HP LaerJet 600 M601 - 5-Bin Mailbox bin #1 not working after firmware update

[Kiran Otter]

I have a customer with a HP M601n with the 5-Bin Mailbox. It had been working perfectly since installation, until I had the bright idea of updating the firmware. I did this because every time you browse the machine by IP address, you get a certificate error, so I had the hopes the firmware update might fix that problem.

Well, the firmware update not only did not fix the certificate issue, it has now also broken the 5-Bin Mailbox! If a user is configured to print to mailbox #1, the printer pauses the job and says to open the rear door, and press OK. If you press OK regardless of opening the rear door, it prints. From that point on, any job sent to the printer comes out in the general output tray on top of the printer, regardless of what bin you specify.

If you turn the printer off and back on, the mailbox works, but only for bins 2-5. Once you try to print to bin 1, the same thing occurs.

I did discover that after the firmware update, the 'role?' of the 5-bin mailbox was changed; I set it back to 'mailbox'. This didn't help.

I found 1 post on HP's forums from someone else who ran into this problem. A reply suggested removing the mailbox and sending the firmware update again. The OP said they worked around it by using the PS driver. I'll give the firmware update a try but my confidence in it solving the problem is low. I'm not fond of using the PS driver, if I can help it.

Fortunately, there's only 4 people in the office, so I can avoid anyone using the 1st mailbox bin.. but I would like it to work.

Thanks,

Kiran

[Lance15]

I've read countless posts about removing accessories before performing firmware updates starting with the P4xxx series printers. This, as far as I ever saw, was never a problem with the models before. Once I started seeing all these posts, I've always removed accessories before updating firmware.

If those posts are accurate, removing the accessories, flashing the firmware, then, re-attaching the accessories, then flashing again should resolve the problem.

I'm not one to really READ the firmware readme's . It might tell you to remove accessories before flashing firmware. I don't know.

[Kiran Otter]

Thanks Lance. Being I never work on these things, I never heard that about removing the accessories. I'll give it a try and report back.

Kiran

[subaro]

Thanks Lance. Being I never work on these things, I never heard that about removing the accessories. I'll give it a try and report back.

Kiran

You may want to look into if you can downgrade the firmware back to the previous level. Remove the accessories and then update the firmware again. This is typical Hp, they send you in all directions, scratching your head for answers that they, i am sure have.

[Wild Bill]

Rant=Why did HP release firmware that can damage a machine. Its not acceptable to have to remove accessories before upgrading firmware.
Think about this. What if an IT dept. did a global firmware upgrade with 100's of printers? (I am fairly certain it has happened). Its mind boggling!
No other machine I'm aware of has any issue with leaving the accessories on while upgrading. I hope the M601 isnt the latest bugged firmware.

[subaro]

Here is a fix release in one of the upgrade version for this machine. There is quite a number of fixes for this machine and the readme file is rather lenghty. 58 pages.

Base: You may see message saying Tray 2 open or Bad duplex connection whenincorrect duplexer is installed in the LJ600 series device.
 Print Service may be blocked when an IOF is installed
 If a cold reset is performed when a solution is loaded, the EWS->Security->AccessControl page still showed Solution entries which no longer exist. You may see a 49.4A.04 error when printing certain web pages or PDF files.
 When installing some CCID card readers you may see the following error -"Invalid USB device is attached. Please remove it."
 Sending a PCL job to the printer with a bin specified as 0 or no bin specified theprinter will default to bin 3 and staple.
 You may see an extra blank page printed after printing raw PCL coded jobs.
 The Embedded Web Server exported view of the Job Log does not match what ison screen.
 May fail to wake from sleep when device is setup to wake (turn on) on a wakeschedule.

Wild bill made a good observation and point in the senario of an enterprise f/w update.
In the past, accessories were required to be attached for the machine to do the options upgrade. e.g fax pwb and finisher on Hp 9000mfp.

[Lance15]

I agree with Wild Bill also. Not sure why HP can't "pass-thru" firmware on the first run to accessories that contain their own firmware.

That, from what I read, is the jist of this whole thing. For whatever reason HP recommends removing accessories before upgrading the BASE firmware, then, re-attaching the accessories and running the update again to upgrade the firmware of the accessories (if applicable).

*shrugging*

[Kiran Otter]

All I can say from 30+ years in IT is that you better test that firmware on 1 or 2 printers thoroughly before rolling it out to 1,000 others.

Kiran

[Kiran Otter]

Now the fuser has died in this printer. I'm waiting on a new one.

Kiran

[Iowatech]

Rant=Why did HP release firmware that can damage a machine.

It might not be that so much as the communications between the main frame and the peripherals will interfere with the transfer of firmware. Maybe they communicate over the same bus or something.
Of course I don't know that for sure, so feel free to make fun of me if I'm wrong. Sometimes that's how I learn.
It's just that's why the network and fax connections needed to be disconnected during firmware upgrades on the Ricoh stuff I also used to work on.