I am so pissed, I can hardly see straight. I have been using a Dell 962 printer for the last couple years. I’ve intentionally been conservative about printing color printouts so that I can preserve my color cartridge and make it last longer. Well, apparently Dell doesn’t like you to do that. I’m getting an error that says, “Right cartridge incorrect”. I had this happen once before while the printer was under warranty. I spent an hour on the phone with Dell at that time and they shipped a new cartridge. Like magic, that fixed it. As I’ve read online as I’m trying to fix this problem again (printer is out of warranty so Dell says I can pay $99 to get their help), apparently many of the printer companies set expirations on their printer cartridges to force you to buy another one.
The kicker is that it won’t print AT ALL. When I try to print in black and white, or make a copy etc, it just comes out blank. And of course the printer is blinking feverishly telling me that the cartridge is incorrect. Talk about a crappy error message. How can a printer cartridge that’s been in my printer for at least 9 months all of a sudden be “incorrect”. It should say, “Hey sucker. Go to dell.com and buy another cartridge to replace your 75% full one. We’ve decided we need to increase our revenues so we are going to hold your printer hostage until you send us $29.99.” ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH
Did I mention I’m pissed? I’m trying to make copies of my mother’s documents before I send them in to the insurance company for her fire claim. Now I’m going to have to drive somewhere, find a copy machine and then pay for copies while my USELESS Dell printer sits here sucking up electricity.
Have you ever seen “Office Space”? You know that scene where they finally take the fax machine out to the field and show it some justice? I’m so close to getting a sledge hammer, taking this piece of crap outside and playing a little hillbilly baseball with it!
Would the printer know if you took the cartridge out and then put it back in that it didn’t get a new cartridge?
Yes. I tried that. Apparently it has the ability to keep track of which cartridge was in the printer. Thanks for the idea though.
I went through this kind of frustration with several printers in the past (Lexmark, Canon, etc..)
* Cartridges that mysteriously expired, like yours, even though they still had ink
* Cartridges that would clog if you didn’t use them frequently enough
* Overpriced replacements
Finally I bought a B&W laser printer. I decided I didn’t care enough about color to deal with inkjets. When my toner runs out, I’m planning to use one of the toner refill kits you can buy for $15 or so.
that is the crappiest policy I’ve ever heard of. I’d be pissed too.
I miss my old HP laser printer. It was old and was really only good for text, but at least it just kept on working.
Some people have successfully gotten around the expiration problem by:
1. Removing the small internal battery inside the printer, making the printer “forget” the date.
2. Setting the date back on the computer.
this is the problem with inkjet cartridges. you need to change them anyways. did you try the cartridge cleaning utility or buy a new cartridge again?
I am a customer advocate at Dell headquarters, and I thought it might be good if I chimed in here. The comment Tim made really sums it up: inkjet ink does expire over time, and when it does, it exhibits properties that cause problems with inkjet cartridges and print quality. Best case scenario is that your prints look horrible, worst case scenario is that the cartridge won’t print at all. As a result, “conserving” your color ink by refraining from printing color will only get you so far. After a few months, it will become necessary to change the ink cartridge. If you notice next time you change the cartridges, there is an expiration date on the pouch. Even in an airtight pouch, the ink will eventually expire. When it is removed from the pouch, it is only a matter of months before the ink changes consistency enough to start causing problems. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
I guess I don’t understand this reasoning. My cartridge was working just fine. That’s like saying, “You better replace your car because it can’t last forever”. Why would you expire the cartridge if it was not exhibiting any problems? The only reason that I can think of is that it creates more revenue for Dell. It seems far more reasonable to give the user a message saying, “this cartridge is near end of life. You may experience problems with this in the near future” or something like that.
I guess I don’t understand this reasoning. My cartridge was working just fine. That’s like saying, “You better replace your car because it can’t last foreverâ€. Why would you expire the cartridge if it was not exhibiting any problems? The only reason that I can think of is that it creates more revenue for Dell. It seems far more reasonable to give the user a message saying, “this cartridge is near end of life. You may experience problems with this in the near future†or something like that.
posted:Actually, “we” are not expiring the cartridge, the chemical properties of the ink cause it to expire. The ink, as it is exposed to air, increases in viscosity due to evaporation and eventually begins to start coagulating, much like blood. At some point it begins to spontaneously adhere to surfaces, causing flow problems. When this happens, your ink cartridge may appear “full”, but deposits have begun to form where the ink dispenses, thereby causing problems. Rather than have the printer electronics stupidly attempt to carry on with business as usual, printer manufacturers everywhere make their cartridges and printers in such a way that it can detect and respond to these problems by signalling for an ink cartridge change. The bad cartridge is shut off to prevent performance problems. Just because prior to this you didn’t notice any problems does not mean that it wasn’t begining to happen. The ink was aging, and just like milk, one day the ink was fine and the next day it was spoilt.
As soon as you open the original packaging of the cartridge, the cartridge is exposed to air, and the degredation begins. Even if you use the color ink sparingly, after a few months the cartridge may go bad, regardless of ink levels. Unfortunately it’s the nature of the beast. Think of it like a sharpy marker. Even if you keep the cap on, eventually the ink in the felt will dry out, making the marker unusable. With inkjet ink the ink is designed to have much more flow, therefore the change from usable to not usable is more dramatic. In all actuallity, ink cartridges used more sparingly are more likely to exhibit this problem, as the “flow” of ink actually helps prevent deposits from occuring by keeping a regular flow of ink moving through the mechanism.
Due to network problems, I ended up posting my synopsis from my notes. Sorry for the confusing begining to my last post! :-$
Well. I had to suck it up and buy another ink cartridge. It came today and, of course, worked just great. I’m still not happy because I think I just threw away plenty of good ink. At some point I may just throw in the towel and get an “Etch-A-Sketch”.
Perhaps you aren’t watching these comments anymore, and I can’t help you with your current printer, but when you decide to buy a new printer, you might want to take a look at the discount ink cartridge sites to see where you can save money on ink. I use www.printpal.com (I have no association other than a happy customer. If you go to ….com/card15 you get 15% off) and they have cartridges for my Canon printer for $4 and $5 for Black and Color, respectively (as opposed to $30 brand name). And they work great, they aren’t “refill kits”. I would avoid Epson printers – while they also have very cheap cartridges, if you don’t use the printer for a couple of months, it has a tendency to clog up the print head and no amount of “cleaning cycles” can un-clog it. I had this happen twice before saying goodbye to Epson.
Still watching comments on all my posts…. :)
I figured that I couldn’t use refill cartridges if the printer “expires” the cartridges. My cartridge was great other than the fact that Dell decided I needed to buy another one. I lost about a 70% full cartridge because the printer decided not to recognize it any more. I wonder how recycled ones get past this expiration thing?