Fax - Can't receive

[billyinGA]

Unable to receive faxes.  Am able to send faxes with no problem.  Printer fax test results all pass.  I've turned off error correction and that didn't help.  I have Voip and switched to another modem recently.  I'm thinking the trouble began since then but I am not sure.  Could it be the specs on the new Voip modem are not compatible with the HP fax printer? 

I see where I'm supposed to use only the special phone cord supplied in the box with the HP printer and I may have used a different phone cord.  Is there a difference, and if so, how do I recognize the "special" phone cord?

Any suggestions?

[DavidSMP]

@billyinGA,

Good Day.  Thank you for posting your query in the HP community. I read the post regarding issues with receiving faxes.  I will be glad to assist you and let’s get right to it. Superb analysis and great observations made. It is amply appreciated.

Let me gather some information for better clarity to assist you correctly:

• Did you set up the fax again?
• Do you get any error messages while trying to receive a fax?

I will be providing a roadmap with some troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue. Let us try these steps:

• Please perform a hard reset on the printer from this link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-6970-all-in-one-printer-series/8289585/model/1... and follow instructions from the section “Step 1: Reset the printer”

Then from the user guide setup fax again. It does not matter which phone cord is being used if it is compatible one and works correctly.

• From this link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-6970-all-in-one-printer-series/8289585/model/1... (HP Printers and Fax Machines - How to Fax)
• Setup the fax again from scratch. It has some very relevant FAQs that you could follow.

Then from this link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-6970-all-in-one-printer-series/8289585/model/1... (HP Printers and Fax Machines - Resolving Fax Problems)

• Follow all the steps from the section “Cannot receive faxes”
• Now check if it gets fixed.
• If the issue continues, from the user guide link: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c051391269
• Refer to page 45-47 on how to receive faxes.
• Refer to pages 115- 122 to troubleshoot fax related issues.
• This should nail it for you.

Good luck and keep me posted about the developments. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue and give the post a Kudos for my efforts to help. Thank you and have a great week ahead. 🙂

[billyinGA]

• Did you set up the fax again?  Yes, that didn't help.
• Do you get any error messages while trying to receive a fax?  No.  The printer passes all tests but, when someone is trying to send me a fax the printer never "picks up/doesn't answer."

I just saw your reply and I hope to be able to try the steps you outlined tomorrow as it's getting rather late at night to get started on that right now.  In the interim, please let me know if you have any additional input based on my responses above.  'Till tomorrow, Thanks.

[Flower_Bud]

@billyinGA

Thank you for replying with this detailed response

I appreciate your time and efforts,

It looks like you were interacting with @DavidSMP, but he is out for the day & I'll be glad to help you out,

I'm the Flower_Bud & I'm at your service.

I would suggest you try those steps given by DavidSMP and get back to us.

Have a great day:)

[Rockstar555]

Same exact problem that just recently occured as well.

[billyinGA]

I've been busy and still unable to go through all the steps suggested thus far but I noticed a new issue appear today in that my printer suddenly started showing "fax log or memory full."  I cleared that and tried the faxback service, 888.473.2963 which rang four times then stopped.  My fax is set to answer after six rings so it didn't pick up.  I ran the faxback test again.  This time I touched the screen to manually accept the call and I was able to successfully receive the fax.  Tomorrow, Friday, I hope to get someone to try to send me a fax to see if my HP printer will automatically "pick up" after six rings and be back to normal operation, or not.

I wonder also if it is necessary to clear the fax log/memory manually on a regular basis.  It would seem to me that it should automatically clear the oldest stuff as new stuff comes in and more space is needed.  Is that not the case?

[Flower_Bud]

@billyinGA

Thank you for replying with this detailed response 😉

I appreciate your time and efforts,

You could try the fax and let me know how it goes

Here are few settings you can make sure are set correctly before you receive the fax from someone:

Set the answer mode (Auto answer):

To set the answer mode

1. From the printer control panel display, touch Fax.

2. Touch Setup, and then touch preferences.

3. Touch Auto Answer to turn it on. 

You may also access this feature by pressing (the Fax Status button) on the Home screen.

Set the number of rings before answering:

To set the number of rings before answering

1. From the printer control panel display, touch Fax.

2. Touch Setup, and then touch Preferences.

3. Touch Rings to Answer.

4. Touch to set the number of rings.

5. Touch Done.

Clearing Fax log has to be done manually by following these steps: 

1. From the printer control panel display, touch Fax.

2. Touch Setup, and then touch Tools.

3. Touch Clear Fax Logs/Memory.

Keep me posted,

Have a great day!