Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after firmware update

Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by midoridensha on Thursday September 22, 2022 @12:20AM (#32934755)

There's a very simple fix for this problem: don't buy inkjet printers. Only buy laser printers. In addition to avoiding this kind of problem, you'll avoid many other problems, such as ink drying out and cartridges needing to be replaced because you didn't print anything for 2 months.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by londons_explore on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:27AM (#32935387)

I have a Samsung laser printer that also pulls this shit.

I had to spend a few days in IDA pro and Ghidra to patch the firmware to remove the ink level checks from all the right places. Would you believe - even the firmware for the roller checks the ink level before reporting it's own health status!

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by mburee on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:44AM (#32935508)

How hard was it to get firmware/flash it in the first place? I assume the driver updates are easy to get but the actual flashing tools always scare me enough to never try stuff like that myself.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by londons_explore on Thursday September 22, 2022 @04:18AM (#32936127)

I found the firmware in a big FTP index on hp.com (Samsung's printer division was bought by HP).

The actual flashing is normally done by a special print job which has commands to flash each of the ~7 different firmwares onto the right internal components. Yes, that means anyone with access to print on the printer can update the firmware to do absolutely anything...

But, if you're doing firmware hacking and screw it up, the software won't boot sufficiently to be able to be reflashed with that method, so you'll also want to pull the hardware apart so you can get a dump of the flash chip to restore when you mess up.

The hardest bit is not patching the code, but figuring out how the crc's, checksums, and memory layouts work. Get that wrong, and it either won't flash or won't boot.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by asdfqwertzxcv on Thursday September 22, 2022 @12:37AM (#32934841)

Reccs for good laser printers that accept generic drums and toner? Brother used to be great but newer versions block most 3rd party toners and drums.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by m_adrian on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:57AM (#32935565)

Brother has a series called Tonerbenefit, but I think it is only available in Eastern Europe. The initial cost is higher for the printer, but the original toner is dirt cheap.

https://www.brother.sk/printers/laser-printers/hl-b2080dw

Sorry I can’t find a page in English.

Before that I used a Canon inkjet with CISS system, but I have always problem with it. It is good for people who prints a lot every day, I mean really lot and do not care if the printer needs some maintenance.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by timonoko on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:46AM (#32935518)

Samsung CLP-310 was the last one you can buy color toner in one liter bottles from Ebay for 10€. Filling those cartridges yourself is messy business. The powder is almost like liquid and stains everything.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by timonoko on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:58AM (#32935566)

BTW. Worth mentioning is that CLP-310 has to be quite new still using its maiden cartridges. Those were chipless and allow only 1000 prints. But you can reset this counter by shorting certain pins and then fill those cartridges 4ever.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by timonoko on Thursday September 22, 2022 @03:11AM (#32935644)

CLP-310 motherboard is 45€ on Aliexpress. It might be that by replacing this you can produce a new "maiden" machine. Easy job. I once took CLP-310 apart and then realized that only thing broken was the thermostat on the drum heater, so I replaced that and put everything back together.

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Re:Epson printer no longer recognizes third-party ink after ... by midoridensha on Thursday September 22, 2022 @12:50AM (#32934916)

I was going to suggest Brother... My last Brother was about 5 years old, and had no trouble with 3rd-party toner carts.

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