mukimuki

Of course, I ordered a no-name brand cartridge at a lower price. Anyone have a work-around?

inkinawink

I am afraid you have to replace the chip, with one for your region, or buy a cartridge with the proper chip. If there are toner cartridge remanufacturers in your area, they may replace the chip for you for a fee.

mukimuki

Thanks, inkinawink!

Would it have been unreasonable to assume, that if I purchased the cartridge on-line and it was sent to an address in the US, that I would need a chip coded for the US region?

inkinawink

Depends on the company you purchased from, some take the $ and run, others are reputable, and care/stand behind their product, and customer service.

mukimuki

Thanks. Thing is, I bought the new cartridge when I saw the "starter" cartridge that came with the printer was starting to fail, but then stretched the starter cartridge for quite some time. But now I tried to replace it with the new one, it failed because of the region thing, and now for the life of me I can't find the receipt or remember where on-line I bought it. Must check my credit card statements... Cheers!

BTW does HP play this game as well nowadays?

mukimuki

Hello again! I have just received a new cartridge from another vendor, through Amazon.com, who swear that the cartridge should work, and I am getting the same error lights as before.

Could there be something else at play here???

inkinawink

Mmmmm the only thing I can think of would be the setting in the actual printer is wrong, I'll do some research, and ask a few people in my industry, and see if there is a solution for you.

inkinawink

Where did you purchase the printer? and is that in your region?

inkinawink

Check the Printer and Toner Cartridge Region Settings

Method 1:

Printer - Look under the front cover for a label showing the geographic region number. ( For directions on locating this label, click here.) Then check the Region number on the label against the following numbers to find out which geographic region it corresponds to:

1 = USA & Canada
2 = Europe, Middle East, & Africa
3 = Asia & Pacific Region
4 = Latin America (Central & South America)
0 or 9 = Undefined Region (see below)

Toner Cartridge - Look at the part number on the toner cartridge. The last letter of the part number tells you which geographic location the cartridge is intended to be used in.

A = USA & Canada
E = Europe, Middle East, & Africa
R or P = Asia & Pacific Region
L = Latin America (Central & South America)
W or G = Undefined (see below)

mukimuki

@@inkinawink

Thanks again for your continuing help. Here's the update: The printer itself does indeed indicate on a sticker inside the front panel that it is Region 1. I can't recall whether I walked in to Staples and bought it in person, or bought it on-line through Staples of amazon.com, but I definitely didn't buy it in Shenzen and schlepp it home with me. The other info on the stickers inside the front panel are as follows:
TLI: 33S0300 Region 1
Type: (chinese) 4512-230
Config: 11C04B1E
S/N: (chinese) 622CXCY
Bar code label: 124-LXKH-35S8200-01H6
E250dn model

On the toner cassette:
Sticker (bar code) CAS06355128C
Another sticker (with toner symbol) PN 12S0096/EC2S0863
On chip itself: L250 (this is where the Region code is set, according to my retailer, and it is correct, she says)

BTW I was in touch with the retailer at length yesterday, and she swears my case is an anomaly. The region code on the chip is correct, she says. She has consulted with the tech guys where she buys the cartridges, and they suggest I do a reset to factory default settings, which I did, to no avail. I also was on with Lexmark tech support yesterday at length and we did two flash updates, which didn't fix things either. (Chat transcript available if you are interested.)

Thanks again. Maybe this sheds some light???

inkinawink

ok, I have pasted your info on another forum, there is someone looking into it for me. It may be that you have a defect in your printer, everyone agrees that it seems not to be the toner cartridges that are the problem. I will post updates as I get them.

mukimuki

Just received and installed a $120US Lexmark toner cartridge, number E250A11A, that I bought at Staple's, and needless to say, it works just fine.

inkinawink

So....looks as though the chips WERE the wrong ones on the other cartridges you bought, I hope you can get a refund.

Please choose "solved" for this thread

mukimuki

@@ inkinawink
Thanks for your help...

But, ah, not really. This shows that Lexmark approved cartridges do indeed work fine in my printer. The theory that non-Lexmark cartridges are somehow being blocked, even if they have the correct region coding, has not yet been disproved. Am I alone in being more than perturbed that I have to shell out 120$US for a Lexmark cartridge, when a knockoff for less than half the price will work?

inkinawink

If this is so, it won't be long before that will change. Lexmark has lost a court battle already because of their "prebate" cartridges, they are no longer allowed to stop you from recycling their cartridges. I will post what you said above and see if anyone has a solution.