HP DeskJet 2755e — Never Successfully Printed, Extensive Troubleshooting Exhausted

[dgpwastaken]

Got this printer a while back, never set it up until recently. Here's everything I've tried, in order:

The PIN issue (solved): During setup, the PIN on the sticker inside the cartridge door didn't match what the app/EWS expected. Confirmed I had the right sticker, right serial number, just wrong PIN. Fix that worked: entering 12345678 instead of the actual printed PIN.

The app is broken (gave up on it on, iOS, Windows, and MacOS): After the PIN cleared, HP Smart just shows a white screen or "Cannot Obtain Printer Details." Tried reinstalling, clearing cache, checking network permissions, switching to 2.4GHz — nothing worked. Seems like a known bug, lots of other people online with the same issue and no fix.

The real problem — it won't complete its first print. Cartridge status has said "Use SETUP Cartridges" (with a red error icon) this entire time. I tried getting one single print job through three completely different ways:

1. Printer's own web interface (EWS) → Align Printhead → "Printer is busy"
2. Same web interface → Print Status Report → "Printer is busy"
3. Added the printer directly on my Mac via its IP address, bypassing the app entirely, and printed a test doc → job just disappeared with "Check the printer for errors
   
   

   Things I've ruled out:

   • Tape on the cartridges — none
   • Cartridges not seated right — cleaned contacts, reseated, heard the click
   • Shipping tape/foam holding the carriage or blocking paper path — checked, nothing there
   • Old cartridges — swapped in brand new ones (bought last week), still same result
   • A real error code — checked the Event Log, only shows routine "Supplies Information" entries and one undocumented "Printer Event" (code 69556) with no explanation anywhere

   Odd detail: the carriage moves fine when I open the cartridge door, but never moves at all when I actually send a print job — like it's failing before it even tries to print.

   Printer's out of warranty and this specific purchase isn't returnable. Anyone know what error code 69556 means, or is this just a dead unit at this point?