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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:05 pm 
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It's a vague, unspecified communication error. None of the usual explanations/solutions have any relevance.

Same thing happened as last month. Because the power was off, I disconnected the fax from the wall and from the phone to prevent damage from a surge. Five hours later I plugged it back in. My display monitor was showing gibberish, so I kept resetting it - for two days - until English returned to the screen.

I can't fax the office.
All setup tests passed. Today, I did a send/receive test with HP. It worked in both directions.
The office is receiving faxes from other people. When I manually dialed his machine, I could hear his fax ring, and the page went through at my end, but I got a "fax failed" message. At the other end, his fax rang, but no pages came through.

Unless it needs more time to recover and tomorrow will be better, I can't for the life of me figure out why this does so much trauma to an HP AIO. Is there any step left to take? This is annoying.

Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:07 pm 
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nancy wrote:
It's a vague, unspecified communication error. None of the usual explanations/solutions have any relevance.

Same thing happened as last month. Because the power was off, I disconnected the fax from the wall and from the phone to prevent damage from a surge. Five hours later I plugged it back in. My display monitor was showing gibberish, so I kept resetting it - for two days - until English returned to the screen.

I can't fax the office.
All setup tests passed. Today, I did a send/receive test with HP. It worked in both directions.
The office is receiving faxes from other people. When I manually dialed his machine, I could hear his fax ring, and the page went through at my end, but I got a "fax failed" message. At the other end, his fax rang, but no pages came through.

Unless it needs more time to recover and tomorrow will be better, I can't for the life of me figure out why this does so much trauma to an HP AIO. Is there any step left to take? This is annoying.

Thank you.


Hi Nancy

Not only annoying but from a business it is also a waste of time and money

The solution I use is not not cheap, but not outrageous either. But here in DC the power is terrible, and I never have a problem.

First the hardware.

The surge protector

http://www.zerosurge.com/residential/residential-products/2-outlet-models/ I use model # 2RF8W

These are so far superior to the surge protectors that you get in the little strip panels. Look at their website. I don't think you will be able to find it cheaper

Then there is the Battery backup.

I use this one.

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/pfc-sinewave-series/CP1500PFCLCD.html

I chose this one as it is a reasonably price unit that provides only Sinewave power as opposed to the clipped square wave power.

This one you can find cheaper. I paid about $212

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/pfc-sinewave-series/CP1500PFCLCD.html
This unit also has plugs for your phone lines.

What I do is plug the surge protector into the wall, and then the Battery backup into the surge protector.

Then all the computer equipment goes into the Batterybackup.

With this setup I can handle, a Deskop, 2 26 inch monitors, two external drives, a router, modem and a speaker system.

Note: With an Inkjet you can plug directly into the Battery backup. I have a laser so I bypass the backup and plug it into the surge protector.

Nancy this setup is about $380, but with it you will be done once and for all with power issues.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:22 pm 
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Peter,

It's a beautiful little setup.
What this would do is prevent me from having to unplug it ever - and if my power goes out with the backup power I can still function for a while (depending on model). Considering that the surge is not what causes the drama but the act of unplugging it - aren't we (sort of) talking around the issue?
Other than time, which is my guess, what more can be done to get the fax to work?

Fifteen years ago, I worked at a friend's house who lived in the area I currently reside. The power used to go out - and come back on relatively quickly - with frequency. At the time, she said this happened all the time. Funny, I didn't remember that until yesterday. This is an incorporated city.

DC? I thought you were across the pond.
I love DC!

Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:17 pm 
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Hi Nancy

Assuming you don't turn things off, yes, I do believe this setup would eliminate the need to unplug. I never shut down during thunderstorms here.

But of more concern, why you can't shut down and unplug that printer. I shut down everything at night, and turn of the Power backup units which is effectively unplugging them. Now one thing I do is turn every thing off with it's power switch and then turn off the power units. I reverse it in the morning.

Maybe what you should try is turning off the printer with it's power switch and then unplug it. Then plug it back in and turn the switch on. If that still causes problems then the problem is the printer.

As to whether the power setup is worth it, I guess that depends. What I spent on the power stuff for each system represents between 5 to 10% of the value of what it is protecting so to me it's worth it.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:02 pm 
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I do not question the worth of the backup and surge protection - I am questioning whether it addresses the issue. You provided me w/great protection information and I think we can both agree there is something a little off with the printer.

A quirky HP printer is not at all unusual.

Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:47 pm 
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nancy wrote:
I do not question the worth of the backup and surge protection - I am questioning whether it addresses the issue. You provided me w/great protection information and I think we can both agree there is something a little off with the printer.

A quirky HP printer is not at all unusual.

Thank you.


I wonder if it's HP inkjets vs lasers. I have a lower end laser I bought almost 5 years ago, feed it very good paper and it just runs and runs.

Try what I suggested about using the power switch on the printer and then unplug first, and then reverse going the other way. If that doesn't help, and your only 2 options are the power stuff so you don't have to turn it off, or replace the printer.

Maybe someone else has ideas.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:54 pm 
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Well it wouldn't hurt to see if there is a firmware update for the printer that might address some issues.

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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:49 pm 
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Jay, I have the latest firmware version.

Can't see much difference between a cheap laserjet and a $300 inkjet. I have been dealing with HP (and other brand) printers, professionally for seventeen years, and I know that HP makes quirky printers.
++++++
Back to my fax:
In the past four years, I have only dealt with this twice - but twice in 30 days seems too much.
Today I turned it off & did a reset. When I turned it on the display was scrambled, which is probably what a reset does. I got the English display back quickly. I still can't fax the office.

Here's another chapter for you.
I have a landline/answering machine. Consider the fact that everything is calmed down and functioning pretty normally, except I can't fax the Illinois office. I did that test with HP yesterday - so I was able to send and receive. "Can't fax to one number" is recognized as an HP fax problem & suggests a firmware update.

The only difference that I can see - and I hope that my explanation means something to somebody - is that whenever I would use the fax, my phone display would say "check line 2." If I couldn't clear it, I had to enter menu, # 190 to clear the display. Now, whenever the fax line is engaged, my phone display says "check line 1." It went from line two to line one - how did that happen? What does it mean?

This is a two-line phone, but I only have one phone number for fax and phone. Does the machine know that I had a two-line phone, although one line was inactive? I never figured out that message because it never interfered w/anything, but it might provide a clue.

I have a note on how to clear the display because it happens so frequently. It finally dawned on me that the display message had changed. Did something scramble?
I called Panasonic (phone) to see if those techs could troubleshoot, but they wouldn't play nice and wanted to fob me off on HP.

Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:33 pm 
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Yes the line choice of which line to use on your phone could make a difference. If the second line does not have service and is the one selected for faxing it would not have a carrier and would fail.

Just as an off the wall thought, if you have a phone line splitter, attach a line to both sides of the phone even though it is the same number. I have no clue as to if this would help, just throwing out a thought...

Here is something to try just as a test. Take the phone out of the equation and connect the line from the wall directly to the fax. If it does not work than it will show that the issue is indeed with the printer/fax. If it does work it will show that the issue is with the phone or a setting on the printer that handles the line choice.

If it works with the printer connected directly to the line to the wall the simplest solution to avoid future issues just might be to get a different phone that is not dual line.

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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:51 pm 
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Here is one more thought. Since the message has changed as to what phone line to check, connect the line going into the phone to the other port.

Please keep in mind that my suggestions are not necessarily solutions but rather tests that might help others be better able to help. You should try all of what I have suggested as it can rule out possibilities enabling you to get better help.

To be honest I have not sent more than mayhaps a dozen faxes from my system in over 30 years. I won't pretend to have any exact solutions for your issue, just thoughts that might help others to help. ;)

The first test that I'd like to see tried would be to connect the printer/fax directly to the wall outlet bypassing the phone.

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 Post Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:55 am 
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When we had our fax machine we had it on it's own line which meant we had 2 phone numbers, one for the landline and one for the fax machine.
Of course the landline was dual because it had to cover normal phone calls and also the broadband so it made sense to give the fax it's own line.
Sorry I can't give any help we mainly use Epson printers, all Inkjet, apart from years ago when I had an HP Laser printer with my machine and hubby
had a Brother black and white laser printer.

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 Post Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:03 pm 
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Jay,

The second line that does not have service, did not have service last week or last year - or ever. Naturally the fax would not work if it is connected to an nonworking line, but I never changed the connection on the fax. With this config, I sent and received the fax from HP. This is not a new setup, this has been in place since 2009.

Meanwhile, I plugged the fax directly into the wall and it will take a while to warm up.

At any rate - as soon as I plugged the fax into the wall, the message on my phone display was "Check line 2."
That might be a good sign.

Later!


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 Post Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 4:50 am 
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Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
And we still await the results... ;)

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 Post Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:55 pm 
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I haven't sent a fax in ten days - but thank you for the reminder. As a matter of fact, I plugged it into the wall again today.

About a half hour ago, I got an email from the office telling me he is now getting some complaints that his fax isn't working. I asked for test results so that I can help him w/troubleshooting.


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 Post Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:45 pm 
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Uh, why don't you guys just scan to PDF and attach them to emails. I happened to over hear our apartment manager laugh when asked for a fax number. She said they haven't used faxes in over 3 years.


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 Post Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:33 pm 
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I did scan and attach to email, but we both keep hard copies.
We both need paper and I think it's my responsibility to supply it, unless I can't possibly fax.
Some records are fine for scans; others are not.

It does jump out as being obvious - doesn't it?
Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:49 am 
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nancy wrote:
About a half hour ago, I got an email from the office telling me he is now getting some complaints that his fax isn't working. I asked for test results so that I can help him w/troubleshooting.


Does this mean that the whole issue MIGHT be on his end or is this a separate issue?

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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:49 am 
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nancy wrote:
I did scan and attach to email, but we both keep hard copies.
We both need paper and I think it's my responsibility to supply it, unless I can't possibly fax.
Some records are fine for scans; others are not.

It does jump out as being obvious - doesn't it?
Thank you.


Duh. Just print the PDF files.


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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:47 pm 
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Jay,

This is the same issue as far as me not being able to fax to only one particular number. It is separate as to why my fax acts so poorly after the power is disconnected.

Yesterday was the first time I heard it could be on his end. He said he spent hours troubleshooting w/a tech and no problems were detected. He also said he receives 98% of our faxes. We decided or hope it will work itself out.


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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:58 pm 
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Duh, Peter,

Last week I sent him the PDF attachment. He wrote back that his printer is broken and to fax it when my fax is working. So, instead of doing what you and I might do, which is to save the email for when the printer is working, he deleted it.

As you can see, technology does not solve everything, especially when the other party has less expertise and interest than I do and simply avoids/refuses to do things he doesn't want to do.


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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 4:28 pm 
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nancy wrote:
Duh, Peter,

Last week I sent him the PDF attachment. He wrote back that his printer is broken and to fax it when my fax is working. So, instead of doing what you and I might do, which is to save the email for when the printer is working, he deleted it.

As you can see, technology does not solve everything, especially when the other party has less expertise and interest than I do and simply avoids/refuses to do things he doesn't want to do.


ROFL. I am sorry for laughing, but that is hilarious. My condolences to you.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:30 pm 
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That is exactly the kind of reaction that I hope for.
Knock yourself out!


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