Regionalization Reset - Two sets of ink cartridges?

[Katie54321]

Hi,

I moved from the UK to the US and have the same issues as many before me - the US ink cartridges won't work and my UK printer needs to have the region reset so I can use these locally purchased ink cartridges. Ugh.

HP support have told me that I need to have both UK _and_ US ink cartridges for the regional reset process. I wish I knew this before I threw away the UK ink cartridges (they weren't allowed in the air shipment...) So, what are my options? Is there another way? 

I'm trying really hard to make sure my printer can be useful again, and not end up in the rubbish.

Thanks for any help,

Katie

**Edit: To save everyone from reading my many updates: Udey, my assigned case manager, successfully reset my printer's region WITHOUT the ink cartridges from England. He apologized for the tech support responses I've had so far and is sending me a couple of free print cartridges. Thanks, Udey!

[ShlomiL]

Hi Katie,

You can surely complete the process with the new HP 65 cartridges only, be sure to have a full set of genuine Black and Tri-Color cartridges installed in the printer and contact HP Support in the US or Australia again, as you provide conflicting information about your location, be sure to only contact HP Support in the region where you are located at.

As a reference, point to below support document as a reference, only the new cartridges are required as the document clearly states:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02558798

Please let me know if you experience any further issues, so I will do my best to assist you getting the problem resolved.

Shlomi

[Katie54321]

Hi Shlomi

Sorry if there's confusion over my location - maybe it was my use of 'UK' and 'US' that did it. I'm definitely in America and I have a printer purchased in England.

Thanks for your reply, you've made me hopeful. I'll try support again and keep my fingers crossed that I get someone else. For the record, this is a segment from my support interaction (I just removed my surname and changed the support guy's name):

...

4:50 PM  Peter: Do you have UK bought ink cartridges with you?
4:50 PM  Katie: No, I have the US cartridges that are currently incompatible
4:51 PM  Peter: Katie, we will need both UK and US ink cartridges to regionalise the printer.
4:52 PM  Katie: I don’t have the UK ink cartridges because they can’t travel in air shipments. There must be another way?
4:53 PM  Peter: No, there is not any other way
4:54 PM  Katie: I’m not sure about that. In all the forum posts about the issue, no one has mentioned needing two sets of ink cartridges
4:54 PM  Peter: We need UK ink cartridges to do the troubleshooting.
4:55 PM  Katie: There is no troubleshooting - I already know the trouble and just need the steps to re-regionalize the printer
4:55 PM  Peter: yes, to regionalize the printer we need UK ink cartridges/
4:56 PM  Katie: So I can’t buy the UK ink cartridges here and the US ones won’t work on a UK printer. So my printer is basically just rubbish now?
4:59 PM  Peter: My apologies, however there is no any other way to re-regionalize .

5:01 PM  Katie: So what does HP recommend from this point?
5:04 PM  Peter: You can try to contact shopping department to purchase UK ink cartridges.
5:05 PM  Peter: HP Shopping Number: 1-888-999-4747

[Katie54321]

Update. I honestly had to give up.

During my 60+ minutes with Todd (name changed), I was constantly pressured into handing over remote access to my computer (no thanks!) I actually found him to be rather unhelpful and vague. The final straw was when he had me Ctrl+shift right-clicking around the HP Smart App, "on left side of ink box outside the supply status box", trying to find an easter egg, then he typed, "How do you expect this to be done by someone who has no or less knowledge of this." Well, I think we all want software that doesn't require someone to take control of our PCs...

[Katie54321]

Another update.

After a good night's sleep, I decided not to let the poorly trained support techs wear me down. No, I'm still not giving anyone remote access to my computer and no, I'm not going out of my way to ship in ink cartridges from England. I made progress though and I'll add my steps below so they may help someone else and save them an afternoon of support hell.

For the record, I have windows 10, my printer is Envy 5010 and I have my local ink cartridges already in place.

1. Using the desktop icon or through the start menu, select "HP ENVY 5000 series" to open the printer assistant. Note: you don't want to use the HP Smart App for this.

For whatever reason, the app that opened for me was light on options: it had a single page that gave me the option to connect a new device, reconfigure wireless settings or add more software. This caused "Todd" some confusion so he had me go through the process of connecting the device again, then when that failed to give the printer assistant he was expecting, I was directed to install "HP Easy Start Printer Setup Software" from HP.com (Support > Software & Drivers, select Printer then enter your printer name). This resulted in the same one-page printer assistant.

This morning, I uninstalled all the HP software and returned to the Software & Drivers page - for my 5010 model, it's this page. This time I installed "HP ENVY 5000 All-in-One Print and Scan Driver and Accessories". When I selected "HP ENVY 5000 series" from the desktop, I now had a Printer Assistant with more options, including ink level bars on the top right. 

2. Click on the ink level bars at the top right, which opens the "HP ENVY 5000 series Toolbox" and the "Estimated Cartridge Levels" tab is open.

3. Hold down Ctrl+Shift and right click in some empty space below the Shopping List and Refresh buttons, and you'll get another pop up, "For use in conjunction with support personel only". This was the easter egg - phew!

4. I believe this is the information support needs to then reply with the correct reset codes. A word of caution, I've read that if you enter the wrong codes in this section you can end up bricking your printer.

[Katie54321]

Update - this is a real roller-coaster!

Simon from tech support is insisting that I need the ink cartridges from England (the printer's old home) so that the correct code can be generated. I even quoted "Once you have a full set of genuine HP ink cartridges for your new country/region, HP support can re.... No dice.

I've asked for the case to be escalated since I'm getting conflicting information - a process which involves waiting for a phone call within 24-48 hours from an unknown person calling from 1800-474-6836.

Has anyone actually succeeded in this reset?

[Katie54321 · Accepted solution]

Final update.

Yesterday, I was contacted by a case manager to handle the escalation - the call did indeed come from 1800-474-6836 so I happily picked up. Udey identified himself (I want to use his real name in this instance, not only because of the positive outcome but because he was professional, knowledgeable and friendly) and gave me a short summary of the case as he understood it. It was nice to hit the ground running and not have to repeat myself.

In brief, Udey sincerely apologized for the tech support responses I'd had, he confirmed that I knew how to get the easter egg information, which I provided to him. He then gave me the codes I needed and voila! I had a working printer. We ran it through some tests so he was happy it was fully operational then he offered me a free set of ink cartridges.