How to Get Hp Printer to Recognize Refilled Cartridge [6 Steps To Take]

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Some users have run into an annoying problem where their HP printer won’t recognize a cartridge that has been recently refilled. Below is a description of why this happens and what you can do about it.

An Overview of HP Printer Cartridges

The newest Hewlett Packard printers can detect when users have not installed an authentic HP cartridge. When this happens, the printer may simply refuse to work. As you can imagine, this can be quite frustrating for those that prefer using cartridges that are refurbished, remanufactured, or refilled, which tend to be more affordable than official HP cartridges.

The good news is that HP printers may be tricked so that they believe the empty cartridge has been replaced with an authentic one. The printer might inform you that the cartridge is devoid of ink when it has actually been refilled. Below are the steps for achieving this.

First Step: You will want to extract the cartridge which is currently installed in the printer’s carriage. This might have to initially be done via the printer’s control panel (depending on the model you have), and once this is done you will want to turn your cartridge over to view its copper contacts. Be sure that the contact is in close proximity to you.

Second Step: Take a miniature piece of tape that is clear and place it onto the 7th copper contact, which can be found along the 2nd copper row of contacts that are on the left. After doing this, you must put this cartridge back inside the printer. Next, give the printer a command to run the alignment. After this alignment is finished, you’ll want to extract the same cartridge a second time.

Third Step: Don’t mess with the tape that you placed on the cartridge’s copper contact previously. Instead, you’ll want to add a second tape piece on the cartridge’s right side (remember that the first tape piece was added on the left), onto the 6th copper contact which can be seen in the 2nd row from its right. After doing this, install the cartridge and run your printer’s alignment program a second time.

After the second alignment run is finished, you’ll need to extract the ink cartridge again and now completely remove all the tape. Be sure that the tape’s sticky residue is not left behind in the cartridge’s copper contract. Now put the cartridge inside the printer once more, and you’re done.

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How to Refill Your Ink Cartridge

To refill your ink cartridge, follow the steps below:

Step 1: You’ll want to position your empty cartridge in some paper towels so the ink doesn’t get all over the place.

Step 2: Next, you must peel the label off near the top to provide space so the cartridge’s ink tank can be refilled.

Step 3: Fill up your syringe to about five ml with the ink color you want. It is recommended to start with the black-colored ink cartridge.

Step 4: You’ll want to exercise caution when injecting ink inside your cartridge and be certain that it is injected slowly until the chambers are full. A bit of ink might spill out once it’s full, so be certain you’ve covered its rest holes.

Step 5: Once you’re done, make sure its top label is uncovered with its filled holes open so that it can draw in the air during printing.

Step 6: Finally, you’ll want to replace your ink cartridge and perform its cleaning cycle from one to three times depending on the manufacturer’s instructions.

Those that want superior results will need to maintain the cartridge within the printer for around eight hours which gives the ink time to fully saturate the entire sponge. Afterward, the cartridge should behave as if it’s new.

However, the printer won’t reveal the precise amount of gauge. If you wish to reset your cartridge ink level, you must reset the whole printer so that the level gauge recognizer will work normally. After the system has been reset, your printer can detect the amount of ink that is inside the cartridge.

As a consequence, you’ve tricked your HP printer into thinking the cartridge is an authentic one, and it should not be able to tell the difference. To verify that everything is working normally, you will want to perform a test print.

Additional Things to Consider

As stated previously, in order for this trick to work, you must make sure there is no sticky residue that is left behind in your copper contacts when the tape is removed. The reason for this is because the contacts are responsible for connecting to and then reading the cartridges and the residue could disrupt this process.

If for some reason the reset technique doesn’t work with the printer, consider the cartridge cycle while resetting the level. To do this, you will want two spare cartridges on hand including the cartridge that you’ve refilled.

First, you will want to put the ink cartridge that has been refilled inside the printer which will allow it to detect it and process the alignment pages. After this is done, you will want to extract the cartridge that has been refilled and replace it with one of your spare cartridges. Now give the printer a moment to identify it and then print your alignment pages.

Next, you’ll need to remove the initial spare cartridge that you added, and then replace it with the second spare cartridge. Follow the same steps that you did previously, giving the machine time to identify the cartridge and then print out the alignment page. Finally, you’ll extract the second spare cartridge and then put your cartridge that has been refilled back inside the printer, and print the alignment page again. At this point, your ink level should be fully reset.

Conclusion

Printers are a necessity for small businesses and entrepreneurs, but many are unhappy with the high cost of printer ink. Specialty companies have emerged which attempt to solve this problem by selling remanufactured, refilled, and refurbished ink which is usually more affordable than buying brand new cartridges.

However, greedy corporations like Hewlett Packard and others have attempted to supplant this by designing their printers in such a way where they will only use “official” cartridges. For business people on a budget who must use their printers on a daily basis, this can be financially crippling, which is why the solution above was developed.

That being said, you must be careful when doing it because if the printer is damaged, the warranty will not cover it. For those that are planning on buying a new printer, another solution is to simply avoid buying brands or models that require you to only use their cartridges.

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