[hajime]

Hello. I bought the HP Officejet Pro L7590 about 3 years ago. I don't use it often. Recently, whenever I turn on the printer, the display indicates that some of the cartridges are expired and that I should replace the cartridges. According to the indicators, there are still ink left in the cartridges. Sometimes the printer does not operate but most often, when I keep pressing the ok button, the printer works. If I do not replace the cartridges, will I damage the printer? Is it better to do what is being told by the printer? Sometimes the printer's LCD gives incorrect/inconsistency indication on ink availability. Another issue is that when I used the printer to print address labels, the letters in black looked dulled. Not sure if I only need to replace the black cartridge while leaving the rest in the printer until they are completely emptied. Thanks.

[JimH443]

I have heard that some printers electronically read the date on their cartridge and when they reach a certain age they call them "expired" - even if they've never been used. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe HP is one company that does this.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot damage your printer by using them. The printer may be designed to make it a PITA, but IMO that's nothing more than a marketing scheme to sell more ink cartridges. I have little doubt THEY consider it to be a "quality control issue," though. As you've noticed, the reliability of optimal print quality suffers.

My advice is that as long as you're getting satisfactory printouts, continue using your existing cartridges.

[WinfieldZenith]

HP Photosmart is really great for printing labels. It comes with built in wireless web connectivity so you can print label templates and other creative projects.