Cannot use generic ink my my two Officejet Pro 6978 printers

[Ice2Ice2]

Cannot use generic ink in my two 6978 printers.

[Ric_ob]

Hello, @Ice2Ice2 

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[Ice2Ice2]

All, I have two HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 printers. I have had one of these printers approx 3 years and the other printer about 1.5 years. The oldest one was on HP INK replenish servers but I cancelled that service over 2 years ago. Both printers I was able to buy generic ink and had zero issues. About 6 - 8 months ago a firmware update was made and now I cannot run any generic ink cartridges and I am forced to purchase the expensive HP ink. I own these printers and neither is under warranty or any HP Ink Service. Why can I not run generic ink in my two printers? I am an ex-HP employee and IMHO this is totally wrong for HP to do this.

Can anyone help me or give me instructions on how to get my generic HP cartridges to work again?

Much appreciated

[Raj_05]

Hi @Ice2Ice2,

Welcome to HP Support Community.  

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

If you're having trouble using generic ink on your Officejet Pro 6978 printers, there could be several reasons for this.

• Unsupported Ink Cartridges: Your printers might not be compatible with the generic ink cartridges you are trying to use. Make sure to use ink cartridges that are compatible with your printer model.
• Cartridge Chip: Many generic ink cartridges do not have the correct electronic chip, which communicates with the printer to ensure the ink levels are accurate. This can cause the printer to display errors or prevent it from working properly.
• Firmware update: It's possible that your printer's firmware has been updated, and this update may have included a feature to block generic ink cartridges.
• Quality of the Ink: The quality of the ink in generic cartridges can vary widely, and some low-quality inks may cause damage to your printer.

I hope this helps. 
 

Take care and have a good day.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Alden4
HP Support 

[Ice2Ice2]

I have been using the same generic ink cartridges for 2 years and never an issue. When I cancelled the HP Ink subscription I used the same generic ink for approx 6 months. I had about 6 cartridges of the HP Ink 906XL Black which would not work anymore so I suspected a firmware update was pushed to me. The ink cartridges I have been using are the correct ink and have the latest chips according to manufacturer. They worked fine until HP pushed a firmware update and stopped all generic ink from being used as I have tried 4 other suppliers and not one works in either printer.

My printer are less than 3 years old, they are networked to my switch via ethernet, and I have never had this issue until a firmware update.

Being an ex-HPE employee I find this to be very unacceptable as I bought these printers with my own funds after I retired from HPE. It's terrible that I am being forced to spend more money for HP Ink than I would be with generic ink that has never caused one issue in my printers, except the issue of saving me money.

I wish I could find the older firmware and reload that so that I could go back to using my generic ink.