officejet pro will not automatically answer & print incoming faxes

[aaronep]

I have a brand new Officejet Pro 8620.   When I receive incoming faxes, I must be at the printer to depress the ACCEPT button on the LCD screen.  I have set the printer/fax to AUTOMATIC ANSWER.    This has not worked.  Any suggestions on how to have the unit automaticlly answer & print incoming faxes without having to be at machine when machiines phone line rings.   I have set the machine for fax answering.  It is not set to answer incoming voice communication.

[Drakster]

Hi @aaronep,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I see that you're unable to receive faxes unless you accept it manually from the front panel menu. I will certainly do my best to help you and please remember to return to this thread and mark 'Accept as Solution', if I have successfully helped you resolve the issue. If you wish to say 'thanks' for my effort to help, click the 'thumbs up' to give me a Kudos.

In order for me to assist you better, I will require more information. 

• What type of phone service do you have?
• Do you have a dedicated phone line? 
• Do you share the fax with your phone?
• Do you have distinctive ring service?
• Do you have a voice mail or answering machine and how many rings do you have it set to?  

You mentioned, "It is not set to answer incoming voice communication".

• Do you have auto-answer turned off?
• Turn auto-answer On.

To help resolve the problem follow the steps within this guide: 

• Cannot Send or Receive Faxes
• Following: The printer can send faxes, but cannot receive faxes. 

Note: Test the printer using the HP Fax Machine with the HP Fax Test Service. 

Causes: Make sure that there are no conflicting telephone services
Many telephone companies offer services that are intended to prevent unwanted calls. These services can block incoming faxes. If there are any of these services on the telephone line connected to the printer, contact the telephone service provider for its recommended solution.

• Voice mail
• Privacy block
• Security screen
• Anonymous call rejection
• Privacy manager
• Any other service that screens or intercepts incoming calls
• A distinctive ring service, if it is available from the telephone service provider, often resolves this issue.

If you need further assistance, please let me know the following information above and post the results. Good Luck! 🙂

[aaronep · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your informative reply!  PROBLEM SOLVED.  I was able to access HP phone support people yesterday afternoon.  They very kindly put me through many of the steps you mentioned, which did not work.  Finally the second support agent who put me through the steps suggested that I depress the  RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULT button on the LCD Screen and immediately after that step,  problem was resolved.

My suspicion is that the machine, although brand new, was actually a refurbished machine sent to me by HP to replace the original purchase that had an LCD screen that showed only Chinese language that could not be changed.

The replacement machine probably had been set up to usage different from mine.

Appreciation to the lady that finally suggested hitting the RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULT button as well as others who have replied!

All is well!      Aaron