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Update (9:30 PM, 9/15/2017): According to an HP spokesperson, this feature has not been reactivated. The statement provided to ET reads: "Earlier this week a media outlet in Europe inaccurately reported that HP issued a new firmware update designed to prevent the use of third party cartridges. No such firmware update occurred. HP continues to use various forms of authentication (including dynamic security) to forbid the use of cartridges with non HP chips. We volition continue to issue firmware updates in order to resolve bugs and meliorate customer experience."

The initial study that HP had reactivated its firmware lockouts popped upward on multiple sites today. Whatever readers who accept experienced this issue immediate or who experienced it last year and are not experiencing information technology now are invited to write in.

Original story below:

Last twelvemonth, HP pushed a stealth firmware update that started killing printers that used ink sold by third-party vendors. The company took considerable fire for the move, particularly since it had distributed the lockout as an invisible trigger in a previous firmware update. Roughly 6 months later on the concluding firmware update had been installed, multiple HP printers suddenly stopped working, claiming they had been filled with the wrong ink cartridge. Of grade, the "right" ink cartridge happened to be for branded ink you purchase straight from HP, at vastly inflated prices.

Concluding yr, everyone blew up about this and HP sensibly stopped doing it, though the visitor announced that it reserved the right to start again — because nada beats pissing off your customers for a second time in a row. The company has started once more, considering if you're going to reserve the right to piss off your customers, why wouldn't you lot use it? The firmware update it's pushed out to re-enable cartridge lockouts volition once again tell you lot you're using the wrong ink:

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HP does nevertheless offer a printer driver that doesn't actuate this lockout. Simply information technology's a transmission download you lot tin grab, rather than ane the company is pushing. I have to acknowledge, it's a clever workaround. Instead of giving anyone the freedom to use printer ink they select themselves, HP locks you out of the device by default, and then gives technically proficient users the choice to sneak dorsum in. Of grade, you lot're not meant to know that — and HP is well aware that well-nigh office managers will just purchase more ink. If they can't get ink to piece of work properly from a third-party, they'll purchase it elsewhere. Especially in this mean solar day and age, when almost printers offer plug-in-and-it-works functionality, people aren't likely to call up of a print driver as containing a DRM scheme or the means to bypass one.

There's a huge range of affected models, though all appear to be OfficeJet Pro printers. HP has published instructions for its driver update method, available hither. If your system has already been locked out by the firmware update, the newer driver may be your just selection. We recommend blocking any automatic update feature baked into your printer, to avoid this happening in the future.

Alternately, you may desire to consider some other printer company altogether. HP clearly isn't going to back down from this kind of lockout, and the company isn't going to stop pushing DRM solutions, either. There may be a commuter available now, but don't exist surprised if that download gets "deprecated" at some point, or simply isn't updated to back up newer printers.