Mar 30
Samsung Printer Hack – ML-1640
posted by: Chadaga in Projects on 03 30th, 2010 | | 14 Comments »

This morning when I was printing all of a sudden the printers low ink indicator light turns on (toner exhausted) even though there is a lot of ink left in it. When I press and hold the printer button it printed a message saying toner exhausted, service printer. The printer has printed 2100 sheets and it needs a servicing.

The printer is more than a year old so it has no warranty. This is a way to discourage refilling of cartridges. The sad part is that even if you change the cartridge it will not reset on its own. It needs to be serviced by a technician.

Anyways I read a few articles on the net and found an interesting hack. Here is what I did…

First of all open the back panel of the printer…

Now locate the IC 93C66. This is an EEPROM that the printer uses to store the number of sheets printed.

Now short the pin number 1 and 4. These pins are the Chip Select pin and the Data pin. So when the main micro controller tries to read the number of sheets printed it will not be able to do so.

Connect back the printer and it should work just fine after this. I enjoyed doing this hack… thought I will share it!

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Posted in Projects | 14 Comments »

14 Comments

  • At 2010.03.31 09:49, Shitij Suneja said:

    Brilliant..!

    [Reply]
    • At 2010.03.31 09:50, Shreyas Bhat said:

      very cool!

      [Reply]
      • At 2010.03.31 09:50, Apoorv Agarwal said:

        Ha ha..good job Vikram!

        [Reply]
        • At 2010.03.31 09:51, Amit Kumar said:

          cool….

          [Reply]
          • At 2010.03.31 09:51, Arpita Chadha said:

            wow..very impressive Vikram!

            [Reply]
            • At 2010.05.14 13:47, Bhartesh said:

              Too Good Kano… :)

              [Reply]
              • At 2010.12.22 09:41, John said:

                Do you actually solder a wire on between these 2 pins permanently?

                [Reply]
                • At 2010.12.22 09:51, Chadaga said:

                  Yep. That is how you bi-pass the EEPROM!

                  [Reply]
                • At 2010.12.22 10:23, John said:

                  Do you think this will also work for a ml-2240?

                  [Reply]
                • At 2011.02.16 22:59, RAMKRISHNA DEOKULE said:

                  ML 1640 Printer not good (LSU Error)as u have to purchase chip after refilling thus u pay more for cash & time also thus sasta printer pad gaya mahenga (competing with other brand) as localy the chip is also not available forsince 30 days i m waiting for repair.

                  [Reply]
                  • At 2011.02.22 13:49, Ajith said:

                    Test page is ok. But when print documents it says invalid toner?

                    [Reply]
                    • At 2011.02.22 13:50, Ajith said:

                      when remove short pin jumper, again say toner exhaust.

                      [Reply]
                      • At 2011.02.22 14:09, naveen said:

                        Do you think this will also work for a scx-4300?

                        [Reply]
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