Firmware failure HP Officejet 8012e

[MME_Gilian]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing you in the name of my client whom I sold this printer to in May of 2022. 

They called me because the printer didn't work properly anymore, as it said it had to be configured with a HP+ account to print/copy properly. 

All of the things below I tried on a iPhone:

So, first things first; I checked for an internet connectivity, and saw that it didn't have any. Quick solution you'd think: just put in the Wi-Fi credentials and you're good to go, you'd say. It used to be like that in the past, but not this time. After I had entered the Wi-Fi credentials, it said it still needed a HP+ account connection to work. I had read on the internet that this could take some time, but after like 10 minutes, still nothing had changed. I had already checked the HP+ account dashboard, and saw that it had some errors due to not having connectivity. When this didn't change anything, I unplugged the power cord for 1 min, and after that I put it back in. After waiting for some time, it still gave an error on the HP+ account dashboard. I also couldn't get the printer to install via the "Add printer" option, this only worked using the "add an existing printer" via the HP Smart App on the iPhone.

When all of this didn't work, I performed a factory reset on the printer + I removed the printer out of the HP+ account dashboard, so it wasn't connected to my clients account anymore. I installed the printer again using the provided info: Connect to the Printer's Wi-Fi "Setup-HP.....", Connect it to the user's Wi-Fi, Connect it to the HP Account, etc. After I had done all this, I could add the printer to the HP+ Account again, and I could see it's status being okay for 2 out of the 3 checkmarks. The one for the security said unknown, but after a little while, this was aventually fixed too. You would think all would be fine by now, but no. After this, I tried to copy a page, and guess what... I got the message again saying I had to be connected with a HP+ account for it to work.

You can guess that by now, I got a little aggitated, but nonetheless I didn't budge And I still had another idea. I tried to update the firmware, because it was connected to the client's Wi-Fi address. It started to download and after reaching 100% it gave a message that it would reboot 2 times during updating. The screen went off, the printer rebooted, and it started to say: "Checking for printer updates", with a loading bar going into infinity it seemed like. I knew updates of printers can take some while from my experience as an IT System Engineer, so we just waited it out and had a little chat in the meantime. After 10-15 minutes the printer seemed like it was doing something, but after a few seconds it said that it had lost connectivity and the update wasn't installed. It then proceeded to tell me to connect it to the wireless connection again, so I did, again... :') After going through these initial steps again, it went back to the screen "Checking for printer updates", but this time after a few seconds the following message appeared: "A problem has occured with one of the printer's critical system files. A printer update will be installed to fix this problem." But guess what? Nothing happens. It's stuck on this screen indefinitely.

So yeah, now I had to try and come up with a solution for this problem. I searched for this problem online, but this doesn't seem very hopefull. I can find numerous posts regarding this issue, but almost all seem to be fixed by sending it over to HP and getting a new one under warranty, but since this printer has been sold for over a year ago, the warranty has expired. 

I tried to find out how to fix this myself and this is what I found out so far: 

When I connect the printer to my Windows PC via USB, it connects as: "Firmware Update Device", but when I try to install it with the HP EasyStart, HP Smart or Full install package downloaded through the HP EasyStart app it doesn't register the device. When I took it to my office at home and booted it up, I got back into the sequence of installing a wireless connection, so I did this, it got an IP address, then started to show the "Checking for printer updates" again and then getting back into the: "A problem has occured with one of the printer's critical system files. A printer update will be installed to fix this problem". After this I disconnected my modem, and I get back into the sequence of installing a wireless connection. If i'd install a new wireless connection, I'd be getting the same messages again of "Checking for printer updates" and the "A problem has occured with one of the printer's critical system files. A printer update will be installed to fix this problem". " So I'm stuck in a boot loop and the printer firmware isn't able to update itself after connecting it to the internet. I also tried using HP Print & Scan Doctor, but this can't even find the printer either. Nothing is able to reach the printer anymore, from any kind of perspective or peripheral. USB doesn't recognize it as a printer & a wireless connection puts it in a boot loop.

So now you could say my client is stuck with a printer that's worthless, because it's out of warranty (just over 6 months by the time of writing) & there's nothing to try by myself anymore. There's also no physical USB-port on the Printer to maybe force update the firmware to the printer. And even if it had that, I'm not sure if this would work, since the printer is stuck in this bootloop & the PC doesn't register it properly as a printer device. And to make matters worse, there doesn't even exist a firmware update to be downloaded from the HP support page, all it offers is to download the HP EasyStart tool or use the HP Smart App, and it is a hassle to finally find the full download through the HP EasyStart tool.

How do I proceed right now? Because I'm certain this isn't the first time that this is happening, and it certainly won't be the last time, because it also happens in the 8200/9000/9010 series from what I've found online. And even in the 7700 series, of which I've also sold 2-3 to clients of mine. What does this mean to all those people who spend 150-300 euro's on their printer? It could very well happen that it gets stuck in this bootloop and it being (just) out of warranty. Because these printers are fairly new. Do they all have to go to the junkyard, even though this isn't their fault, but a firmware failure, from which they have nothing to go by after that? Please tell me how to continue further, because this could not be the case. 

I hope to have informed you enough & I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind Regards,

Gilian 

[Nal_NR]

Hi @MME_Gilian,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

I'd be happy to help you! 

Splendid analysis and remarkable patience were shown. It is immensely appreciated.

Since you have tried all the possible options to resolve the issue, as a last resource, let us perform a Semi full reset to restore the printer back to its original settings and see if this works. 

The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may brick the device. 

I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instructions 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 Community profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted 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!

[MME_Gilian]

Dear Elohi,

This unfortunately doesn't work. It seems like it doesn't register it, or maybe the file has been corrupted. 

I did however try to connect it to another wifi signal, and it gave me an IP address. When I go to that IP address, it tells me the following: 

This doesn't look like a normal printer landing page xD 

Can't do anything else from this point, it just goes back into brickmode with the loop continuing.

So where do we go from here? Because I'm not gonna pay to call of course. That would be silly. :') 

I hope to have informed you enough and I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,

Gilian 

[Nal_NR]

Hi @MME_Gilian ,

We are sorry that the issue was not resolved when the above troubleshooting steps were performed.

This might require one-on-one interaction to fix the issue via remote assistance, as the support here is limited to software troubleshooting.

I've sent you a private message with further instructions. In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Support Community profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link.

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Accepted Solution button, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!