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- HP Community
- Printers
- Printer Ink Cartridges & Print Quality
- down grade printer firmware

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11-11-2020 08:21 AM
my color laserjet pro m254dw was working with non hp toner cartridges until the latest firmware update. I want to downgrade to the previous version. How do I do it?
11-20-2020 09:33 AM
Hi @petejurk,
I'd like to help!
We can perform a factory defaults on the printer to resolve the issue
- The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may corrupt the device.
- I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instruction to perform a full reset and re-initialize the printer.
- In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Forums profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/notes/privatenotespage
Hope this helps! Keep me posted.
And, Welcome to the HP Support Community.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping
11-20-2020 10:20 AM
@Jay_G24 wrote:Hi @petejurk,
I'd like to help!
We can perform a factory defaults on the printer to resolve the issue
- The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may corrupt the device.
- I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instruction to perform a full reset and re-initialize the printer.
- In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Forums profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/notes/privatenotespage
Hope this helps! Keep me posted.
And, Welcome to the HP Support Community.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping
I'm sorry but resetting the printer does not reset the firmware back. It's sad that's the real HP does not read the question or does not now that the last firmware blocks 3rd party supplies. This answer will make it just worse if the user has a network setup. After this the settings will be lost and still no luck with the issue. To downgrade your firmware the simplest way would be to use a windows pc, a usb cable and as follows:
First in the printer :
1. Settings -> Service -> Laserjet Update -> Manage Updates -> Allow Downgrade -> YES
2. Settings -> Service -> Laserjet Update -> Manage Updates -> Check Automatically -> OFF
On the PC:
3. download 12062020 update
4. Open the update, choose your printer and update the printer
5. Check after updating if the settings in point 1. and 2. are left as you set them.
Just a electronics enthusiast trying to fix everything.
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01-10-2021 05:01 PM - edited 01-10-2021 05:23 PM
First, make sure you go into your HPCLJP M254dw Setup and change the following:
Setup > Service > LaserJet Update > Manage Updates:
Check Automatically = NO
Prompt Before Install = YES
Allow Updates = YES (change after downgrade to NO)
Allow Downgrade = YES
You can then download the 20200612 firmware from HP's FTP site...
Then, from Terminal session, you can issue the following command to list your connected printers...
$ lpstat -p -d printer HP_Color_LaserJet_M254dw_0 is idle. enabled since Fri Nov 6 17:47:06 2020 system default destination: HP_Color_LaserJet_M254dw_0
Ensuring your printer is idle, then execute the following command in Terminal session to downgrade your firmware... making sure you reference your specific printer name (in last command output) correctly...
$ lpr -P HP_Color_LaserJet_M254dw_0 /Users/<username>/Downloads/HP_Color_LaserJet_Pro_M254_dw_Printer_series_20200612.rfu
You should see, after brief delay as print job (firmware) is downloaded to the printer, a black screen on the printer's LCD that shows "HP" and "Energy Star" and update status bar...
Wait until the printer downgrades and shuts down/reboots... should take about 2-3 minutes...
You can check firmware code in the Service menu... to ensure the firmware downgrade was successful.
If not, simply try again.
I hope that helps!
01-11-2021 12:33 PM
HP Support has since removed the file from their FTP servers... hence link is now broken.
Clearly, HP does not want to support customers in downgrading the firmware on their printer.
I would suggest searching internet for the RFU filename to locate a download site...
"HP_Color_LaserJet_Pro_M254_dw_Printer_series_20200612.rfu"