Monitor screen (click image to enlarge)

The cartridge is remanufactured and is not counterfeit. Upon installation the printer has detected the cartridge has been previously used by reading the data stored on the microchip located underneath the cartridge.

This remanufactured cartridge has gone through rigorous inspection, cleaning and refilling processes to produce a quality alternative branded product.

At the point of initial installation press ok to continue and perform one cleaning cycle. The cartridge cleaning method can be located within your printer toolbox, set up, clean or maintenance window.

Subsequent print jobs do not need a print clean prior to printing.

The status monitor on my HP 364/920 cartridge printer does not work

The printer has detected the cartridge is remanufactured and has disabled the printer status monitor.

After installation perform one cleaning cycle located in your printer toolbox, set up, clean or maintenance window.

Simply monitor the print performance to determine the end of your cartridge life.

A. Some cartridges are fitted with removable seals to prevent toner leaking from the product. Simply pull the detachable plastic seal from the side of the cartridge fully to release the toner (see below).

Step 1	Step 2
Step 3

Q. Do I shake the cartridge prior to installation to my printer?

A. Your cartridge contains very fine powder called ‘toner’. Prior to installation gently rock the cartridge from side to side 2 to 3 times to allow the powder to move into position before printing. You will not need to repeat this process once the cartridge is installed as most cartridges contain a mechanical paddle which agitates the powder during the printing process.

Q. I am using one of your products for the first time and there is no seal to remove like on the OEM product.

A. Some cartridges do not require the fitment of a seal. We have remanufactured this product so it does not require a seal.

Q. I have used a remanufactured cartridge before and the drum was a different colour.

A. Prior to remanufacturing the cartridge, each product is tested to ensure the ‘drum’ usually a dull blue /green, is in a good condition. OEM drums are very versatile and can be in some cases repeatedly used.

If the original drum has been damaged during the collection and recovery process, a new drum will be fitted which will usually be shiny light green (see below).

Q. My cartridge will no longer print (Product fitted with a micro chip).

A. Some laser toner cartridges are fitted with a memory chip which prevents the cartridge working once the chip has reached the end of its pre-set counter. This chip cannot be reset.

Please note that some chips are radio frequency devices and are fitted to the interior of the cartridge and cannot be visually detected.

Q. My cartridge will no longer print (No chip fitted).

A. If you experience you cartridge rapidly deteriorating, it is highly likely it has run out of toner powder. Prior to purchasing your next cartridge, remove the existing product and gently rock the product from side to side. It is possible the rocking motion will shift any remaining toner powder in the cartridge enabling you to continue to print a few extra pages. Please do not rapidly shake the product as this may result in toner leakage from the built in waste tank.

Q. I have installed the cartridge and the toner level indicator is not active.

A. To avoid patent infringements the design of the memory chip may differ from the original product. Some laser toner cartridges when installed will not display the memory status bar of your printer display. This does not affect the performance of the cartridge and you may continue to print.

Brother Cartridge

Q. I have replaced a Remanufactured Brother cartridge in my printer but it is still not recognised.

A. Some Brother cartridges are supplied in two halves:

1. The toner tank hopper unit.

2.The Drum unit.
(see below)

Both components attach to each other within the printer. The printer will prevent you from printing if the drum unit has reached the end of its life. You may need to replace the drum unit.

Q. I have removed a used cartridge from my printer and a small amount of toner has leaked out.

A. Many cartridges are fitted with a waste tank which is designed to collect any paper dust and toner powder from cleaning cycles. This waste tank can be disturbed when removing the cartridge from the printer.

Q. How to clear up toner powder.

A. In the unlikely event toner powder is deposited onto a work surface, wipe away with a damp disposable tissue. Always unplug the printer from the power supply before cleaning your printer.

To remove toner from your hands use cold water with mild household soap. Do not use warm or hot water as this will fuse the toner to your skin.

Q. I have installed my cartridge but the printer is showing the cartridge has not been installed.

A. Check the cartridge is the correct model for the printer. HP manufacture many different cartridges, which look the same, but are not always interchangeable.

If the cartridge is the correct one for your printer, remove the cartridge, and wipe the gold coloured electrical contacts with a tissue, before reinstalling the cartridge (see below).

Q. I have cleaned the contacts and checked the type is correct, but I still have problems.

A. The cartridge may have an electrical fault. Return the cartridge to your store for a replacement.

Q. The status monitor says the cartridge has previously been used, or the ink is depleted.

A. Some HP printers will write empty to a cartridge when it is finished. When the warning box appears, press OK to continue using the printer without the status monitor. The status monitor is not needed for printing. Replace the cartridge as usual, when the ink starts running out. (Don’t forget to return the cartridge for recycling)

Q. I have lines in my printout, or bands of colour missing.

A. The printer has a cleaning cycle designed to remove air trapped in the cartridge’s printhead. Use this cleaning cycle according to the instructions for your printer.

Q. The cleaning cycle did not improve my print quality.

A. The cartridge may have run out of ink, is so replace with another one, and return the old cartridge for recycling.

If you believe the cartridge should be OK, try wiping the printhead on the cartridge with a moist tissue. (Deionised water is best to moisten the tissue, some hard tap water may make the problem worse).

Wipe the printhead from front to back until you get a black line, or three colour line on the tissue. Reinstall the cartridge and try again.

Q. I have installed a new cartridge and there is a light flashing on my printer.

A. On most HP printers, a light flashing on the front of the printer indicates that the installed cartridge has not been detected by the printer.

Ensure that the you have installed the correct cartridge for the printer.

Lift the lid of the printer and wipe the cartridge electrical contacts with a piece of dry tissue (indicated below by the red arrow). This will remove any grease or dirt which may have broken the electrical contact.

Re-install the cartridge.

At this stage do not wipe the print head, which is identified as Number 2.

Q. My cartridge is the correct model and I have cleaned the electrical contacts twice but still the cartridge cannot be recognised.

A. There is possibly an electrical fault with the product.

Q. I have installed a new cartridge and the status monitor says it has previously been used.

A. Built within the electrical circuitry of the cartridge is a preset ink counter. Once this ink counter has been completed the printer will purposely damage the cartridge by destroying a cartridge fuse. This system is designed to deter the consumer from refilling or using a remanufactured products.

The cartridge will work correctly but without the assistance of a status monitor. Cartridges should be replaced once the print quality deteriorates.

The above screen may appear on both black and colour cartridges following installation.

Q. I have installed a new cartridge and the print quality is poor with missing print and white streaks.

A. The cartridge has been supplied in a clip which is designed to prevent the cartridge from drying out. On most HP inkjet printers the print head which delivers the ink is incorporated into the design of the cartridge.

Most print faults are caused by air trapped within the print head.

Perform a cleaning cycle by accessing your printer toolbox. The method of accessing the HP toolbox will vary depending upon your printer model.

The above screen may be accessed from your printer properties. Click the service icon and the following screen will appear:
Click the relevant icon to perform a cleaning cycle.

Other methods to obtain the toolbox are as follows:

Start / All Programs / HP / Printer Model / Toolbox

Start / All Programs / HP / HP Solution Centre / Select Printer from Screen / Settings / Printer Toolbox

Q. I have cleaned the cartridge using the printer toolbox and the quality is still poor after installing a new cartridge.

A. Lift the carriage lid and remove the affected cartridge. On the colour cartridge there are three sets of ink nozzles, wipe the cartridge with tissue paper until three sets of colours appear on the paper. On the black cartridge only one line of ink will appear.

If there is no improvement with the print quality, repeat the above steps but use tissue moistened with de-ionised water. (Tap water will react with the die / pigment and cause further print faults). The cartridge will need to be exchanged if this does not work.

If the cartridge has been installed in the printer for some time and print problems occur, repeat the above steps. If problems persist it is highly likely the cartridge is empty.

Q. I have installed a new cartridge and ink has poured out of the printer.

HP inkjet printers automatically go through a cleaning cycle which is designed to ensure optimum print quality. A small amount of ink is removed from the print head of the cartridge and deposited into an absorbent pad located under the parked cartridge position. Ink is removed when:

• A new cartridge is installed
• A cleaning / priming cycle is activated
• The printer has been unused for a period of time

There is no printer warning system for the consumer when the absorbent pad becomes saturated. Ink will leak out of the pad and sit in the bed of the printer. If the bed of the printer becomes full the ink is highly liable to leak onto the printer work surface.

This condition usually occurs with older printer models that contain references: HP15 / 17 / 23 / 45 / 78

The bottom arrow identifies the absorbent pad.

The top arrow identifies ink which has leaked from the pad onto the bed of the printer.

This leakage can also occur when the printer has been transported.

Before installing your compatible cartridge, you must remove the RED SEALING CLIP by ‘snapping’ it off.

Ignore the small piece of red plastic that remains, install the cartridge, pressing it firmly down.

Do not touch the gold coloured contacts before installing the cartridge.
Ensure the cartridge is completely pressed down, it will not ‘click’ when installed.

Q. My cartridge is showing as unrecognised. I have printed with it since it was installed.

A. The printer driver on later Epson printers has been programmed to display this message when the ink runs out on a compatible cartridge. This is to discourage you from saving money by buying compatible cartridges. The print yield from your compatible cartridge is equal to the original.

Q. My cartridge shows as unrecognised or empty after switching on the printer or leaving it a while.

A. The printer periodically cleans the printhead, using ink from the cartridges. This may empty a cartridge resulting in these messages. Change the cartridge as normal.

Q. Why do I not get a low ink sign in the status monitor?

A. This is another example of the software making things difficult for compatible cartridge users.

Q. I have installed a replacement cartridge and now another cartridge is empty or unrecognised.

A. Installing a new cartridge takes ink out of all the cartridges, which may result in another one becoming empty.

Q. Why is there ink left in the cartridge when it becomes empty?

A. The printer counts how much ink is used and stops the cartridge at a certain point, this is preset and cannot be changed. Some printer models will allow more ink to be used than others.

Q. There are lines / streaks on the paper when printing.

A. Perform a print head cleaning cycle. This can be located within the printer maintenance menu. Print a nozzle check to see if all the nozzles are free of blockages. If breaks still appear on the printed page, repeat the process. If the nozzle check page displays one set of black nozzles shown below, only perform up to two cleans.

If the screen displays up to three sets of nozzles, perform up to three cleans:

99% of all blocked nozzles are caused by trapped air within the print head. If the cleaning cycle does not remove the lines, rest the printer for half an hour and perform a nozzle check. (Do not continue to clean the cartridges as this will use up valuable ink from all the cartridges).

If there is no improvement, leave the cartridge for a further two hours. During the rest period, ink from the cartridge will migrate through the cartridge and absorb / push trapped air from the print head.

If Epson cartridges are removed from the printer for any length of time, the print head is liable to dry out and block up. Always remove used cartridges when you have a replacement available.

Never remove the power supply when the printer is in operation such as paper feed, cleaning cycle and printing. When the printer is not in use, the print head will park over the ‘capping mechanism’ which seals over the print head preventing it from drying out.

Q. I have installed a full set of replacement cartridges and the status monitor indicates they are all empty.

A. It is possible that one of the cartridge chips has not connected properly with one of the printer electrical contacts.

The printer carriage needs to be placed in the cartridge change position. This can be achieved by either pressing the ink / OK button on the printer or following the step by step cartridge change guide located within the printer maintenance menu.

Lift the cartridge location lever and push your finger firmly on the top of the cartridges. If this fails, carefully lift the affected cartridge without breaking the rubber seal at the bottom of the product. Push firmly back into position to re-engage the chip / printer contacts.

Remove the orange transport clip carefully, without squeezing the sides.

Open the printer, remove the cartridge to be replaced and install the replacement cartridge.

NOTE the replacement cartridge does not light up like an original. This is normal.

Q. Why does my cartridge not light up like an original?

A. The lighting of the cartridge has been patented by Canon, to prevent compatible manufacturers being able to offer this feature to their customers.
Original cartridge on left, with light. Compatible on right, without light.

Q. My cartridge has not been recognised by the printer.

A. Make sure the cartridge is securely clipped in and the printer’s cover is closed. Check the status monitor, either on the printer’s control panel, or on the computer.

Remember, the compatible cartridge does not light up to avoid patents. If the fault persists, remove the cartridge carefully to check the chip has not been dislodged. Reinstall the cartridge. If the fault persists, replace the cartridge.

Q. Why does my compatible cartridge not “click” like the original?

A. The clip on the original is patented. The fixing feature on the compatible is designed to do the same job without infringing the patent (see photo below).

Q. I have removed the orange clip and ink is dripping dripping out.

A. If the interior cartridge foam is not in the correct position, ink can drip from the exit hole after de-clipping. Sometimes the drip can be stopped by blotting the exit hole on some tissue paper.

Q. There is ink on the orange clip after de-clipping.

A. It is quite normal to witness ink on the clip. Ink on the clip pad does not mean the product is leaking.

Q. My Canon printer is smudging ink onto my paper and head cleans are not working. What should I do?

A. If this problem occurs, it is possible there is a fault with the print-head cleaning mechanism and we recommend the printer to be taken to your local Canon dealer.

Q. My cartridge doesn’t fit the printer the same as the original.

A. The compatible cartridge is designed to avoid infringing patents owned by the printer manufacturer. This means the cartridge looks different, and may fit slightly differently, but will still print correctly.

Q. My cartridge doesn’t eject when I open the cartridge access door.

A. Locate the pull tab on the back of the cartridge and use it to pull the cartridge out of the printer.

Remove the transport clip and replace the empty cartridge in the printer with the remanufactured one.

Q. Why does my PG40/CL41 remanufactured cartridge show a low ink warning, or empty?

A. The remanufactured cartridge is a used cartridge that has been emptied, cleaned, refilled and tested professionally. The previous use of this cartridge will have written “empty” to the cartridge’s memory. After using the cartridge for a while the status monitor will need to be disabled to allow the full use of this cartridge.

Resetting the status monitor is carried out when a low ink warning message comes up during a print job.

Ignore any warnings about print quality, and if prompted to do so, press and hold the printer’s stop/reset button for 5 seconds to disable the status monitor.

The above image is an example of the Stop / Reset button on Canon printers.

The above screen may appear after printing only a few pages. The cartridge can be simply reset to activate the remainder of the ink in the cartridges. During the reset process the printer status monitor is deactivated. The end user will determine the end of the cartridge life by monitoring the print quality.

As seen in the image above, the following text will appear:
‘The following ink has run out…..’
Replace the ink cartridge and close the cover.
If printing is in progress and you want to continue printing, press the printer’s Stop / Reset button for at least 5 seconds with the cartridges installed. The printing can continue under the ink out condition. The function for detecting the remaining ink level will be disabled.
Replace the empty ink cartridge immediately after printing.
The resulting print quality is not satisfactory, if printing is continued under the ink out condition’.

As the cartridge has been refilled, the print quality will not deteriorate.

If you have not seen the above message appear, send a job to the printer. The status monitor will transfer from showing an ink out screen (red cross in a box) to the above message dialogue box.

Once the cartridge has been reset, the status monitor will no longer show the ink level as seen on the left hand side of the above image.

Note: the Canon MX300 printer may show error code163 following installation. To continue printing press the Stop / Reset button.

Q. I am having difficulty installing the remanufactured Canon cartridges in my printer

A. The fitment of the Canon PG40 / CL41 / PG37 / CL38 / PG50 / CL51 / PG510 / CL511 / PG512 / CL513 cartridges, OEM and remanufactured is poor. We have no influence on the installation design of these cartridges.

Place the cartridge in the position as indicated above. Lift the cartridge until it clicks into position. You will feel resistance to the fitment.

Q. My cartridge doesn’t fit the printer the same as the original.

A. Before installing your compatible cartridge, you must remove the red sealing clip by ‘snapping’ it off.

Q. I have installed my compatible cartridge correctly but the printer cannot detect it.

A. Remove the cartridge from the printer, push the reflector on the cartridge up until it clicks into position. Reinstall the cartridge slowly.

Q. I have installed my compatible cartridge correctly but the printer says it cannot print as the cartridge doesn’t have enough ink to maintain print quality.

A. If you have installed a full cartridge and the replace ink message appears, you should follow the instructions below:

1. Remove the cartridge from the printer.

2. Push reflector up as shown before installing the cartridge into the printer.

3. Tilt the cartridge forward to allow the front chamber to fill with ink.

4. Reinstall the cartridge in the printer, slowly.