HP 903XL Black (T6M15AE)

Make sure that you have removed the tape and orange clip from the cartridge prior to attempting to install.

To install, simply remove the empty cartridge from your printer and replace with your new remanufactured cartridge. Push gently but firmly until the cartridge is in place and lies flush with the other colours.

After installing your cartridge, a message may appear on your status monitor advising you that the cartridge is counterfeit, used, or empty. This cartridge is not empty and has been refilled, ignore this message.

Following installation perform a cleaning cycle using your printer toolbox, set up, clean or maintenance window. The cartridge will work correctly without the use of a status monitor. Replace the cartridge when the print quality deteriorates.

Download the appropriate firmware downgrade for your HP OfficeJet printer so you can continue to print.

Reverting the firmware and downgrading to a previous version may allow your HP printer to work with the previous firmware version before the update occurred. Once you revert to a previous version you can continue to print using your compatible ink cartridges.

The download links below are for HP printers which use the HP 903XL ink cartridges.

HP OfficeJet Pro 6950 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6954 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6960 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6962 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6968 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 Downgrade

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Downgrade

Please note: Reverting your printer firmware to an earlier version may affect other functionality. Please see your printer's support pages for specific details on firmware changes.

Remove the cartridge from the printer and while the printer is still on, remove the power by switching off the printer at the socket. Leave the printer for 10 minutes to allow all power to drain and the error to clear.

In the meantime, find the chip on your cartridge and give it a wipe with some tissue to make sure there is no ink or dust interfering in the communication between the cartridge and the printer.

After 10 minutes, switch your printer back on and re-install the cartridge.

If this did not resolve your problem then unfortunately the cartridge is faulty and should be returned to your store.

If the steps in the answer to the previous question did not solve your problem, re-install all your old, working cartridges. Then replace them with your new cartridges one by one to identify which colour cartridge is causing the error.

HP have introduced a ‘cartridge protection’ update on their ink cartridges as part of their latest printers, intended to lock the ink cartridges to a specific printer so that you cannot use that cartridge again in any other printer. This also means that the cartridge becomes non-recyclable as it cannot be refilled, recycled or remanufactured to use in another printer and it will just end up in landfill.

So when certain remanufactured HP cartridges are installed into your printer, an "HP protected cartridge" error message will be displayed. Therefore this cartridge will not work in your printer and will only work in the first printer that the cartridge was used in. Your cartridge is not usable and should be returned to your store.

You can prevent this from happening with cartridges installed in your printer by disabling HP cartridge protection in your printer settings:

Through your computer, go to the settings/toolbox on your printer menu, navigate to the 'HP Cartridge Protection' tab and select the 'Disable HP Cartridge Protection' option. Cartridges that you use in your printer can now be recycled.

HP have introduced a ‘cartridge protection’ update on their ink cartridges as part of their latest printers, intended to lock the ink cartridges to a specific printer so that you cannot use that cartridge again in any other printer. This means that the cartridge becomes non-recyclable as it cannot be refilled, recycled or remanufactured to use in another printer and it will just end up in landfill.

Please choose to not protect your cartridges by selecting 'No'. Cartridges that you use in your printer can now be recycled.

If you selected 'Yes' in error, you can change your choice at any time on your printer settings. Through your computer, go to the settings/toolbox on your printer menu, navigate to the 'HP Cartridge Protection' tab and select the 'Disable HP Cartridge Protection' option.

These HP cartridges are just a tank with ink inside, all the technology for transferring the ink from the cartridge to your paper is held within the print heads inside your printer. So long as there are no error messages displayed, the issue is with the printer itself.

Try doing a couple of head or nozzle cleans on your printer through the status monitor on your computer or the display screen on your printer. This will help clear any air bubbles that may be trapped and blocking your normal print.

Printer manufacturers often use the roll out of their printer firmware updates to prevent you from choosing the origin and type of supplies you use in your printer. This has been done is ways such as blocking the use of remanufactured/recycled cartridges entirely, applying a 'cartridge lock' system that locks a cartridge's usage to a printer and introducing a new 'generation' of the same cartridge model to stop older, remanufactured cartridges being re-used.

Most printer manufacturers will prefer you to set your printer to automatically download and install their updates for this very reason. We suggest that you disable the automatic update option to allow you to continue to use remanufactured cartridges and also to recycle your cartridge after it has been used. By allowing your printer to update the firmware automatically you are risking being locked into only using the more expensive and less environmentally friendly original branded cartridges.

This is true for both original and remanufactured HP cartridges. The page yield displayed by HP is based on a 5% page coverage life test. That is, if you only fill 5% of your page, your cartridge will print for the given number of pages. If you print photos, graphics or even a full page of text, you will be using more than a 5% page coverage. So with normal everyday printing, the page yield listed by HP is unlikely to be the same page yield that you will get out of your cartridge.