has anyone really solved the "connect printer to update hp instant ink status" problem?

[BillSac]

I have found many postings about "connect printer to update hp instant ink status" problem. Some even marked solved though those seem more like "we have not found a fix yet so we will close this thread." I have done the stuff suggested with no results other than any attempt to connect to instant ink for anything fails. I could easily believe HP has taken the site down. 

Has anyone figured out the root cause of this problem? What went wrong?

[JamesK75]

My Father has the same issue with his Officejet 8610. Started about 3 weeks ago. It wouldn't surprise me if certain models of printer are looking to connect to a DNS or IP address which is hard coded to the printer, and maybe HP have possibly taken down on their side.

I've got an Envy 5541 and that is fine with Instant Ink and web services.

I'm wondering whether it's related to Officejet models specifically?

[kevin_hakanson]

I am also getting the "Your printer is not connected to the Internet. Make sure your printer is powered on and connected to the Internet, then click Refresh." message at the InstantInk website and my last updated page counts was Sept 4, 2019.  I rebooted the printer and the router and still no issues.   I am sure this is an HP "server" issue and not a local printer issue.

Since I am in a software development job, I used the Embedded Web Server admin screens to set the proxy server to use the Fiddler Web Debugger.  Here are some interesting details if anyone from HP is here trying to solve the problem.

Failure to CONNECT h20593.www2.hp.com:443 HTTP/1.0 in the proxy, and when I connect via curl it looks like they change some of their TLS settings on the server-side.

* TLSv1.0 (OUT), TLS alert, handshake failure (552):
* error:141A318A:SSL routines:tls_process_ske_dhe:dh key too small

Another "fun" detail is the Web Services Product Update check fails silently.  The first URL gets a 301 redirect to the second which fails with a 404, but the printer says

GET /pub/inkjet/updates/fd/manifests/b_b_c_p00_335b01ae66e4593648903014d1ffcd97_335b01ae66e4593648903014d1ffcd97 HTTP/1.1

GET /pub/inkjet/updates/fd/manifests/b_b_c_p00_335b01ae66e4593648903014d1ffcd97_335b01ae66e4593648903014d1ffcd97 HTTP/1.1

And the most cryptic but likely the root of the problem is every 30 seconds my printer attempts 4 connections to xmpp008.hpeprint.com on ports 80, 443, 5222, and 5223 and these often, but not always, get a 502 error code back from the HP.  Since some of these get a 200 OK, I would expect that some of my page count updates would have gotten through.  

[kevin_hakanson]

JamesK75, I later found your thread on this topic along with extensive details.  Link to https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/HP-Instant-Ink/Officejet-8610-Cannot-Connect-to-Instant-Ink/m-p/723752... from here to capture those details.

[mcguirerj]

That is awesome - so, are you thinking it is a security issue with TLS?  I looked up the IP addresses that I could tell my printer was communicating with when trying to enable web services - looks like one in Houston and one in Austin (port 80).  There is also a registration domain using port 443.  All the ports you mentioned I've read elsewhere need to be enabled through your firewall.  Obviously the first two are web-based, but I didn't make any configuration changes to close any ports and it has been working fine for years.  Hope they fix it soon.

[JamesK75]

I've sent the "HP Support" twitter account a message asking them to look at these forums. Maybe if a few more did this too it may focus their attention.

At the moment it seems their 1st line support is unable to help with this, but I'm not sure they're escalating it either.

It speaks volumes, that so far, there's been no-one from HP responding to these forum posts.

[Cazza1000]

It's a problem on my Hp Envy printer 5546. Just managed to get through on phone to Rebecca in HP customer services 02076606027 and she is escalating the problem. Might be worth trying to call ASAP so all our calls get logged together this lunch break if you get one‽ . Also managed to get immediate answer on phone ....

[JamesK75]

Good idea. I'll get my Dad to call them up.

I also sent a private message to @Asmita6658. This person has been responding to most of the forum posts today.

However, I've not had a response as yet to my private message asking for a response/update.

[Cazza1000]

Hi again, I also got passed onto John in billing and tech who has been contacted by other users with same issue. He's been told some office jet printers have a firmware update issue and didn't think it was their servers that was the problem. However I told him that customers who are software engineers have looked into this and strongly feel it's a HP server issue. He's going to pass on this info to engineers trying to sort problem and get them to look at these pages. He credited my account with two months of payments . Just as well because I'm paying for printing I'm not able to use. John at HP has taken my mobile number and promised to contact me ASAP he has an answer. Huge improvement with Customer Service staff at HP today. Very impressed with help at got this lunchtime even if matter not yet resolved. Until now I've been ready to throttle HP staff and I rarely get impatient !