Problem with sending and receiving faxes - wire

[jack1289]

I can't send or receive faxes over voip, and when reading the troubleshooting guide at http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02891758, it says to use the supplied RJ11 cable, which i am.

However it says the cable should have 2 physical wires(pins), yet the one that came with the 8620 has 4 wires. How can i get the correct cable, and what is the difference if there are 2 or 4 wires.

Also if i wanted to connect the fax to a normal BT analog line, how would i get the correct cable, as both ends of the supplied cable are RJ11.

[midnight-anwrs]

Hi @jack1289,

I saw your post regarding the problems you are having faxing over VOIP. I found a few pieces of information that might help with this.

First of all, let me answer some of your questions.

The RJ11 cable that came in the box should have been the correct 2-wire connection. Are you sure that is the cable that came in the box?

The difference between a 2 or 4 wire cable is the amount of noise that the line transmits to the fax machine. It should work with a 4-wire cable, but a 2-wire is recommended to reduce the amount of noise that can interfere with the communication.

I found these 2 settings you can change that may improve the fax connectivity over VoIP services, from this page; Setting up HP Fax Devices over VoIP Systems > expand Faxing in Voice over IP lines , then expand Improving the fax connectivity over VOIP services.

(On this same page it does say:  HP fax devices are designed to work with traditional analog phone services. They are not designed to work with digital phone services such as ADSL, PBX, ISDN or VOIP. However they might work with the appropriate setup and equipment.)

The 2 settings are: 

1) Slow fax transmission speed - To change this setting see; HP Officejet Pro 8600 Faxing Over a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Service

2) Disable Error Correction Mode (ECM) - From the same Advanced Fax Setup menu, you can locate the Error Correction Mode and set it to Off

When you have the cable connected, and the 2 settings changed above - follow the steps in this document HP Officejet Pro 8610, 8620, 8630, 8640, and 8660 e-All-in-One Printer Series - Cannot Send or Recei... to run the fax test report. The fax test report will let you know if it finds any problems and how to correct them.

Once everything passes on the fax test report, you can Test Your HP Fax Machine with the HP Fax Test Service.

Please let me know if these steps resolved your issue, or if there is anything else I can do to help. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks, 

[tonerspills]

try with both types of cables. I've had to use 4 pin's before. Look at the actual end of the connector and you should see either 2 or 4 little gold plates. The one that came with your printer should have 2 pins at the connector ends- any old phone cord you have laying around should have 4.

[jack1289]

I have checked again, and definetely the wire that came with the 8620 has 4 pins, not 2. I am in the uk. I am not sure if that makes any difference.

Where can i get the 2 pin wire from. Should HP not send me one if they claim on their support site that you should use the "2 pin wire, which HP have supplied".

I have run the fax test, and the report says OK for everything.

How can i do the HP fax test to the automated number if i am in the uk.

[midnight-anwrs]

Hi @jack1289

Thank you for replying!  

I don't think you will be able to use the automated fax server resource in your area, I didn't realize you were in UK. 

If the fax test report is passing, what happens when you try to send or receive faxes?

To get the correct cable, you could Contact HP Support. Fill in the model number and the form to receive a case number for quicker assistance.

The other option is to go to a local electronics shop, and see if they have a filter to reduce the noise on the line.

If you could let me know what happens when you try to send or receive faxes I might be able to help you out further. 

I look forward to hearing from you again! 

Thanks, 

[tonerspills]

Not sure how your European phone and fax systems work, so I'm gonna mirror what midnight said. You should be able to get a "Fax" 2 pin phone cord at any office supply or eletronics store near you- along with requesting the right one from HP.

Can you hear dial tone or the machine attempting to dial when you send a fax? Have you had a friend try and call in to the fax# to see if you can hear ringing when someone is transmitting to you? Have you just tried dialing your fax number from your mobile phone to see if it rings, or if you can hear ringing at the printer. In the States, my most common fix for fax issues is to swap out either a 2 pin or 4 pin cable.

Do you have to dial a number to get an outside line? Over here "9" is the most common number used to get an outside line on a multiline phone system. The ECM mode being set to off does help too.

I've also had to do a partial hard disk cleans before to get fax to work in printers. Sometimes a job corrupts or hangs or does whatever they do and you have to do a partial disk clean to get the system working again. Careful tho because this can erase some printer settings. Not sure if your model even has a hard drive or internal speaker to be able to hear the fax rings. Best of luck to you and I'm confident you'll get it working!

[tonerspills]

Just wondering if you got this resolved? This is still an issue on phone systems. I had a service call today and this simple fix worked. Customer has a M375 mfp. A 4 pin phone cable was used when the machine was set up and working fine for over a year. Cable compant came out and worked on their system. Lo and behold the fax quit working. I changed cable from 4 pin to 2 pin and viola.. problem solved.

Hope it works for you