For years HP has been adding expiration dates to some inkjet printer cartridges so they can’t be indefinitely refilled. There was even a lawsuit contending every HP inkjet printer since 2001 was affected by the expiration. The problem generally only affects printer users who refill their cartridges, but I’ve run into it a few times in dealing with clients who stockpiled print cartridges on much older models. In those cases, after several years on the shelf, the cartridges are still new when inserted into the printer but aren’t recognized and can never be used.

So far there seem to be three types of solutions to solving the expiring cartridge problem. The fourth “fix” is 100% guaranteed to work: find an HP model that doesn’t use chipped cartridges:

• Use Microsoft printer drivers instead of HP drivers: The Microsoft-written printer drivers that are included with Windows XP and Vista don’t check for the expiration date like HP-written drivers do. This isn’t a fix for newer printer models, which only have HP-written drivers on the market.
• Edit the HP driver’s .INI file to NOT check for the expiration date: I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re not already comfortable editting the registry or writing windows scripts. This is more relevant to newer printers and cartridges, as they don’t have an expiration date until they’re first used. Older printers with very old cartridges that have a built-in expiration date set at the factory can’t be helped by this fix. (And, remember to make a backup of the .INI file before editting it.)
  

  Start with a new cartridge. Do not install the cartridge until you do the following.

  There is an *.ini file (hpSomethingOrOther.ini) stored in the system directory (WINNT in NT and 2000) that has a name probably associated with the driver version.

  Search for hp*.ini and edit the ones with the latest dates. If you configure the printer driver first, see below, the file date should read today.

  There are two files, one will list the one you need to change, change the other one, I think it is the smaller one.

  In it there is a parameter something like pencheck. It is set to 0100. I think this is a boolean because I tried other values without effect. Set it to 0000 in the file and save the file and REBOOT.

  You can check the value in the driver configuration dialog box (found through the Help for the HP tool box, open the last entry, I think, and click on configure).

  If the grayed out box for ink check or cartridge check or something like that is unchecked, you are in business. Cancel this dialog. Do NOT click on default or the expiration check will be reinstated and when you print with your new cartridge you will get an expiration date burned into it.

  I wouldn’t trust making any changes to this dialog box without rechecking that the parameter stays unchecked. After making sure this value is unchecked, install your new virgin cartridge(s) and the expiration date(s) will read “UNKNOWN”.

  Link to full .INI-editting article.

• Remove the printer’s internal battery to reset the memory chip in the cartridges: Removing the battery with the ink cartridge installed erases the expiration date stored on cartridges not set at the factory. Battery location and ease-of-access varies greatly by printer model. Here’s a descriptin of the problem and instructions for the d125xi printer and a Fixyourownprinter.com forum thread with details on many models of printers.

[Photo credit: liewcf]

MIT’s Media Lab demo’d prototypes of their $100 laptops today, May 23rd. Here’s a photo gallery of the OLPC $100 laptops that are targeted at children in developing nations …and they’re some sweet little machines. Putting aside the issues of black- and gray-market sales of these systems the whole rest of the project is incredibly well thought out.

Our “custom-configured” Windows world has a lot to learn from the design of these little machines. By standardizing both hardware and software configurations they’ve managed to implement 802.11 wireless-mesh networking and a minimal-IT-required Linux system. Should the operating system or software get messed up or infected (…however unlikely that is on Linux) - the whole system can be reimaged without worries of data loss. How do they manage to store data without any expensive servers? Each machine only has 512MB of FlashRAM/non-volatile storage and is designed to share data via a community (the local mesh, I think) wiki system. Sounds a little like Windows roaming profiles, except without the bloat and ability for users to still store data on the local drive; also way ahead of the server-centric network PC/thin client systems encouraged by Oracle, Citrix, Wyse and many hardware manufacturers.

The whole project is well documented at laptop.org, so take a look for yourself.

Wireless USB and PCMCIA (PC Card) adapters now available are very similar in performance. There is little reason, other than personal preference to choose one over the other. There is good reason to choose a laptop with a built-in Wi-Fi adapter over an external option, so if you’re considering saving a few dollars by getting a USB or PC Card adapter instead - don’t.

Wireless range is directly related to the amount of power sent through the antenna. Since laptop devices usually have less powerful antennas than base stations plugged into the wall, early reports of inferior range in USB wireless devices were because the USB bus supplied less power (ref. #1 below) than the PC Card bus (ref. #2 below). Now that the antennas on both types of devices are very similar and most Windows XP drivers allow Windows to manage the power used by the wireless device automatically it’s rare for either USB or PC Card devices to either be run at full power or for one type to have a better range than the other.

An internal wi-fi card is a big improvement over the above options, because the antenna are much larger and more sensitive. Most laptops with internal wireless devices have an antenna wire in around the outside edge of the screen, making a big improvement over any external options, regardless of power output.

Also, PC Card technology has more power-saving modes (handled automatically by the PC Card controller, ref. #2 below) than USB does. Before Windows XP started to manage power via the driver - PC Card wireless devices went into low-power mode more often and depleted the battery less than USB devices did. Now there is little to no noticable difference in battery use by either device. …although, when a laptop is put to sleep either device will continue to consume a small amount of battery power if it is left in the laptop. Since USB has slightly better hot-plug support (ie: it can be removed and reinserted without causing errors on the PC) it is usually easier to remove it when putting the PC to sleep. …so, maybe USB is the way to go for you.

Note on Wireless-B, -G, and -N: It’s worth paying attention to the type of communication that a wireless device uses. All Wi-Fi devices “speak” some form of the 802.11 “language”. The letter after the 802.11 indicates the “flavor” of the language - and some are much better/faster than the other flavors. 802.11G deals with radio “noise” (like microwaves and cordless phones) better than 802.11B. Also, if you can find a “pre-N” (pre-802.11N) wireless device choose it (if it’s in your budget). The pre-N technology may not work with the final 802.11N, but all N-flavor devices have much better antennas than the B or G flavors. So, the “best” flavor is “pre-N”, followed by “G”, and then by “B”.

References:

1. http://www.usb-port.com/usb_faq.html - USB supplies 500mA @ 5V
2. http://www.pcmcia.org/pccard.htm - PC Card supplies 660mA @ 5V, 1000mA @ 3.3V

Anyone with a fancy new laptop having trouble connecting a wired network connection when out in the field? If it’s a new Dell laptop, they’ve added a power-saving feature that doesn’t work right.

The new “feature” is supposed to turn off the NIC when the laptop power & a network cable aren’t plugged in. It turns out that it shuts down the wired ethernet port completely when the laptop is on battery power - even if a cable is plugged in at startup. Who cares anyway, why should I have to reboot my laptop just to get reconnected after I restart a switch or redock the laptop?

BTW, Dell (and it’s $billions) should build something like Sony’s SmartWi technology and its ability to automatically toggle between WiFi, Bluetooth and WWAN connectivity - but Dell prefers to follow once someone else has done some development and marketing.

The affected Dell laptops have a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx gigabit NIC. Unless you always have a wireless connection available, here’s how to enable the wired ethernet connection, and you can do it without a reboot so you don’t have to leave the NIC on alll the time:

1. Open the Windows Control Panels and then open the Internal NIC Configuration control panel
2. Check the Always activate on battery option and then Apply