The Printer Fax cannot establish an Active connection

[emilo1917]

I have an HP Office Jet Pro 8610. I can't send a Fax. Running the Fax Setup and then the Fax Test results in " No Active Phone Line is detected. I performed a soft Boot and then a Hard Boot but that did not fix the problem. What to trouble shoot Next?

[Dragon-Fur]

@emilo1917 

Rhetorical question (this means you do not have to answer - the question is for your consideration): 

Has Fax ever worked on this printer and this setup using this phone line?

If yes, then something may be going on (wrong) with the phone line itself.   For example, the line is loose, disconnected, water damaged, squirrel-chewed (yes, this can be a thing though the actual rodent might be a different kind).

The phone cord wire might be at fault though these are generally not prone to sudden failure unless they are crushed, cut, or tightly twisted.

The actual fax function on the printer may have failed - I've not seen this happen, but the printer is old; it is possible something just "broke".

Could be the connector (phone) at the wall.  Again, these things don't usually break - it is good a check though since the actual connectors are small and might bend, break, or in some way not make full contact with the phone cord receptacle on the wall.  You could try just moving the printer to a different phone line.

Could be the wrong kind of phone cord.  Fax uses the 2-wire phone cord and not the four-wire cord normally used on landline phones.  This is unlikely if you were using the Fax before this unless someone needed a phone cord and exchanged the fax phone cord for another regular phone cord.

Could be the wrong connection port on the printer side.  This is unlikely if you have used your fax previous to this - the connection won't change ports by itself.

What else?

About everything we can offer for this is already documented - exhaustively for some printer models, in fact, because Fax has been around for a long time and the technology has  not changed much over the years.

Documents and Places to check for additional help include...

Category  Troubleshooting > Topic Fax

Several Documents, including:

Resolving Fax Problems

HP Printers and Fax Machines - Fax Error Codes and Solutions

Category How to > Topic Fax

Several Documents, including:

How to Fax

Category Manuals >

User Guide

"Things that are your fax" are explained in the User Guide 

For example subjects cover Fax setup for send and receive, how-to, descriptions, illustrations (all in Chapter 5 starting on Page 61). and problem solving (Chapter 10 - section Solve Fax Problems on Page 141).

Embedded Web Server

If the printer is on the network, consider using the Embedded Web Server (EWS) to set up and configure the printing, including the Fax.  Much easier to sit at your keyboard to type instead of typing on a tiny printer screen.

Open your favorite browser > type / enter Printer IP address into URL / Address bar

Tab Fax

EWS_Fax_Settings_1

Reference and Resources – Places to find help and learn how to use your Printer

Clarification of terms and "what the printer can do" (Specifications)

Printer Homepage – “Things that are your printer”

NOTE:  Content depends on device type and Operating System

HP Drivers / Software / Firmware Updates, How-to Videos, Bulletins/Notices, Lots of How-to Documents, Troubleshooting, Access to the Print and Scan Doctor (Windows), User Guides, Product Information (Specifications), more

When the website support page opens, Select (as available) a Category > Topic > Subtopic

HP Officejet Pro 8610 e-All-in-One Printer series

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