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HP Recommended
Laser Jet Pro M203dw
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Hello All,

 

I have a lightly used two year old HP Laserjet Pro M203dw printer that runs out of toner much too quickly.  Yes, I know about the 5% rule and that coverages will vary, but when an authentic HP cartridge advertised as capable of printing "up to 3,000 pages" only delivers 500 pages of very light print, that doesn't make me a happy customer.  It makes me want to go buy a competing product.

 

I need to figure out how I can get more mileage out of my printer.  In the two years I've owned it, it has only had two cartridges; the first being the demo CF230A cartridge that came with the printer and the second an authentic HP  CF230X cartridge that I bought at the same time from the same store.  The total page count in the printer stands today at a little over 600 pages.  It works perfectly otherwise and is spotless inside and out.  I've made no settings changes other than simply connecting it to my home network, and I only print documents or circuit diagrams - no heavy graphics or photos at all.

 

HP Smart tells me my printer is "very low on toner", but interestingly, it also tells me "your software is capable of authenticating your toner cartridge" but gives not means of doing so.  HP's Support pages don't even mention the M203 printer in this regard and the generic instructions it gives for toner authentication assume that I have a touch control panel of some kind which this printer does not have.  HP Smart also suggests there is a way to bypass the low toner alarm and simply print until the toner runs out, but it fails to give an "OK" button with which to invoke that option (see attached). 

 

So, I'm dead in the water until I can purchase another $100, 3,000 page -- ahem -- 500 page cartridge.  Just so you know, at that rate the toner alone is costing me 20 cents per page -- a pretty high price to pay for a lightly used home printer.

 

Can you help me out of this dilemma?  At least tell me how I can bypass the low toner alarm so as to get maximum use out of all the toner in the cartridge.

 

Thank you.

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

This looks like you have an issue when a toner level resets to very low. Print supplies status page which shows 370 pages printed and very low level and asks for a new toner from the seller.

 

You can continue to use your toner cartridge with toner low message as long printer allows. Since the printer is unable to determinate the actual toner level you can continue to use it.

 

 




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4 REPLIES 4
HP Recommended

Log on to your printer EWS and check supplies level in the EWS.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxGfeM-0Q8Y 




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HP Recommended

HP CF230X Toner Status 1-6-21.jpgThe EWS reports the same thing that HP Smart does, that is, my toner is very low (see attached).  My question remains - how can I use what's left in the cartridge regardless of the low toner warnings? 

 

BTW, I also have a recurring paper size mismatch error that I can only solve by reseating the paper in the input hopper.  This is a problem for me as I often must print letter-sized documents onto A4 sheets.  Seems to me the printer should be able to sense the paper size in its input hopper and adjust the margins automatically without making the operator decode a cryptic flashing error light and then open the hopper just to reseat the paper for each and every printout.  Yes, I do change the settings in the driver software but they go back to defaults whenever I power down the printer and PC.  

 

Please forgive the digression. In this discussion we'll work on the toner problem and tackle the mismatch error some other time.

 

Thank you for your help.

HP Recommended

This looks like you have an issue when a toner level resets to very low. Print supplies status page which shows 370 pages printed and very low level and asks for a new toner from the seller.

 

You can continue to use your toner cartridge with toner low message as long printer allows. Since the printer is unable to determinate the actual toner level you can continue to use it.

 

 




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HP Recommended

Thank you.  My frequent paper mismatch problem also caused the printer to fail which added to the confusion.  If the printer would just print what I send it regardless of the paper setting or toner level I could deal with the less than perfect results more directly.  But no, it has to stop dead and make me search product software, service desks, community forums and dubious toner vendors to get to the bottom of the problem.  No fault on HP forums, BTW, I commend your quick and professional efforts, but you can probably tell I'm not a fan of obscure error lights, nor HP's razor and blades business model.   

 

The printer is back in operation and I have a plan for restoring its toner when the prints become unacceptable. 

Thanks again for your help!

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.