Your printer is lying to you

Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:38PM EDT

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Out of ink? Already? When Farhad Manjoo's Brother printer abruptly stopped zipping out prints, he began to wonder if the printer wasn't simply lying that it was out of toner in order to trick him into buying more before he needed it. The prints hadn't been fading at all, but the printer simply refused to go on without a new cartridge.

No fool, Manjoo turned to the web for a solution: He saved his 60 bucks and instead found a simple fix. By covering up a sensor on the side of the toner cartridge with a piece of electrical tape he tricked the printer into thinking the cartridge was full. Well, not so much trick as convince: Manjoo says his printer's been going strong ever since, eight months and hundred of pages down the road, pumping out perfect pages.

Printers of both the laser and inkjet variety are notorious not just for requiring expensive replacement cartridges but for trying to get you to replace them well before you need to. It's epidemic in the industry, to the point where class action lawsuits have filed against Epson and Hewlett-Packard over the trickery.

In his story for Slate, Manjoo helpfully digests most of the conventional and unconventional wisdom for getting extra life out of a toner or inkjet cartridge, from vigorously shaking your laser toner to de-clump it to digging into the menus to find options for overriding "cartridge check" features. Because there are so many printer models out there, Manjoo ultimately recommends a web search for specific advice, but FixYourOwnPrinter is a good place to start.

Saving a tree may be good, but saving a whole bunch of oil and keeping a cartridge full of chemicals out of the landfill: Even better.

LINK: Take That, Stupid Printer!

See also: Cheap printer ink: Easy savings or bad investment?

Comments on How to Reset a Wireless Router

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  • 1 Posted by kylefish2001 on Tue Jan 2, 2007 5:46PM EST Report Abuse

    Christopher, Another solution to reset the password and crack WEP keys is AirCrack. It works on Linux AND Windows, unlike AirSnort and WEPCrack. I have found that it works very well, is easy to install, and extremely easy to use. It cracks the WEP keys of the networks listed in the Windows Zero-Configuration utility. More information and the download is available at: http://www.aircrack-ng.org/ Hope it helps. -Kyle Purdy

  • 2 Posted by lopagof on Sat Jan 6, 2007 8:45AM EST Report Abuse

    Why would you let someone else set up your wireless network!??!!!!1

  • 3 Posted by mikestobacco on Sat Jan 6, 2007 3:04PM EST Report Abuse

    I am unable to e-mail my photos and documents.the massage says my smtp could not be found, and error in 11001? help

  • 4 Posted by shrlycombs on Sun Jan 7, 2007 12:59PM EST Report Abuse

    I BOUGHT PC USED, CANT SEEM TO REMOVE OLD PROGRAMS OF PREVIOUS OWNER OR SO A SCHEDULED TASK TO CLEAN UP PC.

  • 5 Posted by prisms_inverted on Sun Jan 7, 2007 8:14PM EST Report Abuse

    smtp configuration can be carried out in firewall windows and sub-windows. where as similar configurations are also needed in the administration tools, under different headings. (in computer management and component services extra. the above administration stuff can be added from your operating system's CD's (optional functions extra) when you are at your desktop first page. smtp has port 25 . perhaps the only (logical solution to the previous old softwares is to re-format that particular partition on your hard disk (at slow mode) this process shall delete all the previous softwares. shreder softwares can also do the job, but softwares might be brought back using 'undelete softwares readily available, as utilized by law-runners to capture the innocent people, by first sending un-lawfull material from the web onto their computers and then, raiding their place, confescating the computer and undeleting the (previously sent material onto that person or group of people's computer and make the person suffer for that country's criminal and not justified judicial system. (that usually earn bread by murdering innocent ones just like there used to be (or perhaps there still might be in africa, the alters, as can be seen in the court of law, where the chimpanzee (judge) sits in the center line of the court room. . so make sure you do erase objectional material (that does not include sex material) from your hard drive or first learn to prove beyond doubt the detailed explanation of how the country, or state makes innocent people serve time in jails for those crimes that they actually do not know how to commit. (including but not limited to mass murder, as that too is arranged from the other end of the internet, by altering the "content ratings" of your computer, silently making you fall for grave attempts either on your own life, or life of others. . so make sure the previously used computer must first be re-formatted and then the operating system must be re-installed. . .

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