deskjet 1050 from europe - ink compatibility with us

[Lotti]

Hi, having recently moved back to the USA from Europe I had to realise that my HP printers (from Germany and UK) are not accepting the US-sold HP ink cartridges. Althouth I picked the correct cartridge type for the HP deskjet 1050  j410a, the printer LED's were still flashing red. A brief search on the internet showed that HP simply en-coded all printers so that you canonly use the cartridges from the country were you bought the printers.

However, there seams to be way to re-code the printer so that it will accept US sold HP cartridges. Can anybody help? I have an entry level HP Deskjet 1050 and a high-end C8081 and I don't want to loose either one them.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Jon-W]

Give HP tech support a cal at 1800HPINVENT. They will have to perform a regionalization on the printers. You will need a full set of the US cartridges for each one and a usb connection to a computer to complete the process.

[Lotti]

Hi, thanks for the help, but that is what I tried before I posted here. Never the less, I tried it again.

Result: - first call: I was put on hold after I explained my problem and then after a long wait, I was cut off.

              - second call: I explained my problem and the lady suggested I should simply try the US cartridges. I explained to her that that won't work, she said she had never heard of this problem before. So I told here that it is all over the internet and this forum. She then asked me if my printer was still in warranty and when I said no, she wasted no time to tell me that I will have to pay for the support. So basically she had no idea what I was taking about but wanted to charge me. When I asked for a manager she put me on hold and eventually the line went dead.

I have been a loyal HP customer for 15 years. I buy my printers, and my family's printer from HP, but this will now come to an end. No more HP products in my house. 10 years ago I brought an HP printer from Portugal back to the US and had no problem what so ever. They must have implemented this change in the past few years. Anyway, thanks for trying to help. are you sure there is no hack out there?

[Jon-W]

The steps need to be done by HP. What you may need to do is simply escalate the case to a supervisor. Even an out of warranty printer should be dealt with for free if it is a regionalization call. The main issue is probably that this really doesnt come up a lot at all, so not all of the reps will know what you are talking about. A supervisor should know the process and help you out. Sorry about the issues getting it set up though.

[Lotti]

This is not a rare issue at all. There are numerous postings from military personal and other regular people moving around the planet.

http://www.michellesullivan.org/blog/305

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/comment/1648662/hp-unlocks-printer-regionalisation

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Printing-Questions/Regionalising-a-printer/td-p/366751

...  the last time I asked for a supervisor/manager I was put on hold and finally cut off.

That is what I need to do with HP - cut it off. I will find a way to get cartridges from Europe until my printers die. Then I will replace them with another brand. Seems the only way to get myself heard - oh wait, I was wrong, HP don't care so it does not matter what I do :-(     ... I'll do it anyway.

[Jon-W]

Sorry to hear about the issues getting through to a supervisor. There will be several postings about it, but you also have to compare that to ALL of the other issues. There might only be 1 of those calls for every 5000 that come in.

[Lotti]

Do you work for HP? If so, why is it not possible to do this through this forum. At least I know that I am talking to somebody who understands the issue.

[Jon-W]

The process cannot be done via forums, as far as i know it has to be done through the phone. You could attempt chat support however.

[Lotti]

No chance to get through to chat support with an out-of-warranty printer - tried it, failed!

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

I may be able to help, I will send you a private message requesting some details.

For others with the same issue you will need to Contact HP to request a "Regionalization Reset". There should not be any charge for this, it is covered as part of the cartridge warranty. You will need to have access to your computer and printer while on the line with HP. You will also need to have a set of cartridges for the new region, once the reset is complete cartridges from the original region will no longer work.  Not all agents are trained in this procedure, if the agent you talk to is not able to perform the procedure ask to speak to a supervisor and then request a "Regionalization Reset".   HP's web page on the subject is here.