Fix – solution for HP 8100dn printer 79.00FE error

This is a fix / solution for the 79.00FE error as displayed on a HP 8100dn printer, however, I understand that this can also apply to the 5Si, 8000, 8150 series printers. When this error is encountered, the printer will become unresponsive, but may still be accessible via the web GUI.

79.00FE usually means a that the jet-direct card is receiving information that it cannot interpret (PDF files seem to often be the culprit). Here is some documentation to back up that claim HP’s 79.00FE Troubleshooting Guide. If my quick fixes don’t work, be sure to review it.

Quick Solutions:

1) Turn off the HP printer. Hold down the green ‘GO’ button, then power the printer back on. The moment “Cold Reset” is displayed on the printer, you may release the ‘GO’ button.

Wait. Printers are slow. Even if it looks like it’s come back online- continue to wait. If you’re lucky, this will fix your problem.

2) If it still displays the error, unplug the network connection, and repeat step 1 (power cycle with a cold reset). If the error comes back, even after you’ve removed network connections, then you may have a corrupted firmware, or a dying jet-direct card, refer to the HP 79.00FE Troubleshooting Guide.

If the error does not return, plug the network connection back in. Within a matter of moments, you should see the 79.00 error return. In this situation, it is likely that someone has a ‘poisoned’ document stuck in their printer queue. In my case, a PDF from a Gmail attachment was stuck in a Dell laptop’s printer queue. Oftentimes these documents persist even after reboots, so it’s important you actually examine each print queue. If you’re in a large organization, tracking down the offender might be a problem– Wireshark might be a good start.