HP PageWide Managed Color MFP P77940 stuck at error 61.00.00 after firmware update

[HamzaD3]

Hello,

I am experiencing a serious issue with my HP PageWide Managed Color MFP P77940.
Here are the detailed steps of what happened and what I tried:

1. Originally, my printer was working but after a firmware update, the machine stopped saving network settings.

   • Even when I configured a manual/static IP, after every restart it always reverted back to DHCP.

2. To solve this, I attempted a firmware downgrade.

3. After the downgrade, I immediately received error 98.00.02 on the display.

4. I then tried to re-upgrade the firmware, but after reboot the printer got stuck with error 61.00.00 during initialization.

   • The boot process freezes on “Initializing 7”, before any hardware check is performed.

5. Current situation:

   • The device is permanently frozen at 61.00.00.

   • I still have access to the Preboot Menu.

   • I already tried to reflash the latest firmware using USB (.ful2 file, FAT32 formatted key) via Preboot → Administrator → Download → USB Thumbdrive → Device Firmware Update.

   • The process completes, but after restart the printer is still stuck on 61.00.00.

   • There is no option to clear NVRAM in the Preboot Menu on this model.

It looks like the system firmware (FutureSmart OS) is corrupted and the normal .ful2 package cannot fix it.
From my research, this may require either a special HP Recovery Firmware (SP version) or possibly a formatter board replacement (part L3U54-67901).

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My questions:

• Is there any way to obtain a Recovery firmware package for this model?

• Or is replacing the formatter board the only solution at this point?

Thank you for your support

[Repairatrooper · Accepted solution]

The 98 error indicates corrupted data on the drive. 

in the preboot menu there is a setting under startup options called "cold reset" which resets all settings. I would also suggest under troubleshooting in the preboot menu you test the hard drive or emmc drive. There is no "recovery". You can format the drive and reinstall the firmware, which contains the entire required operating system for the printer