change region codess on printer hp c3180

Posted by jcalvo on Mar 24, 2008

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2. • By Guest Sep 03, 2008

   • Had the same problem on a photosmart 2610 printer bought in Australia and relocated to Slovenia in Europe. Below are the steps HP support took me through.
     You should have your printer connected to a windows PC with a USB cable even if it is a network printer. 
     
     At this stage it would be a good idea to open the printer and change the cartridges to the new ones you intend to use for this region
     
     1. Press * and # keys to bring up the "Mfg Commands" screen. I assume this is only used by HP service staff.
     
     2. The "Mfg Commands" screen asks you to "Enter special key combo" which is 123 then press ok
     
     3. Use the right arrow key to step through the menus until you find the "special Reports" menu then press ok.
     
     4. Use the right arrow key again to find the "print Cartridges" menu and press ok
     
     5. This will print out a page with numbers ranging from 11. to 74. This page will print regardless of the print cartridges in the printer and whether they are valid print cartridges.
     
     6. The numbers of interest to HP support will be 11,21,25,52,62
     
     7. They will use the above information to generate a new set of five lots of 4 numbers.
     
     8. You will need to enter the 5 lots of 4 numbers onto a windows PC which has the HP drivers installed.
     
     9. On a windows PC with HP drivers installed open notepad and select print to bring up the printer dialog .
     
     10. click on  "preferences" in the print dialog window to open the HP preferences dialogue.
     
     11. Holding down the control key double click the HP icon in the bottom left corner of the preferences dialogue to open a service maintenance menu which will allow you to enter 5 lots of 4 digit numbers which HP staff will provide.
     
     12. once you have entered the 5 lots of 4 numbers and press ok a data file is sent to the printer which changes its region settings. 
     13. You then have to switch the printer off for about 1 minute then back on again and your new cartridges should now be valid.
     
     
     
     

3. • By maxipeg Jul 28, 2008

   • Just moved from the US to Switzerland, of course the cartridges are not compatible. Tried the online chat help, unfortunately I am running Mac OS, the guy was nice but he could not help. I am trying the e-mail help, will keep you posted. If anybody brought a C3180 from the US to CH and successfully reset the region code I accept any useful information

4. • By coward May 12, 2008

   • I had the same problem for an HP PSC 1500 moving to the US. The printer was from one of the Europe regions, Slovenia specifically. You can check your printer settings by doing a TAP 10 test. Press "Cancel/Resume" and "Start Copy" at the same time. A printout will be generated. The relevant settings are:
     
     

     
     
     • Line 16 contains information on the printer zone
     
     
     • Line 53 contains information on the left cartridge zone
     
     
     • Line 63 contains information on the right cartridge zone
     
     
     • Line 83 contains information on the middle cartridge zone (it is only printed on three-carriage printers)
     
     HP support will collect the following settings from that same TAP 10 test, these values will vary from printer to printer:
     
     
     
     
     • Line 11 SN = MXXXXDCXXXXXXXX (Serial number of printer)
     
     
     • Line 21 PG = 173
     
     
     • Line 52 ID = 0080-6C02-1144-3505 (Left cartridge?)
     
     
     • Line 62 ID = 00FF-FFF2-1038-3E03 (Right cartridge?)
     
     
     • Line 25 RX = 03,050,0000
     
     
     • Line 26 RC = 2712
     
     By opening the properties of the printer in question, holding down the CTRL key and double clicking the small HP logo in the lower left of the properties screen, a dialog box opens with two options, "Continue" or "Cancel". Cancel is obviously no fun, so you can select Continue. I should caution that making any changes here without the direction of an HP tech will probably disable your printer, maybe permanently.
     
     
     
     Based on the values I provided, the HP tech did some voodoo and came up with 5 sets of 4 numbers, which I entered in the screen. See the attached screen shot.
     
     
     After hitting "Ok", I shut off, then turned on the printer, and suprise! It reported new cartridges were installed and all is well. Now I can continue to pay for massively overpriced ink from a company who needs to be investigated for their incredible protectionist and cartel like tactics.

5. • By Guest Apr 18, 2008

   • Zone change for the C3180 from US to India.