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HP Color LaserJet 2550n - How to reset toner count

I have this networked color laserjet and I had a problem with it. My yellow cartridge said it was empty and printer would no longer print. Upon inspection of the cartridge through the plastic view windows I estimated remaining toner at over 50%. How is it possible that the printer refuses to recognize it?

Money, Money, Money

Toner and ink is the lifeblood of any printer company. With ridiculously high prices for ink and toner, you'd think you would get to use all your toner. That's where the dumb "smart chips" come in. You may notice a small electronic circuit attached to your toner cartrigde. That circuit is not a little helper - it is a little devil in disguise. The reason behind the chip is twofold, either of the two reasons benefits manufacturer and not you.

reason #1: you cannot use that toner because I say so

Printer can now track cartridges so they won't get fooled if you pull the cartridge out, and subsequently replace it back. Printer will not resume using the toner once it determines it is time for you to spend some more money to pay for the big CEO's paycheck.

reason #2: we do not want competition

The second reason is that printer companies were hoping that they can prevent generic toner suppliers from supplying cheaper toner. Don't believe me? They even tried to sue under digital millenium copyright act to prevent suppliers from installing reverse engineered chips into their toner cartridges. Fortunately they lost.

Is there no hope?

There definitely is hope - it lies in full reset of all data stored on printer or buying toners from alternative suppliers. I bought yellow cartridge from Xerox for a fraction of price compared to HP, before I noticed that I have so much toner in my original cartridge still left. So my Xerox cartridge still rests in its original box but my printer no longer refuses to print. In order to get your printer to print, you must force it to "forget" the cartrige. The steps are somewhat complicated but I tried to describe them here. Keep in mind that it usually takes few tries before you get the timing correct. I took almost 20 times before I figured out that I was not following instructions properly:

• turn your printer off
• start holding down big green go button
• turn printer on (still holding down go button)
• lights briefly flash and then turn off
• after few secconds attention light turns on
• ready light turns on, go light turns on
• after few seconds, attention light turns off
• after few seconds, ready light turns off
• (still holding down go button)
• now press toner rotate button (white) while still holding green button
• as you are briefly pressing toner button, lights are flashing
• release toner button
• release go button
• frantically & repeatedly press cancel button (red)

if you got to reset system you will experience something similar to what happened to me. Here is what happened next:

• at this point all working toner lights turned off
• yellow toner (normally flashing) - still flashing
• printer spit page out, but system was not ready
• I opened lid & closed lid - this makes go light blinking
• pressed go button and waited
• printer spit another page and printer came online

At this point, printer was reset.

How do I know that the printer is reset?

Aside of the fact that you can print now, you can verify reset by holding down green button then pressing cancel (red). This will print set up information. You will notice unusually low "Total Pages Printed" on first page bottom left. On second page you will see that all of the toners now say "Non-hp (insert color) Print Cartidge" with little note below:

ATTENTION: A non Hewlett-Packard supply has been
installed. To ensure full availability of
printing features (such as remaining supply
status) use genuine hp supplies.

You will also see additional information concerning warranty note. You can see what my printout was like here in pdf format. The printout states that non-hp part was installed all the while I am still running on original cartridges.

I don't seem to be able to reset properly

Yeah. I felt the same way first 20 tries. That is why I tried to describe the process as closely to what I did as I could remember. Following two posts helped me get to where I needed to be (I have to note that my drum did not reset as "unknown" so I still have limited number of printable pages on this supply):

this is what did the trick in the end for me:
(2550L usb version bought in Netherlands)

- holded the green button till all lights where off
  apart from the green GO button (wouldnt go off even
  if I waited another month)
- pressed the TONER select button.
- All 3 lights where back on
- Holded GO button little longer
- Released and pressed CANCEL button like mad as suggested
- All lights went off.. the toner light that was first
  flashing started flashing dimly. the toner lights
  that where just on went off.
- Printer printed test page (it looked so good hehe)
- Switched off printer, turned it back on
- MAGIC

1 Turn the printer off.
2 Press and hold the GO button (blue-green).
3 Turn the printer on and continue to hold the GO button
  (about 30 seconds).
4 After the Go, Ready, and Attention Leds all turn on,
  continue holding until the Attention and Ready leds
  switch off (GO led still on).
5 Keep pressing the GO button AND now keep pressing
  the red button (about 15 seconds) until the 3 leds
  stop blinking.
6 Release GO and red buttons.
Reset is done.
7 You may have to re-install HP drivers from CD (what I did).

You can now continue printing without changing drum or toner.