Troubleshooting Toner Cartridge Chip Problems

December 3, 2008 by LucyNine
Filed under: Printer Repair Tips

Toner cartridge chips store and monitor the toner cartridge’s level, performance and usage during the life of the toner cartridge, but problems can arise when refilling toner cartridges. The chip on the toner cartridge is designed to report to the printer and any alert services the user has set up that the toner level is low or depleted. In addition it also enables companies to restrict, or at least try to restrict, the use of third party vendors and refilled toner cartridges. When a cartridge is refilled the chip should recognize that the toner level is now full and reset its internal calibration and reporting on toner levels and performance.

This occasionally does not happen and the user will receive a low toner message when the cartridge is full. Some printer and toner manufacturers have chip “resetters” to return the chip to its original state. They operate by lining up the metal leads on the toner cartridge to leads on the resetter; the resetter runs a diagnostic and resets the internal chip. A user could just ignore the toner level indicator, but when the toner is low, the user will be unaware and runs the risk of no toner at an inopportune moment or worse the printer will not print.

Toner chips are also used by OEM manufacturers to ensure the use of their products in their printers. OEM parts and internal components will recognize the third party chip as an empty toner cartridge making it difficult to use lower priced toner cartridges. The third party manufacturers have developed a set of instructions to override this feature; however, it should be noted that not all third party vendors have these instructions, nor do all toner chips accept the override making it difficult to use less expensive toner cartridges.

Tags: printer problem diagnosis , printer repair , toner cartridge chips