printer Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

(Rant alert) Why do we still have so much trouble out of our printers?

Posted on December 23, 2025

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I receive dozens of questions every week and many of those questions are about printer issues.

They often go something like this:

“I need help with my printer. It was working fine until this morning but now it’s just printing blank pages! What could be the problem?”

Most printer problems can be easily solved, but it can be difficult for the average user to know how to begin troubleshooting an issue.

[Read more…]

HP reverses course on their new third-party ink cartridge ban

Posted on September 29, 2016

hp-officejet-pro-8610 A few days ago I wrote a post explaining how a new firmware update for some HP printers effectively banned the use of third-party printer cartridges.

Well, it appears that they received so many complaints that it prompted them to reconsider the move and even apologize for it in a post on their corporate blog.

Of course they worded the apology in a way that frames the issue as a “communications” problem, but the real problem is the ban itself in my opinion, not the way they chose to “communicate” with their customers about it. [Read more…]