HP LaserJet P2055DN's going offline and not responding

[ezzauk]

We have just installed one of these last week (Friday), and already has stopped printing, if i switch it off then back on it works for a few mins, Everytime i try to access the webpage i get "The system is initializing. Please wait... "

[flyinghaggis]

Just to update this thread we've been running some more tests and it turns out it may not be enitirely HP's fault (though their tech support's about as much help as a chocolate teapot). We plugged the printer into a standalone network switch with only it and another PC connected and couldnt replicate the fault. So at the moment it's looking like it's some kind of randomly occuring traffic on our network that's causing the issue

We've tried disabling all of the network management protocols on the printer apart from SNMP and the '9100' print services protocol both of which appear to be required. So far the printer's now lasted a week before apparently going offline (this has been mentioned to us by one of our staff but would like to confirm it's happening after witnessing it ourselves!). So the above seems to have improved the situation but we're still kind of in the dark as to the cause of the probem unfortunately.

I ended up cancelling the return of the printer until we get a chance to run more tests just to confirm it's a fault with the printer and not something on our network. Given it may not necessarily be a fault with the printer they could potentially charge us for the return of it. At the same time I'm curious to see if they update the firmware or change the onboard NIC after returning it? They've not volunteered any of these solutions as a potential fix over the phone though.

It's really frustrating because if it now only happens once a week it's going to be near impossible to diagnose the fault in anything like a workable time frame. That and it's a problem which isn't affecting any other printers apart from the P2055DN's

So we've go 10 potentially dodgy printers, past the 30 day return window, and all HP's support can suggest is to reset the BIOS to factory defaults. I'll run some more checks as it looks like there might be some firewall settings on the printer which can limit communication to it for only a fixed number of IP addresses. If the above fails I guess we'll try returning one of the printers to HP to see if they can do anything with it?

I'm feeling like I'm stuck in limbo here

[Oops_my_bad]

We have a few of these now and we have no issues with them. Perhaps we can compare each others config to try and sort this out:

How are you configuring? With a static address? Try configuring with a DHCP reservation if you can and see how long it runs with that. HPs have a tendency to "lose" manully configured settings.

EDIT just realised you're running the same FW also.

[Batman]

HPs have a tendency to "lose" manully configured settings.

As I said earlier, I'm not convinced that they just "lose" the settings.

The loss of the settings is IMO down to a badly thought out feature, you can reset the printer to DHCP using the front panel and it's very easy for a user who doesn't know what they're doing to do it by accident. All you do is press the go and cancel button simultaneously, and that's not hard to do by mistake. It's on page 109 of the user guide for the 2015dn. I suspect the same is true of the 2055.

This, I think, is why the problem does not persist when the printer is in a test environment (I refer to the last post by flyinghaggis). It's because there are no users in the room attempting to cancel jobs they didn't mean to send or trying to make it print when there is no paper!

I think this is the cause of most of the issues I've heard of with these printers; IP reservation may be the only way to fix it, unless there's a firmware version that changes the behaviour.

[Oops_my_bad]

As I said earlier, I'm not convinced that they just "lose" the settings.

Oh yeah, I agree 100% with that and the poor design. But if the button is pressed, at least the printer reverts to default settings (ie, DHCP) and if you have a DHCP reservation set for that printer, you shouldnt notice.

Only problem is then the printer can be accessed via HTTP as the password will have been reset also..

[Batman]

I know it's a dirty hack... but if I wasn't already convinced the buttons were the problem I'd be tempted to set up the printer, get a strong piece of acrylic from DT and hot glue it onto the printer so it covers the buttons. Put it back in the computer suite and if you don't get the issue any more you know it's the buttons that are causing the problem.

[DMcCoy]

I know it's a dirty hack... but if I wasn't already convinced the buttons were the problem I'd be tempted to set up the printer, get a strong piece of acrylic from DT and hot glue it onto the printer so it covers the buttons. Put it back in the computer suite and if you don't get the issue any more you know it's the buttons that are causing the problem.

Or just lock the control panel, ours are all locked out with webjetadmin.

[Oops_my_bad]

Or just lock the control panel, ours are all locked out with webjetadmin.

Thought you could only do this on HP's with the LCD display?

[DMcCoy]

Thought you could only do this on HP's with the LCD display?

I've never used one so assumed it would be the same as the others, we only use P3005s and up. It may not be possible in that case then.

[Batman]

I desperately searched for such an option and could not find it. If anyone knows how to do it I would be extremely glad of knowing but I do not think it can be done.

[flyinghaggis]

We have a few of these now and we have no issues with them. Perhaps we can compare each others config to try and sort this out:

How are you configuring? With a static address? Try configuring with a DHCP reservation if you can and see how long it runs with that. HPs have a tendency to "lose" manully configured settings.

EDIT just realised you're running the same FW also.

We've done a factory reset of the printer so everything's at it's default settings. We've tried it with manual and DHCP (static reservation in the scope) but the problem occurs with both. It's never actually lost it's IP settings (unlike our P2015s). The only issue is still just that it drops off the network after an indeterminate amount of time requiring a power cycle to fix.

[contink]

Could it be something as daft as the system is not waking back up? or some sort of auto-power-off?

It does sound a lot like you've got a slightly borked unit and a replacement would resolve the issue rather than you going bald.

[Oops_my_bad]

Could it be something as daft as the system is not waking back up? or some sort of auto-power-off?

It does sound a lot like you've got a slightly borked unit and a replacement would resolve the issue rather than you going bald.

It'd be pretty hard to believe (or extremely bad luck) that ALL of these printers are borked.

Do you have sequential serial numbers? Could be a dodgy batch I suppose..

[Murdock_Bassi]

I work for the NHS and we have had over 160 of these printers.

Two of them have developed the same issue. however they are both set up via USB. I wonder if you are assuming it's network related and it is hardware instead.

power cycle fixes it for a while.

[ricki]

Hi

I know this will not solve the problem but might be a get round. Buy a electric timer something like this Buy Weekly Segment Timer. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for . and set it to turn off the power at night.

Just an idea.

Richard