Solved: How to repair a RFU Load Error on a HP Laserprinter

Mr. Belvedere

Yesterday i came across a printer that got stuck when i tried to upload new firmware to it.

Much to our annoyance, after a restart, the printer mentioned the following:

For the rest it did nothing.

After several numerous attempts to try uploading new firmware, i came to the only solution that worked. And i found it right here.

What you will need is an Linux (Ubuntu) pc. You can safely use a bootable Ubuntu cd-rom. Start your computer and fire up Ubuntu. Do not connect the printer yet.


- Switch off printer
- Connect the the USB from the printer to the Linux machine.
- Switch on Printer
- It will try and find the drivers. Ignore this alltogether.
- look in /var/log/messages for the device file that linux assigned to the USB Printer . In my case it was /dev/usblp0
- download the latest FW (the RFU file) for your printer from HP website
- copy the .rfu file to the printer using sudo cp [the name of the rfu file].rfu /dev/usblp0
(if you are root you don't need to sun sudo just cp)
- If correctly, you will see on the display of your HP printer that it is accepting and downloading the firmware.
- Wait until the file is copied and than the upgrade will take place.

__________________
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. When things start getting weird, it's pitchfork o'clock."

Do you have too much money? Give bitcoins to 1AdobZQNvfyZuDEbderRfT46KQEKkaW5dE

coolcolors

That would be very hard to do if the only computer at home is a Win PC computer....and most if not many are not computer hardware savvy enough to not make the problem worse then what they are trying to fix. Especially if this doesn't happen very often.

DiiZzY

Since most "dumb" (cheap) printers only works this way this issue is limited, on Win32 the fw is in general uploaded every time its booted.
//Danne

Mr. Belvedere

If your pc has a cd-rom drive which can handle bootable discs and your pc is a pentium or better, you can do this. You can use a live distribution to do this.

I'm not saying everybody can and should to this procedure regulary, but it might save some people from purchasing a new printer when they see this error.

__________________
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. When things start getting weird, it's pitchfork o'clock."

Do you have too much money? Give bitcoins to 1AdobZQNvfyZuDEbderRfT46KQEKkaW5dE