Industry Alert #91
Reuse of the HP4100 Chip And Premature “Toner Low” Alert
Page 2
US AND CANADA SALES
Voice: 800.488.2426
Fax: 800.488.2452
INTERNATIONAL SALES
Voice: 919.774.3808
Fax: 919.774.1287
Critical Issues
• When the HP4100 cartridge begins to run out of toner on the OEM cycle,
a
TONER LOW message is displayed on the user interface panel. If the
cartridge is removed from the printer before reaching a
TONER OUT
message and then remanufactured without removing the chip, a TONER
LOW message will appear on the display upon reuse because the chip
reactivates to its previous state. If your customer has the HP web page set
up for email notification about toner levels, they will receive a faulty
TONER LOW message.
• If the end-user receives a
TONER LOW message with the remanufactured
cartridge, they can still print by going to the Configuration Menu and
setting
TONER LOW = CONTINUE.
When utilizing the embedded web server function of the HP4100, the
end-user also needs to be aware that the supply status web page will not
display an accurate reading of the amount of toner left. After about 25
prints, the toner gauge will show 25% toner remaining. The reading will
stay fairly constant at 25% until the cartridge actually reaches about 25%
toner remaining. At this point, the chip will function normally and alert
the user upon reaching a
TONER OUT condition.
• If the cartridge is allowed to run completely out of toner (with the
resulting TONER OUT message), the chip will deactivate so that when you
install the remanufactured cartridge, the user will receive a
NON-HP
TONER DETECTED message. In this instance, the web page information is
limited to printer info and an approximate toner level gauge. No
TONER
LOW email is sent.
See the detailed table on the following page.
Recommendation
Static Control engineers recommend that you remove the HP4100 chip to
avoid the TONER LOW or TONER OUT messages. The end-user will still receive
a
NON-HP TONER DETECTED message, but this message will not cause the
printer to stop working. Your customers do need to be aware that they will
not receive a
TONER LOW message with remanufactured cartridges. Instead
they will need to rely on visual checks of their printouts to verify if toner is
low or out.
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