After recent printer updates "scan to email" hangs unless I restart the printer

[philws]

I use "scan to email" a lot and it worked really well until about a month ago. The feature works by registering my own email address as a "from" address and then storing the common email addresses I want to send scans to. It means I can do the scan and access the result from whatever device I need to access it from simply via email and without interacting with a computer to do the scanning in the first place.

About a month ago I got a message about the first of two software updates for the printer itself. I asked the printer to install the update which went smoothly. However, I now find that each time I use "scan to email", the printer gets suck during the "Connecting" step before the scan starts. I believe this is when the printer connects to the HP cloud so the scan can be routed to email.

Just shutting the printer down when it is stuck connecting can be very difficult - waiting a while can work, but I even had to unplug it once since it totally stalled the shutdown.

Effectively I have to restart the printer first if I leave it any significant period of time before using "scan to email" after a restart, otherwise I get this hanging scenario.

I had another software update for the printer last week (IIRC) which I had hoped would sort this out, but it didn't.

Anyone else seen this issue? Got a better solution? How can I raise this as a software defect with HP themselves?

[Jay_G24]

Hi @philws

I read your post and i understand your facing difficulties in scanning to email.

I'd like to help.

Try and set a manual ip and check if that resolves the issue -

To set a manual IP and try the steps below -

--->Touch on the wifi icon ((i)) on the printer, and take down the IP address 
--->Open a web browser (ex Chrome or Mozilla) and type in the printer's IP
--->then go to network ---> general ---> network protocols ---> select IPV4 only-->apply 
--->go to wireless ---> wireless 802.11---> select manual ip ---> apply
--->Enter 8.8.8.8 for the first DNS and 8.8.4.4 for the second DNS.  
--->then go to settings on the main ews page --> power management ---> select sleep mode to max 15min

and,Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping

[philws · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jay_G24,

I faced an issue following your instructions - I clearly set a password for accessing the printer but have forgotten it.

That said, I took the approach of using the printer's own display and made just the one change; I turned off support for ipv6 and this appears (so far) to have resolved the problem.

I don't know why this should resolve the issue and would appreciate an explanation; after all, at some point we will need to all be using ipv6 rather than ipv4...

[Riddle_Decipher]

@philws It could be a connection issue. With IPv6 on its auto configuration of IP.

we cannot set manual IP.

So to have a fixed IP and to make connections stable we use ipv4

and disable ipv6, also, the last tech has given 2 steps for disabling IPv6 and assigning google DNS, so one of them seems to have worked.

That said, This was most likely a DNS problem.

Some technical jargon:

128 bit address and IPv4 is 32 bit address. If a router has IPv6 feature and if it communicates using IPv6 the printer cannot work with 128 bits as it can handle only 32 bits and may go to an error state, for IPv6 issues usually the printer goes to error state

I hope that answers your query,  

If it did, simply select "Accept as solution", to help the community grow, 

And if you wish to thank us for our efforts, click on the thumbs up for kudos.

Have a great day ahead.

[philws]

Hi Riddle_Decipher,

Reading this explanation suggests that the device doesn't really support ipv6, but rather only ipv4 (32 bit addresses) and ipv4 address expressed as ipv6.

As per my earlier reply, I did not change the DNS settings and only disabled ipv6 so I don't think it is directly a DNS issue.

[sandytechy20]

@philws

This might require one on one interaction to fix the issue.

I request you to talk to HP support.

They might have multiple options to help you with this.

1. Click on this link - https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp?openCLC=true
2. Select the country.
3. Enter the serial of your device.
4. Select the country from the drop-down.
5. Click on "Show Options".
6. Fill the web-form. A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

I hope that helps.

Cheers.

[philws]

@Sandytechy20,

Thanks.

In terms of a solution, as I said in my first reply, disabling ipv6 did the trick and resolved my issue.

What I wanted to understand is why that was necessary. Are you suggesting I open a case in the hope that this limitation for Scan to Email is removed in a future update?

[sandytechy20]

@philws

Good to know that issue is resolved.

Feel free to contact us in the future if you need any assistance.

Cheers.