HP "Cartridge Problem" and Dynamic Security: What Actually Works in 2026

HP printers refuse cartridges for two quite different reasons, and the fix depends entirely on which you are facing. A hardware fault, meaning dirty contacts, a damaged chip or a cartridge that is not fully seated, can be cleared in five minutes. A Dynamic Security or HP+ rejection is the printer doing what HP designed it to do, and no amount of cleaning will change it. This guide separates the two and gives you honest options for each.

Quick fixes first

1. Read the exact wording on the panel or in the HP app and write it down. "Cartridge problem" and "non-HP chip detected" are different messages.
2. Open the cartridge door, remove each cartridge and refit it firmly until it clicks.
3. Wipe the copper contacts on the cartridge and in the carriage with a dry, lint-free cloth.
4. Check no orange protective tape or plastic clip remains on a new cartridge.
5. Power the printer off at the wall for 60 seconds, then on again so it re-reads every cartridge.
6. If the printer names a specific cartridge, swap in a genuine HP cartridge of that colour to see whether the fault follows the cartridge or stays with the slot.

Which message do you have?

Fix 1: The genuine cartridge faults

Do this properly before concluding anything about Dynamic Security.

1. With the printer on, open the cartridge access door and wait for the carriage to stop moving.
2. Remove the cartridge the printer named. Check the contact pad for smears, ink or a bent contact.
3. Wipe the pad with a dry lint-free cloth. Do not use alcohol or water on the chip and never touch the nozzles.
4. Look into the carriage and wipe the matching contacts with a dry cotton bud.
5. Refit until it clicks, close the door and wait for the check to finish.
6. If the error names a different cartridge each time, the fault is the carriage contacts rather than any one cartridge.

On models with a separate printhead, a persistent problem across several colours often points at the printhead rather than the cartridges. Our HP printhead problem guide covers that case.

What Dynamic Security actually is

Dynamic Security is HP firmware that checks whether a cartridge carries an HP chip or HP circuitry. On affected models, cartridges with a non-HP chip, including many compatible and some remanufactured cartridges, will not work. HP states plainly that affected printers are intended to work only with cartridges using HP chips or circuitry, and that firmware updates can affect the functionality of cartridges with non-HP chips.

Two consequences matter in practice:

• It is not a fault. The printer is behaving as designed. There is no combination of resets, contact cleaning or power cycles that changes it.
• It can arrive later. A compatible cartridge that has worked for months can stop working after a firmware update, because the update refreshes the chip checks.

You can read HP's own description on HP's website; the terms are also printed on the packaging of affected models in most markets.

HP+ is a separate, permanent commitment

HP+ is an enrolment offered during setup on certain models, usually in exchange for extra warranty and a trial of Instant Ink. Accepting it requires the printer to stay connected to the internet and permanently restricts it to HP-supplied cartridges. HP states the choice cannot be reversed once made.

If your printer is enrolled in HP+ and rejects a third-party cartridge, that is the enrolment, not a fault, and it applies for the life of the printer. The only routes are to use HP cartridges or to use a different printer. If you are setting up a new HP printer and want the option of compatibles later, decline HP+ during setup.

Instant Ink is different again: it is a subscription that ships cartridges which only work while the subscription is active. Cancelling the plan stops those cartridges working, and you go back to buying standard cartridges.

Fix 2: Firmware, and why rollback is a poor plan

People often ask how to roll back HP firmware to a version before Dynamic Security tightened. Be realistic about this:

• HP does not publish downgrade packages for most consumer models, so there is usually nothing legitimate to install.
• Firmware supplied by third parties is unverifiable and a failed flash can leave the printer unusable, with no warranty recourse.
• Even where a downgrade succeeds, the printer will re-update itself unless automatic updates are disabled, and some features stop working when updates are off.

What you can reasonably do is turn off automatic firmware updates so the current state is preserved:

1. On the printer panel, look under Settings › Printer Maintenance or Services › Printer Update and set updates to Do not check or Notify only.
2. Or open the printer's embedded web server by typing its IP address into a browser, then find the web services or update section and change the setting there.
3. On HP+ printers this is not available, because the enrolment requires the printer to stay connected and current.

Fix 3: If you want to keep using third-party cartridges

1. Buy from a supplier who states compatibility by firmware. Reputable compatible-cartridge sellers track which HP models and firmware levels their chips work with, and will replace stock that stops working.
2. Keep a genuine cartridge as a diagnostic. One genuine cartridge of each colour tells you instantly whether a problem is the cartridge or the printer.
3. Do not accept HP+ on a new printer if compatibles matter to you.
4. Consider the total cost properly. On a printer that rejects compatibles, the honest comparison is HP cartridge cost per page against replacing the printer with an ink-tank model. Our ink tank versus cartridge guide has the arithmetic.

Our third-party ink and toner guide covers quality, warranty and the situations where compatibles are genuinely a false economy.

Fix 4: "Used or counterfeit cartridge"

This message appears when a cartridge has been refilled, remanufactured, or removed and refitted after being used in another printer. On most models the printer offers a prompt to continue anyway, and once accepted it prints normally but reports ink levels as unknown. That is not a fault; the counter simply has no reliable data. If your printer stops rather than offering the prompt, check whether it is an HP+ or Instant Ink machine, in which case the block is the enrolment rather than the cartridge history.

Warranty: what is and is not true

Using a third-party cartridge does not by itself void an HP printer warranty in the US, UK, Canada or Australia. Consumer law in the UK and Australia is explicit on this point. What a manufacturer can do is decline a claim for damage it can demonstrate a specific cartridge caused, such as a leaking cartridge that has contaminated the carriage. Keep a genuine cartridge on hand so you can demonstrate the printer's behaviour with HP supplies if a warranty conversation ever happens.

If nothing worked

If a brand-new genuine HP cartridge, correctly seated with clean contacts, is still rejected in more than one slot, the fault is in the printer's carriage contacts or the logic that reads them. That is not a home repair. A bench assessment costs roughly 60 to 120 US dollars, 50 to 100 pounds, 90 to 150 Canadian dollars or 100 to 180 Australian dollars before parts, which on a consumer inkjet usually exceeds the printer's value. If it is under warranty, claim; if not, replace.

If the rejection is Dynamic Security or HP+, there is nothing to repair and nothing to fix, and any product or service promising to unlock it should be treated with suspicion. If you want a second opinion on which situation you are in before you spend money on cartridges or a new printer, you can get help from a printer specialist.