Print cartridge(s) missing or not detected.
It doesn't mean that! You might think that the cartridge is empty or damaged. You couldn't be more WRONG! It just means that HP wants YOU to BUY a NEW CARTRIDGE - but DON'T DO THAT! You cartridge is presumably fine!
Actually you can try to convince the printer that the cartridge is ok by entering the service mode. To do that press buttons in the following sequence:
- Power and Cancel simultanously, then
- Blue, Green, Gray buttons, in turn.
Congrats! You entered the service mode. Now you can read and edit some of the printer settings. Watch the LCD display, it should say sth like:
Support PlxxFN0724AR
Now, the color buttons mean:
- Blue: next
- Gray: previous
- Green: enter
Which allow you to browse the menu and options.
In order to cure your cartridge press Blue once. You will see Information Menu displayed. Enter the menu by pressing Green. Go to Pen supply, level of Ink (LOI) submenu by pressing 11 times Blue and enter it by pressing Green. Then you can see some ink levels on the display. At this point your job is done. Press Cancel 3 times – it will quit the service mode. And you will notice that the nasty message about the cartridge being missing is gone.
Putting it all together, to reset the message press:
- Power and Cancel simultaneously,
- Blue, Green, Gray, in turn,
- Blue
- Green
- 11 times Blue
- Green
- 3 times cancel.
I found these service codes on the web and accidently i figured out that viewing the ink level resets the nasty message. The drawback is that you need to reset the printer pretty much every print job.
It's been about 400 pages since I reset the thing and the cartridge is still operational despite its ink levels being reported as nonexistant.
Thank you so much...tried several other suggestions and none worked until this...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I could help :)
ReplyDeleteWow. What a timely solution. Thank you Igor. This should be posted and resposted on many websites regarding HP printers.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Just what I needed and could not get from HP.
ReplyDeletesheer genius....was about to take a hammer to it.....
ReplyDeletei am so thankfull!! great tip man!!!!
ReplyDeletethanx a lot!!
i love u!!
Thanks, saved 68% of my XL black ink. I know for sure that will never go for HP ink jet printer anymore.
ReplyDeletethank you so much!!! it worked!! i tried everything else! HP sucks!!
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know how to keep from having to reset every time you want to print?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't :(
ReplyDeleteyou rock!!!!! it worked great
ReplyDeleteYou have made my day!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for sharing this useful tutorial.
I won't forget it
PERFECT! Thanks so much!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you. Went from hp to forum to forum. Tried many "fixes." Kept going hoping to find you and this answer. I agree... you rock.
ReplyDeleteYou are my new hero. Because of you we successfully printed my daughter's paper on Catcher in the Rye. Catastrophe averted. Much drama averted.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this.
Brooklyn, New York
Thanks kindly! Having "googled" the error message I found your great help site! Coincidentally both my sister and I have the same printer and of course same problem which you have helped solved - thank you thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much mate, you saved me a lot of trouble as I was using brand new cartridges when I suddenly got this damn error message ! didn't have time to buy new ones... saving time and money, wishing you the best man ! Thanks again, cheers
ReplyDeleterespect, U help me verry much
ReplyDeletemy hp c4280 only prints before last step (following your procedure) and I need to repeat procedure every time before printing but I'm very satisfied,no need for new cartridge, thanks man!!!
ReplyDeleteGOD, FINALLY. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew they were trying to rob me somehow... I JUST bought ink for it too, but I can't return it anymore since I just opened it. You are a life saver
ReplyDeleteThanks so much
ReplyDeleteNow I can send in my registration for my Italian Conversation Class
CIAO
you are the man, everyone else is a idiot, thanks a million
ReplyDeleteIt worked!! Thank you for sharing your brilliance. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Heaps for your help there dood. This fixed the problem, I now have 30000% full black ink cartridge!! wtf?, thanks HP for nothing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, IT was working fine, until I took out black Ink out to read its number i.e 74. and cleaned its head. I, Figured out Support menu Comes with BLUE GREEN GREY Combination, IF you tinker with other sequence more things are revealed.
ReplyDeleteIn my case the printer went NUTS, IT would print combination of funny lines(not ascii) Spill inks in fine lines like as if you are configuring the/aligning the head.It is like it is smudging all over. ANd the message comes back after each print job. MoreoverTHe region for coler remaind 2 after rest but the black changed to 31, and black 2000% color remained as 64%. It making me crazy??? Has anyone got any clue..
i dont have the option of "information menu" or "pen supply" or "level of ink" on my printer. and i still have the error message displayed... help?
ReplyDeleteI followed your directions and they seemed to have worked...the ink error message went away. Thank you as it was a brand new cartridge.
ReplyDeleteHowever, now it just doesn't print at all. Sends the job to the print queue, but nothing happens. Just sits in the queue. Uninstalled and reinstalled the printer, but that did not work.
The Service mode accesses a lot of internal functions ie. calibration parameters etc. Be careful while playing with them.
ReplyDeleteI can't halp you if your printer stopped printing - sorry :( - there might be tons of causes.
ReplyDeleteThose funny lines, this might be either tests, or calibration results. As I said you ned to be careful with the service mode.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOOO MUCH!
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch!!!! Worked for me!!
ReplyDeletedzięki wielkie:) to działa
ReplyDeleteIgor,
ReplyDeleteThank you, Thank you, and Thank you!!!
U Da Man! :)
excellent advice thankyou
ReplyDeleteIf anybody isn't getting the "information menu" then you need to try the initial codes in a different order.
ReplyDeleteTry:
Blue
Green
Gray
That worked for me.
Good luck
VC
Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom Brazil.
Thanks for this! Worked for me!
ReplyDeleteYeah you gotta go it every time unless you get new ink, but at least its a workaround until I can just get a new printer. NOT a HP this time HAHAHA thanks Igor.
ReplyDeleteThanks! This worked but I need to do it every time I print. Is there a way around that?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous unfortunatelly I haven't found any other way around it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this information. No need to buy a new printer.
ReplyDeleteWonderful!!!! Thanks for your advise. It worked perfect!!!
ReplyDeleteChuck
When I try the sequence you suggest I get as far as "Information menu" displayed after pressing Blue, but then pressing Green does not enter the menu or do anything as far as I can tell??? So cannot get to "Pen supply, level of Ink [LoI" submenu. Would be grateful for any suggestions.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous. After pressing green while "Information Menu" is displayed, you should get "info menu" displayed in turn. Than pressing blue should get you to through consecutive menus" "model number", "serial number" etc. down to "pen supply...". Remember that green works as "enter", blue as "next", gray as "previous" and cancel (red cross) as "back".
ReplyDeleteI did what you said but when I print something, it comes out in like smudged lines,like some type of coding so you can't read anything at all. Do you know any solution to that?
ReplyDelete@sapa, I guess this smudging is a separate issue. It could be caused by a dried off cartridge or by truly low ink level. Either way you should try cleaning the cartridge. If it doesn't help I'd get a new one.
ReplyDeleteWorked for me too. You are my hero. Tried the other stuff but this actually worked.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI tried the above steps, and the displays says: "enter special key combo" what do I do?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous. The special key combo is: Blue Green Gray. It allows you to enter the service mode.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant it worked, so simple to do and saved lots of money.
ReplyDeleteI tried the above steps, but as soon as I power on the lcd always displayed Incompatible print cartridge(s) and I can't do any thing. Pls help
ReplyDelete@Anonymous I'm afraid that if the printer says that cartridges are incompatible the above method do not apply. Check if the cartridge connectors are clean (gold contacts). If they are not (some ink, dust or other stuff might be sick to them) try to clean them with alcohol or pencil eraser.
ReplyDeleteMine prints one document which the color looks pretty good but the black is smeared and mostly unreadable. As soon as the one document prints it goes back to the error message. I had an earlier version of this printer that worked for years w/o problems, refilling my own cartridges and all. This one was a refill from Kroger which worked for a short while. Now I don't know if to buy a new HP cartridge or to jump ship.
ReplyDeleteWorked great! We fought this for a couple of weeks, including turning off the printer and then back on, which would sometimes fix it. Eventually it got to where nothing would reset it, so that's when I searched on the web and found your fix. It's annoying that it can't be permanently fixed, but your workaround consistently does the trick. Once you know how to enter it, it only takes a few seconds to key it in. I was ready to throw the printer in the trash can and go buy a new one!! It still prints fine, though, so now I can keep it for quite awhile longer. THANK YOU!!
ReplyDeleteIgor, thanks a lot for your help! I wonder if HP employees know about this trick. It works and prints as usual, the only bad thing that you have to enter this combination every time you turn the HP on and want to print smth.. Anyway, you are genius, and i am assuming you're Russian? (-: as Russian guys can figured out a lot of those tricks and how to be able to come around the system!
ReplyDelete@Anastasia
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I could help. HP employees do know about the service mode, however I'm not sure if they know about this particular trick. Actually I discovered it by accident while trying to force my printer to... well print. And no, I'm not Russian, but close, I'm Polish, however my name is Russian.
That's what might help those poor unfortunate soles preventing them from a use of their hammer:
ReplyDeleteAlternate reset procedure (for older C4280 products):
1. Unplug the power cord from printer.
2. Hold both o.k [Green, I assume] and Cancel simultaneously.
3. Plug the power cable while holding the buttons.
This worked for me when the above blue-green-gray trick didn't lead the thing to any menus. I guess the model is too old in my case, it is CC200A*01 [32]. So enjoy!
My name is Igor too, good meeting you, Igor ))
Thank you!!!! Worked perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHi Igor, thank you for the tip...I followed it but the message still does not go away. In fact at the LOI step it says 'left cartridge is missing'(so the colour cartridge, which I don't even need). I took it out several times and cleaned it. Any other tips? thank you in advance
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, It seems that there is no communication between your color cartridge and the printer. Did you clean the actual connections (gold dots) on the cartridge? You can do it i.e. with a pencil eraser. It could help. Otherwise it might be that your color cartridge is just damaged, in such a case you need to replace it because C4280 is nasty enough not to print with any of the cartridges missing.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI tried following the steps, and I cannot get it to work. After pushing the colored buttons, what comes up is Underware:
Pixx0708AR
Then, if I press the blue button once, I get boot code menu
Help please!!!
Thanks!
Wow, you rock. Thank you so much for sharing this information with all of us!
ReplyDeletemany thank for this info.
ReplyDelete@Higostudy, perhaps you have a different firmware, I'm not sure though. Try pressing the blue button until you get to 'Information menu'
ReplyDeleteThanks ever so much... You save me a lot of time and money..
ReplyDeleteHi Igor,
ReplyDeletepurchased the printer from Australia and now it is in the UK. recently I had to change the cartridge.
previous cartridges were HP75 & HP74 (Which I bought from Australia)
When I searched for this model for cartridges in the UK the models are different hp350 Black and HP351 tri colour.
Is there any way to use different region cartridges together.? in my case 75 colour and 350 black?
I am getting the error "incompatible cartridge" is it because my newly installed black 350 cartridge?
You are truly a god!!!! I thought my printer was about to get thrown across the room until I found this article!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteLike Higostudy, I'm not having anyluck either. This is what happens with my printer. I get as far as :PlxxFN0724AR. Press blue - boot code menu. Green - set to mfg_code, Green set to usercode. Lots of blues - copy menu, photo menu, scan menu, scan udw menu, ui menu, Green -print mech
button tap,
green - Code=0, Grey - Code=65535, Blue - Clear derivative?
Was I getting warm anywhere along this path?
Thanks. I'm really jealous of all these guys for which this worked, but glad for them.
Thank you! God bless you!
ReplyDeleterecently begun happening to me also. all i can say is HP make the worst products i have ever used and will never buy anything from them again. This is ridiculous that the product know's it can work fine but refuses to unless you enter the service mode
ReplyDeleteYou have saved my sanity...thankyou.
ReplyDeleteHigostudy that is what i got if i hit blue gray green. make sure you are hitting blue green gray
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks for the hint!
ReplyDelete(I don't even try to comment HP's conduct.)
Igor, great tip. It worked for me the same as many others have commented, i.e. I have to redo the code sequence for each document. My question is why is this just showing up? We've had this printer for years without this problem. Did we download a soft/firmware update without realizing it? Is there any way to go back?
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Mike
Mike, I suspect that these problems of ours are caused by some software (or wiring so to speak) in cartridges. It seems that some of them are built in such a way to tell the printer that they are done (whatever it means). And the printer is designed to listen to them.
DeleteThis worked - thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU! You are amazing. :)))
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are GREAT, thanks so much
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome! I followed your instructions exactly and it worked like a charm. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI can't find the information menu. It goes to 'boot code menu' and I can't find the 'pen supply' menu
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I can't do much about that. You might have a different firmware. Just try to look around the menu, perhaps you can find it buried somewhere else.
DeleteI take that back. worked like a charm. I messed up the sequence
ReplyDeleteThis worked!! Thanks for the proceedure.
ReplyDeleteThanks Igor! :)
ReplyDeletethank you so much! it was super frustrating, as i replaced both cartidges and still got the message. plus hp customer service takes forever...and they never have the answers!
ReplyDeleteAwsome - thank you!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhoever posted the solution. It is amazing it really helped me and worked.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
You are freaking awesome. Saved so much money.
ReplyDelete