Brand new M182nw printer not accepting password. How do I reset it?

[kocherjj]

I just purchased a brand new HP Color LaserJet MFP M182nw.

I took it out of the box.

I connected it to Power

I connected it to my network

I browsed to the IP address to obtain the MAC address

I setup a MAC reservation on my DHCP server

I rebooted the printer to get the new IP

I browsed to the new IP and set a password for security

Less than 20 minutes from opening the box I now have an expensive paperweight

For a brief moment a message flashed up telling me I could enter anything I want in the user field when using my new password to log in, and then the page disappeared and I get a login window. I used a password manager to create the password, and it has been copied and pasted each time, including when it was set, so I know I am not typing it wrong, but the web interface refuses to accept it.

So I came to the HP website to get support. I was asked for the serial number, so I obtained that from the label on the printer and typed it in. I get a message informing me that:

This product cannot be identified by serial number alone.

Please provide a product number as well.

So I entered 'M182nw' in the new product number field that was added and got this message:

Please enter a valid product number

So now I have a brand new printer that rejects the password that was set seconds before, with a serial number and model number that HP refuses to acknowledge. Any ideas before I pack this up and ship it back? 

[kocherjj · Accepted solution]

It occurred to me that there might be an undocumented password limitation. This would be evidence of poor site software programming to allow an invalid password to be set, but in hopes that it was just a length limitation I started using chunks of the random password generated by my manager, starting at 8 characters. When I made it to 16 characters it accepted this as the correct password.

It's unfortunate that this limitation is not made clear when creating the password, both by text informing the end user of this limit and by the site rejecting a password that does not meet the requirements, but at least I have access now.

I now have a new problem where I cannot print from my primary Linux laptop, although my wife's Windows laptop prints just fine. I will create a separate post for this.