HP LaserJet Pro M404n deployed 04.28.2022 resets itself to default daily.

[cobe-al]

HP LaserJet Pro M404n purchased through Amazon.com April 24, 2021.  Just replaced the starter toner a week ago and it was not empty just alerting on low so the user did not want it to run out and we replaced starter toner before it was empty 13 months after purchase.

Printer is setting itself back to default date, paper type and size.

This is a problem for a user that does not even want toner to run out while working.  The requirement is now that the user goes to the printer and press the button to make the job run.  User did not know about this and continued sending jobs.  I was able to clear the received pages from the web interface and discovered date was 10 years or more off and that the Tray 1 page size was no longer set to letter and plain paper.  Instead it was the neutral setting that requires user to go to printer and understand how to push buttons to force page to print. 

I corrected all yesterday then today when she needed to print 3 checks at 3pm I received a call.  Had to tell her to look at the LCD and follow instructions and not send any print job until it said READY.  I remotely restarted the printer and stopped and started the spooler service on the computer then we managed to painstakingly get all the 3 checks printed and I logged back into the web interface and reset the date to correct date and the paper size and type just like I did yesterday.

Today I connected to HP chat support who informed me that our $400 printer is out of warranty so no help.

I am really disturbed that I just spent another $120 on toner and now the issue with this printer renders it unacceptable for our purposes.  I read one time that there was a secret HP method of resetting the components inside the printer that fixed a similar issue but HP WILL NOT TALK TO ME BECAUSE OUR new printer 13 months old and one starter toner of service is OUT OF WARRANTY.  Anyone ever have this experience and fix it?

[Repairatrooper]

Does the user shut off the power to the printer every night? If so, the circuit that is supposed to retain the settings might be failing to charge properly and then settings are being lost. 

[cobe-al]

Well,  thanks for that thought, something like that is what I hypothesized when I logged into the web interface to investigate all settings because It is not manually turned off.  There is not enough time in the day to turn off a printer every day. One less work task in a busy office with 50 people.  However,   in the web interface settings,  it has an automatic shutdown function that can not be disabled so after some time delay that maxes at 8 hours it presumably turns itself off and resets and I can not find any way to control it beyond:

Shutdown After

1 hour2 hours3 hours4 hours5 hours6 hours7 hours8 hours

Disable Shutdown when ports are active

So I selected the longest 8 hours and checked the Disable when ports are active but I do not think

there is a way for me to keep ports active all night long so in the morning it is reset to a date in the past that I just checked and it is actually a 2013 date which I presume is the earliest date it can reset to like some of the old computer bios would reset to January 1, 1980 if cmos power was removed.   So it appears to reset itself to the beginning of time and also resets the trays to a default paper size that is like ask or generic or something.

I just have been living with it to try and reclaim the money I spent on new toner that was not needed by remoting to the office every morning and logging into the printer and resetting to correct settings so she can have it available to write her typical 3 - 5 checks per day.  We are on payroll service so the bulk of staff receive checks from offsite company.

However, she pays the doctors and vendors so having a malfunction in check writing which is just supposed to work and be done so she can get back to normal duties is stressful. 

HP must have a real fear of getting overrun with expenses on this defective  model.  I could not believe they would deny talking to me because the date of purchase is less than a full 13 months from purchase on a 12 month warranty.  They must be holding their breath waiting for each one to reach 12 months so they can walk away from them.  I did read a similar problem description on a different model while digging through all the online communication and some support person responded that there was a potential fix but it involved some proprietary procedure and that was going to be  communicated to that person via out of band so that it would not be published where others could see it.

So now I have to make sure that every day I log into this printer and reset the date and tray 1 to letter/plain so she can do her job.  Based on the performance of the starter toner I fear that a full load will require me to do this for the next two years when I can then happily send it to the recycler and maybe find a nice Epson or Canon printer to replace it.   I already tested it with a Brother and that works but they are made so frugally that adding paper is a bit tedious compared to more expensive printers.   We replaced an old hp 5600 that worked for 10 years and this 404 seems to be a real piece of junk. Barely made it a year on a few pages per day with the entire text being a name and some number like $4290.22 and the words Four Thousand Two Hundred Ninety and 22/100 OR MAybe it is 22 cents???   At any rate, less than a real page for every page out and only less than 10 of those per day during a 5 day week.