Compatible Cartridges not working in Lexmark printers

Kristopherus

Hi All,

I have purchased 2 Lexmark inkjet printers in the past year.One was a budget model, the Z735. The other was an all-in-one model, X5495. If I replace the original cartridge with a compatible, I get an Error message " Unsupported Cartridge", and the printer will not work. Is there any way to get around this. As everyone knows, Lexmark's own replacement injet cartridges are a rip-off. I thought it was against EU competition rules to prevent the use of compatible cartridges. You don't have to use Ford parts in Ford cars !

Clseeper

Is the compatible cartridge a refill or a clone? Some companies just rework and refill the original lexmark cartridges. You don't know how many times that's been used so maybe the cartridge is broken? Why do you assume lexmark is stopping you?

Take it back to where you bought it and get a replacement. They should be able to help you. I'm not sure but I assume there are some sort of warrentys with the cartridge?

Kristopherus

Clone would be the best description. Got it from www.rubberfrog.com, they are the best priced compatible cartridge supplier that I could find for the X5495.The same error appeared when I inserted a refilled No.1 cartridge in the Z735. I feel its Lexmarks software that may be the problem. Considering that the printer cost €40.00, I think it is plain crazy to pay €25.00 for the cartridge !

Clseeper

That does sound strange. Yes it is totally illegal for any printing company to stop you from reusing a cartridge. You seem to have bad luck with the cartridges.

It may be that the cartridge was damaged in the rework/refill process. The printheads on these are quite fragile and can break easily if not handled properly. Maybe that is your issue? Is there a crack or depression across the printhead? I doubt that companies would rework/refill cartridges that they knew wouldn't work in the printers.

On the printer/cartridge price: The printer actually doesn't cost €40, it may cost a lot more maybe ~€80. The printing companies sell you the printer at a vastly reduced price and then recoup that money on the cartridges. A lot of companies are starting to change but in the end they are still going to make a profit so we'll just end up paying more for the printers.

Looking at the site you bought from, they seem to have a good returns policy. Get in touch with them and see what happens.

Kristopherus

Thanks, CSleeper, I'm late logging on tonight !!!