up a high number of pages, but hardly any colour toner has been used. The printer then throws up messages every time it is turned on to say that magenta is low, cyan is low, when I know that they cannot be. I have to stand over the printer and clear these warning messages at every switch.
Am I getting this right. Is there a cartridge reset tool that I can reset the page count on a toner cartridge back to zero and carry on using it? Otherwise, printer in black/grey is a waste of time.
Thanks
Indeed.
Well, I have been on to HP customer support who were very good. They told me that the toner cartridges have sensors in them to monitor levels. Also told me that colour gets used even when printing black, to make the black up. Hmmm.... well, there may be some truth in that, but sort of defeats selecting the option 'select to print in black to save toner'!
Indeed, welcome to the realm of a very rich company and expensive toner.
Well, I have been on to HP customer support who were very good. They told me that the toner cartridges have sensors in them to monitor levels. Also told me that colour gets used even when printing black, to make the black up. Hmmm.... well, there may be some truth in that, but sort of defeats selecting the option 'select to print in black to save toner'!
Indeed, welcome to the realm of a very rich company and expensive toner.
TUS373 said:
Got a colour laser printer MFP M477. It takes 3 toner cartridges, 1 black, then the three colour ones.
Isn't that 4 toner cartridges? 
I think I've got the same model - mine is 479 - it also throws up the warning but I can't say it's a massive deal to just cancel the warning. The colour carts have been saying they were low for at least a year. I bought one colour that was lower then the others but have never fitted it,
About a year ago Ibought a whole new printer as the 479 is a little big and I want to put it somewhere else, and I saw a 283 on a special offer and with cash rebate, and at £200 it was less than a set of carts (even the smaller ones). I planned to swap them over when the 479 stopped printing but it's still going, although we don't print much now.
Yes - my typo there. It is 4 cartridges - 1 black, then 3 colour.
We use the scanner quite a lot. Main thing is my wife, who sometimes works from home. She complains that 'nothing works in this house' and I am the IT department responsible for the marital service of supplying all lap tops, internet, peripherals, and making sure that they work whenever she is using stuff.
Anything with an error message and a wobble is thrown. Usually by wife, not the laptop.
We use the scanner quite a lot. Main thing is my wife, who sometimes works from home. She complains that 'nothing works in this house' and I am the IT department responsible for the marital service of supplying all lap tops, internet, peripherals, and making sure that they work whenever she is using stuff.
Anything with an error message and a wobble is thrown. Usually by wife, not the laptop.
TUS373 said:
Yes - my typo there. It is 4 cartridges - 1 black, then 3 colour.
We use the scanner quite a lot. Main thing is my wife, who sometimes works from home. She complains that 'nothing works in this house' and I am the IT department responsible for the marital service of supplying all lap tops, internet, peripherals, and making sure that they work whenever she is using stuff.
Anything with an error message and a wobble is thrown. Usually by wife, not the laptop.
They all do that sir!We use the scanner quite a lot. Main thing is my wife, who sometimes works from home. She complains that 'nothing works in this house' and I am the IT department responsible for the marital service of supplying all lap tops, internet, peripherals, and making sure that they work whenever she is using stuff.
Anything with an error message and a wobble is thrown. Usually by wife, not the laptop.
It is the first colour laser we have had following a Samsung (good) and Kyocera (also very good). It is an all in one, has worked flawlessly with respect to print and scan quality....but absolutely eats expensive toner!
Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
TUS373 said:
It is the first colour laser we have had following a Samsung (good) and Kyocera (also very good). It is an all in one, has worked flawlessly with respect to print and scan quality....but absolutely eats expensive toner!
Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
I find the scanning to be not very good - I read something about HP limiting the resolution so that scanning could work with the document feeder.Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
In all other respects it's pretty good - and certainly a revelation after colour inkjets.
Mind you, I've never had to pay for anything up to now but I've just retired. I don't think I'll be paying £400 for a set of carts!
TUS373 said:
It is the first colour laser we have had following a Samsung (good) and Kyocera (also very good). It is an all in one, has worked flawlessly with respect to print and scan quality....but absolutely eats expensive toner!
Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
It lying to you. I’ve had a color laser printer from HP for years. Once we got over the lying issue, it has worked great. The only indication a toner cartridge is low is when your print looks funny. I’ve run hundreds of prints through after the first warning. Not quite ready to bin it off just yet, but I am open minded if there are more cost effective solutions out there. A full tray of toner is about £400!
I now just punish it by using cheap cartridges off Amazon that it can’t read. It throws up error messages like
“Unsupported cartridge may invalidate warranty”
And
“I’m going to murder your first born”.
We just ignore it with the occasional
“I’m in Charge, not you!!” Shout at it.
It still gets revenge by making it near impossible to cancel a print job though.
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