[NA]Rollback printer firmware

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
Dammit I accidentally clicked ok when my HP4630 inkjet printer generously offered, for the billionth time, to update its own software for a better user experience. (its a wifi printer, yeah I need to learn how to keep it from straying outside the home)
ImMEDiately, it refused to recognize the non-OEM cartridges, and gives zero options to bypass it, ignores all past tricks which used to work.
Of course, HP wont provide the original software but where would I find it (and how safe would any such find be?)
If no luck, then I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to buy another HP because of this and will be looking for an alternative which is not so cartridge-revenue focused.
 
If the HP installer was nice enough to create a windows Restore Point you could go back to that and see if it works. Most have little luck with this.

Better, if you’re doing proper full system image backups you go back to the last one.
 
A windows restore point would only roll back the drivers, it 'won't do squat for the firmware that was downloaded into the printer.
 
flyingron said:
A windows restore point would only roll back the drivers, it 'won't do squat for the firmware that was downloaded into the printer.
Click to expand...

I didn’t read the title but truly getting a firmware update is rare. Not quite buying that.
 
Sorry about that, but I’ve ruined two good printers using 3rd party ink so I only use factory ink now. I figure I’d have to use a barrel of ink to make up for ruining a printer.
 
kgruber said:
The last thing HP did good was the HP-35
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. My HP-41CV is pretty good. Over 35 years old and still going strong.

A colleague of mine who used to work for HP in their ink jet printer group said that HP doesn't make their money selling printers. They make it selling ink. My experience over the years (decades) is that he was absolutely correct.
 
Crashnburn said:
Sorry about that, but I’ve ruined two good printers using 3rd party ink so I only use factory ink now. I figure I’d have to use a barrel of ink to make up for ruining a printer.
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How on earth can a print cartridge harm a printer? I've been using non-oem (ie Non-Gouge) cartridges since about the 2nd year of the internet.
 
I can see that. The nozzles are part of the cartridge in mine.
I'm thinking about putting my IT guy on it. $20 and I bet he finds & replaces the original non-gouge software and I can truck on til I buy a non-HP printer.
 
Meh, we print so little that about twice a year, we would find that the nozzles had dried out, often on nearly full cartridges, but it was worse when we did it to the canon that had the print head separate from the cartridges. We tried switching to color laser, and are on our second in about 14 years. A much longer and less frustrating life span. And this one is barely past its first toner change away from the half charged cartridges that come in it. I think it still has one of the original color toner cartridges installed. A set of cartridges for it isn’t cheap, but the very low number of times it won’t go from a simple print request, or maybe power cycle and try again makes it worth the occasional toner spend.
 
Crashnburn said:
Bad ink can clog the print nozzles.
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The nozzles are PART of the cartridge on this printer (and most of the HPs). HP is scum. In addition to the hack the poster found, they also encode dates in the cartridges, so ones that have been sitting unopened don't work if they're old, for no reason other than to screw the customer.

The nozzles on the lousy Epson printers are indeed separate and likely to clog even with Epson-brand ink.
 
Crashnburn said:
Sorry about that, but I’ve ruined two good printers using 3rd party ink so I only use factory ink now. I figure I’d have to use a barrel of ink to make up for ruining a printer.
Click to expand...

In the consumer inkjet market, the multifunction printer often costs about the same as two sets of ink cartridges. So you only need to use a few ounces of ink to equal the cost of the printer.

Though I've never had a problem with third-party cartridges, other than the vendor-induced annoyance of not being able to tell how much ink remains.
 
In fact, the bottom of the line Epson printer I use for light duty at Oshkosh costs less than the replacement ink tanks. I figure I'll just buy another one at Wallyworld each year. It usually sits in a box between events anyhow.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
If no luck, then I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to buy another HP because of this and will be looking for an alternative which is not so cartridge-revenue focused.
Click to expand...
Good luck with that. Laser printers are the cheapest own (cost per page) but they ain't cheap.
 
Ghery said:
I don't know about that. My HP-41CV is pretty good. Over 35 years old and still going strong.
Click to expand...

Roger that. I started with HP-21, then HP-67, finally with HP-41 and HP-71 that launched my engineering career. Still have a 41 in a desk drawer, and an emulator on my iPhone. RPN forever!

Present-day HP lost its way around the time of the board squabbles, failed CEOs, etc. A real pity.

Recommend a M252dw laserjet for your needs. Annoying reminders at times but otherwise solid for several years.
 
Two solutions: Use HP cartridges and have them refilled at Costco; or if you bypass the HP warning, the non-OEM cartridges will work, or at least I was able to do that with mine.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
Good luck with that. Laser printers are the cheapest own (cost per page) but they ain't cheap.
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Opened amazon, found three color lasers under $300... and a Canon imageclass MFC multifunction color laser for $320 that’ll outlast most used cars.

Samsung made great ones cheaper even than that but sold out of their printer division. The one sitting here is easily ten years old. Actually now that I think about it, it has to be older. I used it that long, gave it to dad, he used it six years, then died and I ended up with it again.

The Canon MFC downstairs that “replaced” it, complete with legal scanner and sheet feeder the SIZE of a small car is close to 10.

Biggest pain in the butt with the Canon is that it’s so old it only has 802.11b wireless. LOL

Pretty sure it was Ted who told me to buy that thing. Here. Almost a decade ago. He wasn’t wrong.

If you want a printer for $100 you’ll get a crappy inkjet that’ll be ready for the landfill in less than a year of serious printing. That’s what the dumb consumer grade throwaway market wants.

If one truly needs inkjet for specialty printing the high end Epsons are probably best. Problem is, you need to be doing a lot of volume to keep them running and non-clogged, etc.

Small print jobs, especially photos, take em to Walmart or CVS or Walgreens. Or one of the cheap online services. Ain’t worth messing with a home inkjet in low volume.

Non-photo/specialty? Laser all the way.
 
denverpilot said:
Opened amazon, found three color lasers under $300... and a Canon imageclass MFC multifunction color laser for $320 that’ll outlast most used cars.
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Yep that's about right. And that's what I meant when I said laser was cheaper, but not cheap. A $100 bill will get you a brand new color ink jet any day of the week. It won't be a great printer, but it'll work. You're going to spend at least double that to get into a color laser. And you'll probably have to spend triple or quadruple that before you get into a color laser that's actually worth owning. But as your experience has shown, it'll likely last a lot longer and you'll end up spending much less on it in the long run. I see no advantage to owning an ink jet unless you need to print a lot of photo quality graphics.
 
All true about the HP-41CX and all the rest......................BUT.....

The HP-35 was a fundamental shift in the way of doing engineering.....kind of like the Model "T"
 
Some of the HP printers have a setting to bypass the block or warning.
 
kgruber said:
All true about the HP-41CX and all the rest......................BUT.....

The HP-35 was a fundamental shift in the way of doing engineering.....kind of like the Model "T"
Click to expand...
Absolutely it was. I was still in the Army at the time it came out, but in later in the mid-70s at my college I heard of professors that ran out and bought them immediately for about $2500 in today's dollars.

The HP-35 made slide rules obsolete overnight.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
this is new, Bill.
No amount of button pushing can bypass it, it’s bricked.
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Do you have a genuine HP cartridge to try? Wonder if the firmware update borked the whole printer. Not unheard of. Of course, it's probably cheaper to just buy a new printer. Don't buy Epson, they're just as bad.
 
Crashnburn said:
Sorry about that, but I’ve ruined two good printers using 3rd party ink so I only use factory ink now. I figure I’d have to use a barrel of ink to make up for ruining a printer.
Click to expand...
Same here.
The first one I chalked up to my own fault for refilling a cartridge myself.
The second one was refilled at a shop that did it there.
The 3rd one was a 3rd party cartridge in a sealed box.

Never again.
 
denverpilot said:
If the HP installer was nice enough to create a windows Restore Point you could go back to that and see if it works. Most have little luck with this.

Better, if you’re doing proper full system image backups you go back to the last one.
Click to expand...
How does one do an image backup of a printer?
 
I'd NEVER use factory ink!! What a ripoff. And I'd never buy HP.

The first example I can remember of that particular rip was Polaroid. They sold the camera at a loss.....almost free!! But the film was WAY expensive.
 
kgruber said:
The first example I can remember of that particular rip was Polaroid. They sold the camera at a loss.....almost free!! But the film was WAY expensive.
Click to expand...

Gillette was doing it with razors and blades long before Polaroid came along. And I doubt Gillette was the first to hit on that strategy.
 
Nothing to see there. They deeply subsidized cell phones from the day they were rolled out to sell you service. The biggest issue they had when they came out with "stripless" blood glucose testing was how to make a profit on them if you weren't forced to buy strips.

Keurig doesn't really sell coffee makers, the sell coffee.
 
The Brother above MFC-L2750DW worked well right out of the box.
Did not have to read a manual or Quickstart guide.
The onscreen instructions were dirt simple.
One of the first options was to receive or refuse firmware updates. Hoping they abide by that and don't renege or sneak in a repeating message on the screen 'press ok to accept'.
crisp print even with very tiny font.
Not a billion settings to make, it was printing in 5 minutes.
Connect to wifi; Go.
 
My friend who used to work for HP was right. They don't make their money selling printers. They make it selling ink. I just bought a set of new cartridges for my HP printer at Costco yesterday afternoon. Damned near $200 for the set. I don't think I paid that much for the printer!
 
Ghery said:
My friend who used to work for HP was right. They don't make their money selling printers. They make it selling ink. I just bought a set of new cartridges for my HP printer at Costco yesterday afternoon. Damned near $200 for the set. I don't think I paid that much for the printer!
Click to expand...
Once upon a time, I made the mistake of buying a Dell laser printer. A couple of years in, it needed all four toners, and I knew it would need a drum or web sometime soon. A new printer with cartridges was cheaper than the 4 toners for the Dell, so off it went to the great printer depot at the dump.
 
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