Cartridge Not Recognized

Sometimes when you refill a HP or Lexmarkinside the cartridge.
cartridge you get the dreaded messageBefore you put the cartridge back in use another
"Cartridge Not Recognized". What does this mean?Q-Tip dampened withalcohol and clean off the
It recognized the cartridge before I refilled it!contacts inside your printer where the
HP and Lexmark have the print heads right oncartridgeconnects.
the cartridge and if you'llnotice there is someSome printers will be difficult and keep giving you
circuitry on the side which also has electricalthe error message, orwill report wrong ink levels
contacts that connect the print head to thein the ink monitor. In this case turn the printeroff
printer. There are many contact points that mustand unplug it from the wall. Wait about 20 - 30
be made between the cartridge and the printer. Ifminutes and try it again.
the connection isn't perfect you will get the errorAlso try rotating between 3 different cartridges
message.when refilling. Someprinters remember the last
There are a couple of things you can do totwo or three cartridges and can give youproblems
rectify this. First try snappingthe cartridge in andif you keep installing the same refilled cartridge.
out a few times. If that doesn't work removeIf you have an HP and the printer prints but the
thecartridge and clean off the foil contacts with aink levels are not right youprobably need to do
Q-Tip dampened with alcohol.the "Tape Trick" Follow the links below for the
Be careful not to wipe the nozzles, where the inktypeof cartridge you are refilling for the correct
comes out, or youmight contaminate the inkprocedure.