NEW Printer SP Modes

[sandmanmac]

Hi all.
I've been searching high & low to find the procedure for accessing "special/ factory" SP mode or whatever it may be called on printers without success.

Debs1964 posted the procedure for both regular and 'special' modes in a thread in 2014. Her process for regular SP mode works; however, I didn't need to access higher level SP mode until last week, and when I tried her key sequence for it (and MANY variations), it doesn't work.

I, being one of the most outspoken members about not sharing such information publicly, do not request or expect it to shared here, but if someone who has this information might share it with me in a PM, I'd be grateful!

NOTE: I'm referring ONLY to the newer style printers such as the SP 4520dn which have the small touch screen and limited buttons.
Touch screen.jpg

Side note: I miss seeing Debs on here and hope she's OK. Hopefully she's just moved on to bigger and brighter things

Thanks!

[slimslob]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Side note: I miss seeing Debs on here and hope she's OK. Hopefully she's just moved on to bigger and brighter things

Thanks!

Deborah is fine. She and I are Facebook friends. She hasn't been on here much since her son got elected to public office.

[sandmanmac]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Deborah is fine. She and I are Facebook friends. She hasn't been on here much since her son got elected to public office.

Happy to hear that. Thanks for the update, Tim

[mikadonovan]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Hi all.
I've been searching high & low to find the procedure for accessing "special/ factory" SP mode or whatever it may be called on printers without success.

Debs1964 posted the procedure for both regular and 'special' modes in a thread in 2014. Her process for regular SP mode works; however, I didn't need to access higher level SP mode until last week, and when I tried her key sequence for it (and MANY variations), it doesn't work.

I, being one of the most outspoken members about not sharing such information publicly, do not request or expect it to shared here, but if someone who has this information might share it with me in a PM, I'd be grateful!

NOTE: I'm referring ONLY to the newer style printers such as the SP 4520dn which have the small touch screen and limited buttons.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]41972[/ATTACH]

Side note: I miss seeing Debs on here and hope she's OK. Hopefully she's just moved on to bigger and brighter things

Thanks!

Well Sandy, I perused the manual and came up with a single reference to Special Service mode, and it is only to say it exists. There are no instructions I found for the procedure. I know, not helpful.

[sandmanmac]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Well Sandy, I perused the manual and came up with a single reference to Special Service mode, and it is only to say it exists. There are no instructions I found for the procedure. I know, not helpful.

Haha..... Thanks for looking anyway, Mika.
Yes, I have all the manuals. Even regular SP mode isn't listed in any of them as far as I can see, but I have that info anyway.
Btw.... The whole reason for this, that I neglected to mention in my initial post is that the admin and supervisor credentials have been changed and I can't do Squat with the printer, so I'm assuming that the reset procedure is the same as for the mfp's, and I obviously can't access the SP mode that I "think" that I need.
Frustrating, but Happy Friday just the same!

[fshead]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Haha..... Thanks for looking anyway, Mika.
Yes, I have all the manuals. Even regular SP mode isn't listed in any of them as far as I can see, but I have that info anyway.
Btw.... The whole reason for this, that I neglected to mention in my initial post is that the admin and supervisor credentials have been changed and I can't do Squat with the printer, so I'm assuming that the reset procedure is the same as for the mfp's, and I obviously can't access the SP mode that I "think" that I need.
Frustrating, but Happy Friday just the same!

hey did you see the post from years back regarding using a hex editor to decipher the password by uploading the nvram and using Hxd to read info??
i toyed wth it many years back b4 finding the SS MODE..

[sandmanmac]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

hey did you see the post from years back regarding using a hex editor to decipher the password by uploading the nvram and using Hxd to read info??
i toyed wth it many years back b4 finding the SS MODE..

Oh right. Yes, I remember seeing that posted a couple of different times. I don't recall any feedback on whether it worked or not. Did you have success with it?

If so, I'll have to search that out.
Thanks for the tip, Andy.

[fshead]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Oh right. Yes, I remember seeing that posted a couple of different times. I don't recall any feedback on whether it worked or not. Did you have success with it?

If so, I'll have to search that out.
Thanks for the tip, Andy.

I WILL EMAIL IT TO YOU...
I can see it working and i did muck with it but at that time i had a barrage of service headaches all at once...

[zed255]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

The hexedit hack does work. I did experiment with it and so long as the machine is not encrypted you should be able to edit the NVRAM backup and restore the edited backup to clear passwords. You can likely recover the password as it appears to be simple character substitution used.

[sandmanmac]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

hey did you see the post from years back regarding using a hex editor to decipher the password by uploading the nvram and using Hxd to read info??
i toyed wth it many years back b4 finding the SS MODE..

The hexedit hack does work. I did experiment with it and so long as the machine is not encrypted you should be able to edit the NVRAM backup and restore the edited backup to clear passwords. You can likely recover the password as it appears to be simple character substitution used.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys!

I uploaded the NVram and used the hex editor to make the suggested changes, but then I was unable to download it back to the machine.
I searched out the old thread where the information was provided and found a mention from nmfaxman that downloading the NVram would not be possible after it was altered, but he also provided the encryption codes for all of the symbols, and I was able to copy them and crack the code.
I felt a little like Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Imitation Game" (Just kidding)

Original thread here: Lost supervisor password?

[slimslob]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

As nmfaxman mentions it is a checksum error that prevents you from loading the modified NVram data to the machine. There are utilities available for calculating the checksum of a data file. Checksum is a CRC value for the file. It is normally stored as part of the header of the file. If you change a single byte of the file it will usually also change the checksum. Once you determine the location of the checksum of the original data file and the checksum of the modified file, change the checksum to match the computed checksum.

[sandmanmac]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

As nmfaxman mentions it is a checksum error that prevents you from loading the modified NVram data to the machine. There are utilities available for calculating the checksum of a data file. Checksum is a CRC value for the file. It is normally stored as part of the header of the file. If you change a single byte of the file it will usually also change the checksum. Once you determine the location of the checksum of the original data file and the checksum of the modified file, change the checksum to match the computed checksum.

Thanks Tim, but with all due respect, I have no idea what any of that means, or what to do with it, so the 'dumbed down' way of simply transcribing the symbols seems easier to me. It took all of about 60 seconds once I figured out what I was doing, plus there's no actual editing of the NVram so it seems like it removes a bit of the risk too.

[fshead]

Re: NEW Printer SP Modes

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys!

I uploaded the NVram and used the hex editor to make the suggested changes, but then I was unable to download it back to the machine.
I searched out the old thread where the information was provided and found a mention from nmfaxman that downloading the NVram would not be possible after it was altered, but he also provided the encryption codes for all of the symbols, and I was able to copy them and crack the code.
I felt a little like Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Imitation Game" (Just kidding)

Original thread here: Lost supervisor password?

now you are ready to head the Toronto cyber crime division......