• catloaf@lemm.ee
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    27 days ago

    This sounds accurate based on the user reports. They’re not bricking anything, they just make you do manual registration if you use third party toner.

    • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml
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      27 days ago

      …they just make you do manual registration if you use third party toner

      Man, if only we had a word for disabling critical features in this way.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        27 days ago

        If there is one, it’s not “bricking”, because it still functions as a printer.

          • Mac@mander.xyz
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            27 days ago

            Standardized word meanings being recognized and adhered to really brings me joy.
            I don’t like that meanings change over time.

        • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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          27 days ago

          So on one hand, yes. On the other hand, there are tasks that are onerous to non technicians.

          If you asked me to do it manually, sure. I’ve interacted with a bunch of software, understand measurement systems, done some programming etc.

          My wife on the other hand… There’s no overlap between ecology or life sciences in this task. Outside her ability.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      27 days ago

      Which is weird because one of Rossman’s sources claimed that they were on the phone with Brother, asked how to do manual registration, and were told it couldn’t be done unless a genuine Brother toner cartridge was installed.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        27 days ago

        That person was just plain wrong. The same source showed the manual registration sheets under their reddit post.

      • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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        27 days ago

        Maybe support agent was being lazy, or ignorant.

        The portal the agents use should be able to bring up internal info via keywords like “colour registration”

      • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
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        26 days ago

        Customer service reps have almost the same information that a customer would have. The only difference is they have a few more tools available to them.

        Asking policy questions or anything at this level would likely get no useful info.

    • LemmyFeed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      26 days ago

      I have a black and white brother laser printer that had 3rd party toner that worked fine for years, it was even a two pack of toner. Then I installed a firmware update and immediately it threw an error stating trouble with the toner and refused to print. Tried the unopened 2nd toner, same error. Looked and searched all over online and could not find the previous firmware to try a roll back.

      I then purchased a new two pack of 3rd party toner from a different brand and it worked just fine. My guess is with each new firmware they also have a set of chips to block (each toner has a chip on it) that they bundle into to update.

      I’ll never install another firmware update for that printer now.

      I would consider what they did as bricking my toner.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        27 days ago

        The links are in the article.

        I don’t know the specific process, but usually it’s printing a registration page and then entering the offsets on the printer’s control panel.