Fax not working (HP PSC 950). Getting 3 ascending tones...

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 15, 2005 Posts: 13

I'm trying to get my HP PSC 950 all-in-one printer/fax to work on Vonage. I currently have it connected via a spliiter on a splitter to the Linksys WRTP54G. But, I've also connected it directly to the jack and that hasn't helped either.

Basically, when I dial out to send a fax, I get the 3 ascending tones you hear when you get a wrong number. (listen to the wav below)

Ascending Tone

I couldn't get anything to work until I switched the 4-wire phone cord to a 2-wire cord (per HP's support site). The very first fax after switching worked fine, but I have been unable to get it to work since. I'm just getting the 3 tones.

Any idea what is going on here? I read some other posts about switching the baud rate on other HPs by going into the tech menu, but I don't know if that will work with my printer and I'm afraid to start changing settings when I don't know what they do. I'm certain there isn't a customer-facing menu option to change the baud.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 15, 2005 Posts: 13

Ok, I decided to try setting the baud to 9600 via the "R/W configuration menu" change noted in other threads. I'm still getting the ascending tones problem, although I was able to get one more successful fax connection.

I forgot to note that I already tried disabling ECM.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:51 pm Post subject:

If you are getting tones when you are dialing it means that the adapter is having problems recognizing the number and therefore likely having problems recognizing the DTMF tones generated by the fax machine.

Pick up an extension when the fax machine is dialing and see if it is in fact dialing very rapidly or even trying to use pulse dialing. According to the HP web site there is a setting in the dialing tab for use when connected to a PBX. You may wish to try that as well.

Also, if you are using the *99 prefix, you may want to put a pause in before your number. After *99 hit the '*' key repeatedly until a hyphen ('-') appears. Your prefix should be "*99-". You could also simply leave off the *99 if you are not using bandwidth saver.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 15, 2005 Posts: 13

Ok, I think I figured out the problem. It seems that the printer is dialing too fast before the phone line has had a chance to initialize. My wife runs into the same problem sometimes. The second she turns on the phone, she starts dialing. Sometimes Vonage hasn't given her a dial tone, so she runs into the same problem with the 3 tones.

I tried finding a way to pause the dialing, but the 950 doesn't seem to have the option. Pushing the * key multiple times just outputs multiple *'s.

I ended up switching to pulse and it seems to be working every time. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

But, if anybody comes up with a solution, please let me know.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 8:43 pm Post subject:

Oh,

Quote:

ISSUE:

A dialing pausecannot be added to a phone number being faxed out using the front panel of the HP PSC 950.

WORKAROUND:

Set up a speed dial. When setting up a speed dial you can add a pause by pressing the SYMBOLS key (*) to display a dash. Each dash will enter a two-second pause.

However, HP claims that you can hit '#' to put a pause in before the number.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 15, 2005 Posts: 13

scerruti wrote:

However, HP claims that you can hit '#' to put a pause in before the number.

Hmm, I tried the # symbol and it didn't seem to help. It appeared that the HP was just dialing the #, rather than pausing. I'll try the speed dial option, though, and see how that goes.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:16 pm Post subject:

svferris wrote:

scerruti wrote:

However, HP claims that you can hit '#' to put a pause in before the number.

Hmm, I tried the # symbol and it didn't seem to help. It appeared that the HP was just dialing the #, rather than pausing. I'll try the speed dial option, though, and see how that goes.

Yeah, I told the guy he was full of something, I forget what, but I told him I would pass it on. By the way, I used the 'chat with an online technician' button to talk with him in real time.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=60259&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 15, 2005 Posts: 13

Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it. Like I said before, it appears the pulse dialing solution is working. It seems to slow the dial down enough to not cause problems.

Of course, I still haven't been able to send this 8 page fax because my parents and parents-in-law have horrible timing. Right when it was finishing the first time (last page), my in-laws called and disrupted the transmission. Second time I tried I was 5 pages through when my parents called and interrupted the transmission.

So, I tried doing *70, but for some reason that caused the fax to switch back to tone dialing and hence not work again.

Oh well, I just hope nobody calls now while I'm trying for the 3rd time.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:33 pm Post subject:

svferris wrote:

So, I tried doing *70, but for some reason that caused the fax to switch back to tone dialing and hence not work again.

Probably because there is no * on the rotary dial. Wink

Then again...

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 01, 2006 Posts: 1

THANK YOU ... THANK YOU ... THANK YOU ...

For months, I have been getting the three ascending tones when trying to send faxes with my HP PSC 950 and it has been so so frustrating.

I switched the dialing mode to "Pulse" as a user suggested ..... after hours of no help from tech support .... and presto --- problem solved.

WOW, I get to keep my favorite printer!!! Thanks y'all.