HP customer claims firmware update shoved printer off support cliff

HP appears to have discovered a new subscription tier for printers: "Works until we decide it doesn't." A customer in Quebec claims the company remotely crippled his five-year-old OfficeJet 4650 printer after a firmware update, then spent weeks bouncing him through support queues before admitting internally that an entire generation of printers had effectively fallen off its support cliff. The customer, who says he has filed complaints with both Canada's Competition Bureau and Quebec's consumer protection office, provided internal HP documents obtained through a Canadian PIPEDA access request. Those records, seen by The Register, include an internal alert titled "Gen1 printers losing connection to Web Services," along with notes attributing the failure to "a server update affecting connectivity to HP Instant Ink" combined with the printer being "likely at end of service life." The customer says the OfficeJet 4650 stopped working halfway through printing a book manuscript following a firmware update, after which the printer began repeatedly throwing server connection errors and refused to properly reconnect. The customer does not appear to be alone. In a Reddit thread discussing the issue, another OfficeJet 4650 owner said a printer update left the device unable to connect over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, or even a local network. Factory resets reportedly did nothing, and the user said they eventually gave up and went to a library to print their documents. What followed for the customer in Quebec will sound painfully familiar to anyone who has ever made the mistake of contacting printer support. The user describes weeks of repeated calls to HP support staff, cases mysteriously closed, promised callbacks from escalation teams that never arrived, and repeated attempts to blame local connectivity issues. Eventually, according to the customer, HP supervisors acknowledged the issue was linked to HP servers and was already known internally. One support email reviewed by The Register states that "compatibility with newer devices and connection protocols" had become an issue due to the printer's age, and also references problems with "cloud services linked to our web services." Another internal note states: "The agent acknowledged the printer is old and likely at end of service life. Customer was advised that upgrading the printer may be necessary if issue persists." Which appears to translate roughly as: the printer still turns on, but HP no longer considers that its problem. More problematic for HP is the claim that the printer did not fail on its own but stopped functioning properly due to changes on HP's side. According to the customer, HP staff acknowledged the issue was affecting multiple Generation 1 printers. One support transcript states: "HP is already aware of this issue - it has priority," while another says engineers were working to restore communications between affected printers and HP servers. According to the customer, the issue was never fixed. HP eventually offered the customer a refurbished replacement printer, which he refused. The case risks reviving long-running anger over HP's Dynamic Security system, a notoriously unpopular firmware mechanism that blocks some third-party ink cartridges and has already attracted lawsuits and regulatory attention. While this latest dispute centers more on end-of-life support than on cartridge authentication, the underlying complaint is similar: customers buying hardware they discover they do not fully control. The customer says he is now pursuing additional records related to the internal HP alert and has filed an ethics complaint against the company's executive escalation staff over what he describes as deliberate misdirection during the support process. HP told The Register: "We are aware that some customers using older OfficeJet models have reported concerns with connectivity and certain web-based features. We have not identified a broad or ongoing systemic issue affecting these devices, though we have addressed isolated service disruptions where they have occurred. "Many of the models referenced were introduced several years ago and while designed for reliable performance, the availability of certain cloud-connected features may change over time. "We provide troubleshooting and guidance where issues are reported and remain focused on delivering a reliable, high-quality experience across our products." (R)