Hostile MFP 4301fdw

[JDW2026]

Help - a week ago Monday my printer started going hostile on my toner cartridges with error messages - "Used or Counterfeit Installed", "Incompatible Cartridges" and my honor cartridge levels are all over the board.  

All the cartridges have been in the printer and worked fine, including when I complete a reset to the factory settings.   I've always purchased genuine HP 210A toner cartridges.  The error messages seem to be recycling and I've attempted everything to stop the condition.  Sunday everything okay after a reset of the printer and then the error messages that followed since yesterday,  The printer was purchased in March 2025.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[NonSequitur777]

@JDW2026,

Welcome to our HP Community forum!

Hi, and I think there is an important detail here that argues against simply assuming that all four toner cartridges have suddenly gone bad.

Your Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw does use the HP 210A cartridges, so assuming these are genuine HP cartridges, you have the correct supplies for the printer. HP lists W2100A (black), W2101A (cyan), W2102A (yellow), and W2103A (magenta) for the 4301.

What caught my attention is that the cartridges were working normally and then the printer began cycling through "Used or Counterfeit Installed" and "Incompatible Cartridges" messages, whilst the toner-level readings also became erratic. A problem affecting the printer's ability to read the cartridge chips/electronic contacts would be worth investigating before spending money on four replacement cartridges.

I would try the following:

1. Don't replace all four cartridges yet.
2. On the printer, go to the Supplies/Cartridge information screen and note exactly what it reports for each cartridge. If possible, print the Supplies Status/Configuration page as well. This may tell me whether the printer is actually identifying the cartridges correctly.
3. Power the printer off normally, disconnect the power cord from the printer and wall outlet, wait about a minute, reconnect it directly to a wall outlet, and turn it back on. HP recommends this type of power reset when dealing with cartridge-recognition errors.
4. If the problem returns, remove and reinstall one cartridge at a time. Inspect the cartridge's electrical contacts and the corresponding contacts inside the printer for contamination, toner, or anything that looks damaged. Don't touch the contacts unnecessarily.
5. If you purchased the cartridges recently, verify their authenticity using HP's anti-counterfeit verification process. HP specifically recommends this when a genuine HP cartridge is being reported as counterfeit or used.
6. Check the printer's firmware version and let me know what it is. Since the printer is only about a year and a half old and the problem appeared suddenly, I'd like to know whether anything changed immediately before this started -particularly a firmware update.

One other thing: the 4301 series has configurable Cartridge Policy and Cartridge Protection functions.

Cartridge Policy can restrict the printer to genuine HP supplies, while Cartridge Protection can permanently associate cartridges with a particular printer. I would therefore also like to know whether either of those settings has been enabled in the printer's Embedded Web Server.

Most importantly, the fact that a factory reset temporarily restored normal operation is useful diagnostic information. If the same cartridges work correctly after a reset and then the printer progressively loses recognition of them again, that points us toward the printer's supply-recognition system/software rather than four cartridges independently deciding to become counterfeit at the same time.

If you can post the exact error messages/codes, current firmware version, and a photo or transcription of the Supplies Status page, I can probably narrow this down considerably before you spend money replacing anything.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[JDW2026]

Thank you for the feedback NonSequitur777!

What's interesting is that I've leveraged all of your recommendations several times with no success.  In addition, the Cartridge Policy & Cartridge Protection have been disabled (both were disabled when the issue started. 

I'm on firmware version 6.28.3.30-202606111700.  I've only received one error code - Event Code: A3.BF.7C.FB and that was yesterday.  Otherwise I keep receiving messages noted in my original post.  

Also attaching a few photos -IMG_2994.jpeg

Thank you for taking time for me.

All the best, 

Jeff