WARNING!
Generally, updating firmware for your printer is a good thing. Firmware is software on your printer that
controls the basic hardware functions. The firmware is essentially the layer between your printer's hardware
and the print driver, controlling the basic hardware functions. Firmware updates generally fix hardware bugs,
improve printer/scanner performance, add new features and fix support issues. Recently however, we are
seeing more and more that these firmware updates do one more thing (a most important thing from the
manufactures standpoint)—they take away some printers' ability to read the remanufactured cartridges "chips".
This means that you must use the genuine OEM cartridges distributed directly by the manufacturer. If you
used to be able to use compatible / remanufactured cartridges, but no longer can, this is probably the reason.
Why is this a problem? Well if you like to save money, this is a major problem. In some cases compatible /
remanufactured cartridges can cost only a fourth of the OEM price. Over a year, that can save an enormous
amount of money. Over the course of the printer's lifetime, it's amazing how much money you can save.
Essentially speaking, these firmware updates make it impossible for printers to read anything but the OEM
cartridge chips.
Compatible / remanufactured cartridges are just as good as the OEM product. They last the same amount of
time, hold the same amount of ink or toner and produce the same quality images. Economical consumers know
that compatible / remanufactured cartridges make a lot of "cents"! No wonder manufacturers are trying to get
money from customers by making it impossible to use compatible / remanufactured products.
So far Dell, HP, Lexmark & Samsung are the only manufacturers that are known to have put these restrictors
on their products; however, there is always a chance these same scenarios
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