8620 Firmware downgrade (or region reset)

[Tassie456]

I have an Officejet Pro 8620.

Its a good printer for our needs as the large cartridges last a while (however they are also expensive).  I have been using genuine cartridges in it however with the latest update it no longer accepts a new set of genuine cartridges I purchased for it.

As far as I can tell the reason is that the last lot of cartridges I used (which have been working great) are genuine HP however they came from the UK whilst I am in Australia. HP in a firmware update embedded some new code to "lock" the printer to whatever region the current set of cartridges were when the firmware update was performed. 

I spent a long time looking for earlier firmware to downgrade it so that I can use my genuine carts however after finally locating the right firmware it looks like the latest firmware also blocks downgrades.

I have read that there is some kind of region reset that can be done by HP support however I am concerned they wont want to talk to me as the printer is out of warranty or wont know what I am talking about.

Does anyone have a workaround to force a downgrade or have they had any luck with getting a reset code?

Note that I have tried using the web update, LPD and Netcat methods to load on a downgraded firmware and none work. I would implore HP to release a set of new firmwares for these HP printers that allow these sorts of restrictions to be turned off (which they did in 2018 but have more recently released these new ones that reverse that reversal)  in the name of corporate responsibility. Otherwise you just wind up with more landfill and negative publicity.

[Jay_G24]

Hi @Tassie456,

I'd like to help!

I understand you were using the cartridges from the UK and now would like to use ink from Australia.

We can perform a region reset for the printer to accept the new ink cartridges.

The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may brick the device. 

I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instruction to perform a full reset and re-initialize the printer. 

In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP  HP Support Community profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

And, Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

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