Firmware 20221010 causes mfp m281cdw to stop working

[taylor87]

The Laserjet color pro mfp m281cdw touch screen said that new firmware was available and asked if I would like to install it.  I said yes.  Now the printer doesn't work.   Attempting to print results in a 79 service error displayed  on the touch screen.  Attempting to copy gets the same error.

The printer is hard wired. 

I have powered it off,  waited a while, and then powered it back on several times.   No luck.

It no longer responds to the web interface.   The touch screen says it has firmware 20221010.  And a check for newer firmware says that it is up to date.

[Repairatrooper]

There was a flaw in the 20221010 firmware that auto-updated. HP is currently working on a fix. As you have probably seen looking on these forums, you are not alone. I can only advise that the solution will likely not happen overnight. 

[taylor87]

Is it expected to be days?  Or more like weeks for a fix?  Also, how do I reinstall the older firmware until a fix becomes available?

[Repairatrooper]

They have posted the previous firmware at support.hp.com. You can try to run the utility but it might reject if it sees a newer date code on your printer. I am not HP, so I will not make any guess about time frame.

[KSchubert]

I'm on Hp support website. Can you direct me to the previous firmware?  I've downloaded this but I believe it's what caused the problem or is this the previous firmware?  I'm still stuck with same error message of: resend upgrade

Printer Firmware-Keeps your printer updated with latest fixes (1)

HP Color LaserJet Pro M280-M281 Multifunction Printer series Firmware Update Utility

20220414

34.5 MB

Oct 27, 2022

Download

[Repairatrooper]

This is the previous firmware. The suspected problematic firmware was 20221010.

[Enzideout]

This firmware update from 10/27 does not fix the issue. My M281fdw started getting the resend upgrade message, so I tried to manually upgrade the firmware. After it finished and rebooted. Still same "Resend Upgrade" message. So I did a factory reset and tried to check for updates from the printer. Still no good.

[taylor87]

My printer has been down for almost a month due to a bug in firmware from HP.  My past experiences with HP products has been that they are rock solid, trouble free, and last.  And that has been their reputation.   But, this experience has changed that.  I'm not sure that I will buy HP in the future.   And cannot at this time, in good conscience,  recommend HP to others.

Does anyone have any clues as to when a fixed firmware will be available from HP?

David 

[taylor87]

The broken firmware -- dated 20221010 -- is now over two months old.

If the fix was going to take awhile, a reasonable approach would have been to take the old *WORKING* firmware, update its date code to be more recent than 20221010 and post it until a proper fix was available.

A company the size of HP certainly has the resources to do this.  For that matter, if they were truly working on a fix for the broken firmware that they released, I firmly believe that they would have released a fix by now.  That they haven't causes me to believe that they don't care and are not actually working on a fix.

I went to support.hp.com and tried to chat with a live HP employee.  I was given two choices -- continue to 'chat' with the useless bot or visit the HP Support Community.

I liked -- past tense -- my HP printer -- up until the day that HP broke it.  Now it is just an heavy expensive paper weight for which I have expensive, and now worthless, HP brand toner.

Anyone care to recommend a good solid non-HP brand of color laserjet printer? 

David

[taylor87]

My opinion of HP continues to decline.

I've now paid HP for a year of phone support -- though having to pay HP for help fixing something that they broke irks me big time.   And I've spoken to someone twice.

The guy I spoke with yesterday said that he would email me instructions that would almost certainly resolve the problem.  He never emailed them.  While I was on the phone he had me turn the printer on and hold my finger on the loading bar for 45 seconds.  I did.  It asked me language and country and asked me to confirm each.  Then it had scrollable text and the 'next' option.  If you don't click 'next' fast enough, it times out and does it anyway.  I then had a menu with three choices --

self-managed, it-managed, print configuration.  As instructed, I selected 'self-managed'.

The printed is now in WORSE shape.  Before, it would boot to the menus and after a few minutes drop to the '49 servicer error'.  Now, it never makes it to the menus.  Instead it gets a '49 service error' and loops booting.

The instructions he said he was going to email me never arrived.

So, today I called again.  I explained to the woman what I the problem was and what yesterday's 'support' person had me do.  She was surprised that the printer had a wired network connection.  She said that the next step was to hook a Windows machine to the USB port at the back of the printer.  Once that is done, call back and we'll download firmware and use the cable to send it to the printer.

Of course, she wouldn't tell me where the firmware was do I can't download it ahead of time.  Nor tell me how to send the firmware to the printer.  Has to be Windows.  Can't be GNU/Linux (which is what I'm using) nor MacOS.

So, my next step is to borrow a Windows laptop.  Oh, and in her experience, fixing the firmware via the USB cable only works about 10% of the time.  If I would guess, those 10% are a subset of the times when the printer has not been messed up by following the instructions of yesterday's 'support' person.

I cannot at this time, in good conscience, recommend HP products to anyone.

I used to have a very high opinion of HP.  I continue to be amazed at the steps they take to further lower my opinion of them.  Sigh.