officejet pro 8600 premium "phone line in use" error

[NancydotKatich]

The "phone line in use" message shows up most of the time.  I have tested incoming and outgoing fax, works as long as the phone line in use message is not there, usually when I turn it off and start it up the message is gone.  Sometimes the machine just rings and doesn't accept the fax.  Not sure what is causing it.  Had the phone line people in, they couldn't find anything wrong.  When they tested the machine with their phone, they said there were no sounds when the message was showing.  Help, want to see if there is an easy fix before we return it.

[-JohnB-]

Hi there,

This article should cover the issue you are experiencing. Give the steps outlined a shot and let us know if it helps.

Best of Luck!

[ashcmh]

When the 8600 fax line is used sometimes it doesn’t disconnect the phone line and it keeps it open but makes a dial tone available on the AUX hookup port which misleads you to believe that the phone line is not in use when it is. The only workaround we found was to take the actual fax line and plug it in to a touch tone phone and complete the hung-up process then take back the fax phone line to the fax machine, you will regain the ability to send receive fax once the "phone line in use" message disappear.

[Andy_85]

Same problem here. 

is there any solution to fix this problem permanently?

Thanks

[Hailea3]

Working solution for Me: Ensure you are using a telephone cord with only 2-wires. Telephone cords with 4-wires did not work after I switched my telephone service.

Description of problem:
I had the same reported issue after changing my telephone provider. I was previously using a telephone cord with 4-wires and it was working fine. Once I switched providers to one using a different setup in my home office, it had to be reconfigured. My HP OfficeJet 8600 would only support faxing properly (and allow my home telephone network to function) if it were connected to a separate phone port than where my main connection was for my home internet/telephone/tv. So I guess that is another potential solution...but unsatisfactory for me.

The solution:
It turned out that John B above was close but the solution was in the details. In one of the steps outlined (STEP ONE: CHECK THE PHYSICAL CONNECTIONS), it stated that you must have a 2-wire cord...not a 4-wire cord. There is a picture in the link from John B (http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02891758 above so you can see the difference. I switched to a telephone cord with only 2-wires and noticed that everything appeared to perform properly. The first time I ran the fax test, I received a failure. The second time I ran the fax test, it passed. The third time, it failed, the fourth it passed. I thought to myself "50% passing rate is better than 100% failure rate." Well, as I continued to test it, it continued to pass. So now it passes each time I run it. I tried a real fax...and it worked properly. So...there's your fix. You're welcome!

[kirkmann]

Note that the phone wire may have a short cusing an offhook condition.  Replace the phone wire with a know good wire. This is what was causing this issue for us.