Officejet Pro 8620 won't connect to WPA2 network

[lvrust]

My new ISP supplied a new Zyxel VMG3925 router which has WPA2 secured WiFi. Now I'm unable to connect the printer to my WiFi network using WPS or the wireless setup wizard. WiFI worked fine with the old router which also had WPA2. Unable to use the old router as that's ADSL and I now need VDSL for FTTC.

I connected to the embedded web server using ethernet and tried to run a firmware update but the process errors out saying that the server cannot be found.

Any help most welcome.

[Kumar0307]

@lvrust, Welcome to the HP Support Community! I’m here to help.

I understand you are not able to connect the printer to the new wireless network.

• Restart the router, the printer, and the Mac
• Make sure the printer and the PC are connected to the same wireless network. Either 2.4 or 5GHz network.
• If you have a Dual-band router and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks share the same name/SSID, the printer will not be able to connect to the network. In this case, contact your Internet service provider to assign different names to both networks.
• This printer supports WPA encryption, check if the router is on the same encryption method. If using WEP or WPA-PSK+FT change it to WPA-PSK

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click on the YES button to reply that the response was helpful and/or to say “Thank You”.

Have a great day! 

[lvrust]

Hi Kumar0307 and many thanks for your help. Unfortunately I tried your suggestions without success.

I have found that the printer will connect to the WiFi net if I disable encryption but that is unacceptable for security.  The new router only offers WPA2+AES protection unlike the old router which would fallback to WPA+TKIP. If I browse to the printer's embedded web server and open the Network/Wireless/Advanced page then I can set 'WPA version' to be 'Automatic (WPA1 or WPA2)' and Encryption to be AES so WPA2 should be supported. I have other PCs, phones and tablets that connect to the WiFi with no problem.

Thinking that this might be firmware problem I tried to update the firmware using the embedded web server Home/PrinterUpdate link. That takes me to the WebServices setup page. Unfortunately when I try to enable WebServices it fails with 'Unable to connect to the server.'. Also tried to enable WebSerices using the printer's front panel with the same error.  Using Wireshark I see that the printer attempts a TLSv1 connection to 'eprint-registration.glbinc.hp.com' but fails with an Unknown CA error.

Is there a way of 'feeding' upgraded firmware direct to the printer with the USB socket on the front panel? I can download the Windows firmware upgrade from the HP support site but we're all Linux or Android here so can't run an exe.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[lvrust]

Addendum:
I managed to get a Wireshark WiFi trace of the printer authenticating and it revealed that the printer fails to send the final message of the 4-way key exchange. This message should indicate that the client has completed key generation. A failure here would indicate a printer firmware bug as an incorrect passphrase would cause the AP to abort before sending message 2.

So how can I update the firmware (on Linux or Android) given that another bug is preventing the EWS from establishing a TLS connection with HP's WebServices?

[Kumar0307]

@lvrust

Click here to download and install the latest printer firmware from your computer(Win or Mac).

Click here to know different methods of updating printer firmware.

If the issue persists with the printer, please reach out to the HP Technical Support team in your region for further assistance.

You may create a case on the website to obtain a case number if required. Kindly watch this video to know how.

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

[lvrust]

Hi Kumar0307 and many thanks for your help. Unfortunately none of the 4 methods
mentioned to update the firmware work:

1.  HP Smart app: relies on the EWS which fails with 'Unable to connect to the server.'
2.  Directly from the printer: also relies on the failing EWS.
3.  Download from HP website (Windows or Mac): I have Linux or Android only.

I can download the Windows exe (OJP8620_1910A.exe) but have no way to run it. I can extract the contained firmware (farad_pp1_FDP1CN1910AR_nbx_signed.ful) but am unsure how to send it to the printer. I read in this forum posting: HP-OfficeJet-8620-previous-firmware-update  that it may be possible to use netcat to send it. Is this possible & reasonable?

nc -w 100 192.168.1.90 9100 < ojpro_8620_1416A_04152014_1.ful.rfu

If so, is FDP1CN1910AR the latest/best firmware? I see a later version FDP1CN2022AR on the HP file server here OJP8620_2022A.rfu . Do either of these firmwares enable 'dynamic security'? I have just bought several non-HP cartridges and don't want to end up with a brick.

Many thanks for your help.

[Kumar0307]

@lvrust

HP does not recommend the use of non-HP ink cartridges or third-party applications. 

For more info, refer to - Dynamic Security Feature Affecting Cartridges Using Non-HP Security Chip

If you are still not able to update the firmware, we can perform a semi-full reset on the printer and then start over. This will delete all the settings on the printer to factory defaults.

• The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may corrupt the device.
• I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instruction 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: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/notes/privatenotespage

Let me know how it goes.

[lvrust · Accepted solution]

Hi Kumar0307 and thanks for all your help. Thankfully I have now solved the problem by installing VirtualBox and used it to create a Windows 7 VM from a friend's CD (remember them?). The VM ran long enough without an activation key to permit me to download the firmware upgrade program and run it.  That upgraded the firmware to version 1910 (which fixes the WebServer connection 'CA error') . I was then able to use a browser and EWS to upgrade to the latest firmware. That version (2022) then fixes the WiFi connection problem. It also provides an 'enable/disable cartridge protection' option so that I can continue to use my old cartridges 😀

Once again, many thanks for your help & patience.