The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw printer you may run into some errors after a firmware upgrade. The errors are:
So after a firmware update this pops up? On the HP support website it does mention that they updated the firmware to literally block use of non-HP toner. I ran into this printer recently and this printer though seemed fine and it had a newer firmware installed but the ethernet port seemed to not work properly.
I could add the printer to Windows sure enough but watching the screen on the printer I could see it dropping the connection over and over quite often actually. I could not update the firmware to the newest version this way and it even made things worse it seems. After trying I just kept getting an error message ” Fatal Error 200″ and the printer would reboot then sit fine only to do it again. I assume my PC was still trying to send the firmware update prompting the printer to do this but who knows since I didn’t check the printer Q.
Extra detail.
Navigating the web interface was horrendously slow while using the ethernet port (Looks like a larger phone jack).
I did look into the HP site and read the firmware notes to see what the firmware was for and saw the details about new security and blocking of non-HP ink so I figured, yeah, they messed something up that was fine already. Not too sure why HP felt the need to do that and they should have made it more clear what the newer firmware does but then again most people do not read that stuff right? So I went looking for an earlier version of the firmware and ran into a problem. HP did not leave any older version available for download which sucked big time. I was able to find a reddit post where someone posted an older version of it. So I basically got lucky. Again my issue was just with the network card itself. So once I connected the printer to my Wifi the firmware update went smooth. I did downgrade the firmware though, figured it would be better to have the option to go cheapo ink.
To downgrade first you should make sure your printer is installed in Windows then you have to enable that option in the printer:
Steps:
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On the printer’s control panel, go into the printer’s Setup | Service | LaserJet Update | Manage Updates
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set Allow Downgrade = yes, Allow Updates = yes
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download (HP_LaserJet_Pro_M280_M281_Printer_series_20200612) and run
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Point that to your printer.
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After downgrade
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on the printer, go into the printer’s Setup | Service | LaserJet Update | Manage Updates
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set Allow Updates = no (so the firmware doesn’t auto-update and break compatibility again)
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Once that was done I tested the ethernet port and the web interface responsiveness did improve and seemed more stable but it was still dropping out so for this printer the only real solution is to replace the formatter board. Although it is very feasible to not even bother because this printer has great Wifi and can be used through USB cable too.
