HP LaserJet M404 printing from manual feed envelopes when letter trays empty

[UCSPCAnalyst]

Hello all,

I have an HP LaserJet Pro M404dn. One of my end-users started having an issue with it when they received a new PC.

Initial, wanted behavior: Manual feed (Tray 1) of printer loaded with envelopes. Trays 2 and 3 with Letter paper. When Trays 2 and 3 are empty, printer warns user to load paper.

Unwanted behavior: When Trays 2 and 3 are empty, the printer prints Letter jobs using envelopes in the Manual Feed/Tray 1.

Initially, the printer was using it’s device specific HP LaserJet Pro M404 driver.

In the Printer’s Properties> Advanced, it shows Manual Feed Tray, Tray 1, Tray 2, and Tray 3. However, only Tray 2 and Tray 3 are the regular trays where you can insert stacks of paper. So it seems like Manual Feed and Tray 1 are one in the same, which HP support confirmed.

The printer is networked, but as standalone, not controlled by a print server. In the web UI it shows Tray 1 as Envelopes. There is no Manual Feed option in the web UI's Paper Tray/Management Settings.

In the Printer Driver Properties on the PC, both Manual Feed Tray and Tray 1 were set to Letter and Any Size, respectively. I had the user empty Trays 2 and 3 so only the envelopes were in the Manual Feed Tray. We adjusted Tray 1 to Envelope, applied the settings, and attempted printing a letter sized test page It still took an envelope. We then adjusted Manual Feed to Envelope, applied, so both Manual Feed and Tray 1 were set to Envelope, and tried again. It still fed from the envelopes.

The printer still sees the same problem: if trays 2 and 3 are empty, and a letter job is printed, it’s pulling from the Manual Feed/Tray 1, which has envelopes in it. In the printer’s Properties> Device Settings, we attempted various combinations. I did notice that trying to set any of the options to “Not available”, available in the drop down, it will either not allow you to click Apply, or if it does, and you immediately go back to the Properties window, it will have reset, and often to Letter.

As described, the printer was initially using the device specific LaserJet Pro M404 print driver. We installed the HP Universal PCL 6 driver, and changed the printer to use that, and then rebooted it. We attempted similar Properties/Preference Setting combinations and could not avoid the unwanted behavior.

I installed the printer on my PC and attempted the same, and the unwanted behavior still exists.

I had the user power off the printer, and then remove the plug for 20-30 seconds to let it drain any residual charge. We then plugged it back in, powered on, and attempted again, no change.

I tried HP support but was told my problem is a product limitation, although the wanted behavior was present before. Taking a shot to see if anyone's encountered this and maybe found an odd setting that solved it.

I did think about setting up multiple printer objects, one for Letter, one for Envelopes, but the lack of being able to disable the manual feed/tray 1 from the Printer Driver, this wouldn't resolve the end-user's issue.

Thank you in advance for your time, and have a good day!