Printer not recognizing new genuine Hp toner Cartridges

[daytona201]

I have an HP color laserjet pro MFP M476dn that refuses to recognize 3 new Genuine HP color toner cartridges that I installed into the printer a couple months ago.  Specifically when I installed the new toner cartridges the printer says that supplies are still low.  I have printed the supplies status and that report says the color toner cartridges have printed out over 5000 pages and the first install date on the toner cartridges were first installed into the printer on Feb 2021, so the printer is obviously not seeing the new toner cartridges.  it saw the new genuine HP black toner cartridge that i installed in January 2025 without issue.  The 3 color toner cartridges are all the 312a toner cartridges.  The black one is the 312X as this printer does a far bit of black printing

I am a person who will not replace a toner cartridge because some counter tells me when to replace a toner cartridge when the counter has no idea how much toner is actually left in the cartridges.  I view this goofy counter system as a way for HP to make money at their customers expense.  Even HP says that you can continue to use the printer until the print quality degrades. This printer definitely does not see a lot of heavy use.  I bought it specifically for the double sided document feeder scanner and network capabilities.  

I updated the firmware and also did a hard reset by disconnecting ac from the unit for about 3 minutes then replugged in and restarted.  I have also cleaned the toner cartridge contact point for the chips on both the toner cartridge and the printer itself with both a vinyl eraser and then followed up with alcohol on a qtip.  I have removed all the shipping  tape from the toner cartridges and confirmed under a microscope that there is no other film on the chip board.  The only thing I haven't done yet is a factory reset.  I don't want to do that because it will then require me to reset everything back up.  HP is a big company who pumps out a lot of printers and should be able to get things right.  

Hopefully someone can help.  thank you.

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @daytona201,

Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Thanks for reaching out!

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.

I understand your HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M476dn and the issue where the three new genuine HP 312A color cartridges are not being recognized, while the 312X black cartridge was detected normally. Let’s go through a few steps to check what could be causing this and what you can try before doing a full factory reset.

Verify that each color cartridge is fully seated

Remove and reinsert the cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges one at a time.

Make sure each cartridge slides in smoothly and clicks into position.

Check for chip-to-printer contact alignment issues

Even if the chips are clean, misalignment can prevent recognition.

Inspect the chip area on each color cartridge and ensure the small metal contact pins in the printer are not bent, stuck, or recessed.

Confirm cartridge authenticity and region match

Genuine HP 312A cartridges must match the printer’s region.

A region mismatch will cause the printer to ignore the cartridge and continue reading the previous one.

Print a Supplies Status Report after reinstalling each cartridge

This helps verify whether the printer is updating the cartridge ID.

If the printer shows the same install date and page count after swapping a cartridge, it means the chip is not being read at all.

Try installing one cartridge at a time

Remove all color cartridges, then insert only the cyan cartridge and restart the printer.

Repeat with magenta and yellow.

This forces the printer to attempt a fresh read of each chip individually.

Check the firmware again for this specific model

The M476dn requires the Color LaserJet Pro MFP M476 Series firmware package.

Sometimes older firmware remains installed if the wrong package was used.

Disable "Cartridge Policy" or "Cartridge Protection" (if enabled)

These settings can lock a cartridge’s chip ID to a specific printer.

From the EWS: Settings → Security → Cartridge Policy / Protection.

Turn them Off, restart the printer, and reinstall the color cartridges.

Perform a NVRAM reset (less intrusive than full factory reset)

Turn the printer off.

Hold OK + Left Arrow while powering it on.

Release when the display shows “Permanent Storage Init.”

This clears cached cartridge data but keeps most configuration settings.

If the printer still shows the old 2021 install dates

This means the printer is not detecting the chip on all three color cartridges.

Since all three fail the same way, the issue may be with the printer’s color-cartridge chip reader board, not the cartridges themselves.

I hope this helps.

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