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HP Officejet Pro 8600 Premium e-All-in-One - N911n Troubleshooting

Fax Sending Fails Intermittently or Fails for Only One Recipient

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Issue

Faxes sent from the HP product fail occasionally, or a sent fax fails for one recipient, but succeeds for other recipients.
Follow these solutions in the order presented to resolve the issue. If one solution resolves the issue, it is not necessary to continue with the other solutions. Try sending a fax after you complete each solution .

Solution one: Check the phone line

Follow these steps to make sure that the phone line used by the fax machine is working.

Step one: Check the phone line

If static is present on the phone line, have the phone line checked and serviced by your telephone service provider (or have the fax recipient check their line). Phone line quality is the most common reason for intermittent fax failures. Some older locations and buildings have inadequate phone system wiring.

Step two: Use the HP Fax Test Service

The purpose of the HP Fax Test Service is to find out if a problem exists with sending and receiving faxes with your product. This service is available in the U.S. only . The HP Fax Test Service receives the fax, and then returns the fax to the number contained in the fax header.
NOTE:Non U.S. customers can simply try sending or receiving a fax again from the initial location where it failed to test functionality.
Follow these steps to use the HP Fax Test Service.
  1. Make sure that the fax header contains the full 10-digit telephone number of your HP fax product, including the area code.
    1. On the product control panel, touch the Right Arrow ( ).
    2. Touch Setup ( ).
    3. Touch Fax Setup , and then touch Basic Fax Setup .
    4. Touch Fax Header .
    5. Using the touch keypad, touch the name or company name in the Name or Company field.
    6. Using the touch keypad, touch your fax number in the Fax Number field.
    7. Touch Done .
  2. Send a one-page, black-and-white text fax to 1-888-HPFaxMe (1-888-473-2963). The return fax should arrive within 5 to 7 minutes.
    • If the HP product receives the return fax without any problems, and the failed fax recipient can receive faxes from your product, you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
    • If the HP product receives the return fax successfully, but sending still fails intermittently or fails for one recipient, continue to the next solution.
NOTE:For more information about the HP Fax Test Service, go to Testing Your HP Fax Machine with the HP Fax Test Service (c00259105) (in English).
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution two: Check the telephone cord

Check the telephone cord that connects the fax to the telephone jack. Make sure that the cable is not kinked, coiled, or longer than it needs to be. Coiling the cable can cause an echo on the line. Signal strength and quality can be lost with long cables.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution three: Check the telephone cord location

  1. Make sure that the telephone cord is not located near electrical appliances, such as fans, kitchen appliances, televisions, or anything with an electric motor. Many of these appliances do not have electrical shielding and can affect the telephone cord performance. Computers are usually shielded sufficiently and do not cause this problem.
  2. If other telephone jacks in other rooms connect to the same telephone line, make sure that no telephone cords in those rooms are near any electrical devices.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution four: Check for call waiting service

Do not use call waiting service on the telephone line that connects to the product. The sounds made by an incoming call can cause the outgoing fax to fail. If you have call waiting service, contact your telephone service provider to learn how to disable call waiting.
NOTE:Some telephone companies offer a dial code that customers can dial to disable call waiting before dialing out.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution five: Check for blocked numbers

Some fax products allow you to block fax numbers. Make sure that the telephone number assigned to the product is not blocked by the receiving fax. The recipient can usually check the fax history in the fax software to find out if the fax number is blocked.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution six: Use Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) filters

If you have a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Digital lines that are provided by telephone companies to local subscribers that carry data at high speeds.
Internet service, make sure that you have a DSL filter installed. If you do not have a DSL filter, contact your DSL provider to find out where you can buy one.
Figure 1: Example of a DSL filter
Photograph of a DSL filter
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution eight: Change the fax speed to 'slow' if faxing over a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services provide normal telephone service through a broadband Internet connection rather than a standard telephone network. If you fax using a standard phone line, skip to the next solution .
Fax transmission speed is a major factor when using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. The default fax transmission speed for your HP product is medium (14400 bps) . If you have difficulty faxing with the medium speed setting, you can lower the speed to improve the product's ability to send VoIP faxes.
NOTE:If the fax recipient is using a VoIP service, ask them to reduce their fax speed to slow, too.
Follow these steps to change the fax speed to Slow (9600 bps) on the HP product.
  1. On the product control panel, touch the Right Arrow ( ).
  2. Touch Setup ( ).
  3. Touch Fax Setup .
  4. Touch Advanced Fax Setup .
  5. Touch the Down Arrow ( ) to scroll to Fax Speed , and then touch Fax Speed .
  6. Touch Slow (9600 bps) .
  7. Touch Home ( ) to return to the home screen.
  8. Try faxing at the new speed.
  9. If you continue to have problems faxing, contact your VoIP provider. Your VoIP provider might suggest some ways to improve the ability to send and receive faxes over VoIP telephone service.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution nine: Enable or disable error correction mode

The error correction mode (ECM) monitors the signals on the telephone line when you send a fax. Try changing the ECM setting to resolve the issue. Follow these steps to enable or disable the error correction mode.
  1. On the product control panel, touch the Right Arrow ( ).
  2. Touch Setup ( ).
  3. Touch Fax Setup .
  4. Touch Advanced Fax Setup .
  5. Touch the Down Arrow ( ), and then touch Error Correction Mode .
  6. Touch On if the setting is set to Off , or touch Off if the setting is set to On .
  7. Touch Home ( ) to return to the Home screen.
  8. Try to fax again.
  • If these steps resolved the issue , you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
  • If the issue persists , continue to the next solution.

Solution ten: Send the fax in black and white

If a fax sent in color fails, try sending the fax in black and white. Do not send color faxes unless the receiving fax is known to be color capable. Follow these steps to send the fax in black and white.
  1. Lift the scanner lid.
  2. Load the original print side down on the right, front corner of the scanner glass, and then lower the lid.
    Figure 2: Load the original on the scanner glass
    Illustration of loading the original on the scanner glass
  3. On the product control panel, touch Fax ( ). A numeric keypad displays.
  4. Using the numeric keypad on the control panel, type the fax number in the Enter number: window, and then touch Black . The product faxes the original in black and white.

Fax tips

If you continue to have intermittent failed faxes or failed faxes for one recipient, try the following:
  • Use the phone cord or adapter that came with your HP product to connect your product to the wall jack.
  • Make sure that you connect one end of the phone cord to the wall jack, and then connect the other end to the 1-LINE port on the rear of the product.
  • If you use a phone splitter, the splitter can cause faxing problems. Unplug the phone cord from the splitter, and then plug one end directly into the wall jack and the other end into the 1-LINE port in the rear of the product.
  • Try connecting a working phone directly to the wall jack and check for a dial tone. If you do not hear a dial tone, contact the telephone company to check the line.