M252dw not recognizing new authentic HP toner cartridge

[jbgrace1]

My printer insists that my Black toner cartridge is empty. Black (e.g. text) prints only in very light gray. The cartridge is, however, a genuine HP Black cartridge (201A (CF400A)). It's new.

What could be the problem?

[Irfan_06]

Hi @jbgrace1,

Welcome to HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to assist you.

I see that you are facing an issue with print quality on your Printer.

A) Please follow the steps below to perform a power drain.

1) Take out the cartridges

2) Unplug the power cord from the printer & wall.

3) Press and hold the power button down for 15 seconds and release the power button, wait for about 30 seconds.

4) Plug the power cord back into the printer and wall, ensure the printer is plugged into the wall & not into a surge protector.

5) Insert the cartridges back into the printer.

Remove the cartridges > Unplug the power cord > Wait for 30 seconds > Plug the power cord back in > Insert the cartridges

B) Kindly refer to the steps on this link to update the printer firmware and let me know if that resolves the issue.

C) Refer to the steps on this link to further troubleshoot.

D) If the issue still persists, refer to the steps on this link to restore factory defaults and let me know if that resolves the issue.

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have a great day ahead!

Irwin6

HP Support

[jbgrace1 · Accepted solution]

I received specific and excellent instructions from Irwin6 as to how to reset the printer's recognition of the installed toner cartridges. I tried them, but they didn't help.

My next step was to replace my (supposedly) new cartridge with a new one. My theory was that perhaps something had gone wrong the last time I replaced the cartridge. That was about a year ago. Maybe the cartridge I received was defective - it's rare but must happen sometimes. Or maybe I somehow mixed up the new and old cartridges and re-installed the old one, throwing away the perfectly good new cartridge. Possibly I had gotten a refill of a genuine HP cartridge, and the refill had been botched.

So I bought a new cartridge, making sure it was genuine HP. Surprise! It worked like a charm. My printer is now 100% as good as new.

Many thanks to Irwin6. His help did not resolve my issue, but it did rule out misconfiguration of some sort. Note that I did not spend the money to buy a new cartridge until after I tried the reset. Once I was nearly certain the cartridge was at fault, spending the money was the obvious next step.

[Irfan_06]

Hi @jbgrace1,

That's great! Happy to hear that the issue has been resolved. I appreciate your efforts in performing the steps to fix it and If you need further assistance feel free to reach out to us.

Take care and have a great day ahead!

Irwin6

HP Support