Review on Amstech HP 202X CF500X 202A CF500A Compatible Toner Cartridge Replacement for Color Laserjet Pro MFP M281fdw M281cdw M254dw M281fdn M281 M281dw Printer Toner - Black Cyan Yellow Magenta, 4-Pack by Michael Bressler

With the latest October firmware update for my HP Color LaserJet MFP M281cdw printer, these cartridges are no longer recognized and no longer work. The printer screen shows that it cannot communicate with the cartridges and therefore the printer is not working. Before the update, the cartridges worked perfectly. DO NOT BUY! Update: The seller contacted me and provided a link to an older HP firmware that he has archived but is no longer available from HP. I did a printer firmware rollback and that fixed the error and got the printer working again, but like many other reviews, there are now colored spots on my printouts. Initially I thought the print quality was okay (considering the cheap price) but it got to the point where all prints now look like abstract paintings. The attached photos show a "blank" Word document printed with smudges, what the Intermediate Transfer Ribbon (ITB) looks like when the printer is opened and inspected, and the ink levels in the color cartridges are almost full. The black cartridge in the printer is currently an HP 202XL cartridge which explains why their ink levels are drastically different from 3rd party Amstech color cartridges and why there are no black features on any of the printouts or on the ITB. I laboriously opened up the printer and cleaned up the whole mess of colored powder that was covering almost everything, especially the intermediate transfer roller. After everything is buttoned up and tested, a few prints again have stains all over them. As much as it pains me to do this ($$), I'm going to throw away those nearly full cartridges and buy HP originals to avoid this mess.