printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

[Spork Schivago]

Hello,

I am so stupid. I was setting up my printer earlier to send a text message and an e-mail to my wife and me if something goes wrong. It had a section for pop3 server but I couldn't really understand why it needed that info. Anyway, I put in my mailserver's pop3 server and all of a sudden, the freaking printer starts printing e-mails! Old ones!!! And it wouldn't stop!

I couldn't figure out how to empty the queue. I pulled the paper, it'd stop until I put it back in. I unplugged it, I tried doing a factory reset (remotely) but it said it had to finish printing first. It was horrible! I couldn't find any cancel button, my wife's PC couldn't see anything in the queue. Finally, I changed my e-mail password and after a very long time, the queue emptied.

Anyway, I log into my e-mail before I go to bed and I see an e-mail from a person. I recognize the name, he belongs to a mailing list I belong too. His message is directly to me and it says why are you sending me these e-mails? I check my sent messages and sure enough, every freaking e-mail this printer downloaded, it sent a message to the original senders letting them know their message was successfully received by the printer.

This is horrible! I'm probably going to get kicked off the mailing lists and my mail account is probably going to get flagged as a spamming mailing list.

Just thought I'd share.

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

welcome to the abuse of networking.

what make & model was it?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

welcome to the abuse of networking.

what make & model was it?

Brother MFC-L8850CDW multifunction LED. I'm going through and sending everyone, including the mailing lists, an apology letter, letting them know what happened and why.

When I was setting it up, I tried looking into why the printer wanted POP3 server information but the Help files and manuals didn't help a lot. The fact that that there's like 4 manuals for this printer make it a bit harder. Some stuff is in the user guide, some stuff is in the advanced user guide, some stuff is in the networking guide, etc.

One guy replied and said it was okay, he just deleted the messages and didn't mark them as spam. Hopefully I don't get booted from any of the mailing lists.

[diif]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

Is it wrong this made me laugh ? You've brightened up my afternoon Spork

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

hmm... got a brother here.
just as well i wont let it get out onto the net.
(dont want it doing any secret firmware upgrades etc.)

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

Is it wrong this made me laugh ? You've brightened up my afternoon Spork

Nah, that's not wrong! Glad it could put a smile on your face! It made you laugh, made me cry! We're all good :-P

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

hmm... got a brother here.
just as well i wont let it get out onto the net.
(dont want it doing any secret firmware upgrades etc.)

Would they do that? I seem to have full control over firmware updates on mine. I tried setting it up to automatically download and install them but it'll just pop up a message on Jess's laptop saying there's a firmware update available and then I have to click a bunch of stuff.

Brother isn't too bad at tech support. I suggested something. For the fax options, I have the option of setting the printer to pick up on a certain number of rings, 1 - 4. I suggested they change that so we can enter any number. Sometimes, 6 rings is good, you know? They said they'd pass it up the chain but the new firmware update that just came out, that didn't have my suggestion.

I can't really see why they would limit us to a number between 1 and 4. The webserver interface, that could use an update. I feel it's not really specific so much for this printer but for all printers. I feel that I should be able to pretty much do everything from the web interface that I can do telneting into the machine, however, I can't. The web interface just lacks a lot of features and leaves some stuff to be desired.

On top of that, this printer I believe isn't so much a personal printer, but more or less made for businesses, maybe small to medium businesses, but businesses none-the-less. So, how come we have a telnet and not ssh server on the printer? I mean, heck, the printer can actually connect to an sftp server but we cannot ssh into the printer, we have to use unsecure telnet.

And, the e-mail stuff, that's great, don't get me wrong, but I have to enable less secure apps in Gmail for the printer to work. This is a bit disappointing and if I could enable it just for this printer, that'd be one thing, but it's either on or off....that puts my Gmail account at risk a bit.

A new firmware update just came out but the web interface still has a copyright of 2014. I think that tells ya that they haven't touched that web interface in at least 2 years. And a lot can change in 2 years, you know?

[rhomanski]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

I can't prove it, but twice my printers have said an update was available, after installation they said my aftermarket ink wasn't recognized. I opened three cartridges both times at $5 a piece but they both still refused to use them. I ended up throwing both printers away because the branded ink was $25 each and would print 100 pages. None of my printers ever see the internet anymore and will never get a firmware update. So far none have refused the ink either. They just wear out every six months and jam. The one now is a zerox. Lasted six months and started jamming. I returned 5 they sent me under the warranty. All did the same thing, about 500 pages in, they started jamming. They told me they weren't refurbs but I don't believe them. I gave up and I'm waiting on an epson with the big tanks for ink. We'll see how it does.

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

the brother stuff has big ink tanks, but they seem to spend most of their time at brother trying to stop clone cartridges working - and killing real ones at the slightest excuse.

from what i can tell, you put a cartridge in and it reads and then writes a flag to the cartridge.
if you then remove it and re-insert it - it will refuse to recognise it anymore.

also, if it detects a clone cartridge, it locks the slot and refuses to recognise real cartridges in it afterwards.
you need to do a factory reset!

[ozzy214]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

I can't prove it, but twice my printers have said an update was available, after installation they said my aftermarket ink wasn't recognized. I opened three cartridges both times at $5 a piece but they both still refused to use them. I ended up throwing both printers away because the branded ink was $25 each and would print 100 pages. None of my printers ever see the internet anymore and will never get a firmware update. So far none have refused the ink either. They just wear out every six months and jam. The one now is a zerox. Lasted six months and started jamming. I returned 5 they sent me under the warranty. All did the same thing, about 500 pages in, they started jamming. They told me they weren't refurbs but I don't believe them. I gave up and I'm waiting on an epson with the big tanks for ink. We'll see how it does.

Should get a laser unless you really need color? I got a older hp out of the trash just other day. 23k page count, but has 60% tonor left. Works fine other than squeaking, aproximately 2005 model.

I have another laser lexmark I bought for 30 bucks for parts on ebay. Guy claimed it didnt work and had a flashing error code. Well it worked fine and still has the error code.

My last laser printer was trash surplus. 1998 roughly laser. Still had generic win 7 drivers that worked. It finally died when it tried to feed 5 papers at one and stripped gears...

Laser FTW!

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

i got a HP5 with a 300,000 pagecount (ex-university), still running strong!!!

[rhomanski]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

The zerox was an led, close to a laser. I just didn't like the customer service. They were perfectly nice while sending me refurbished junk. I haven't gotten more than roughly 10,000 pages out of a printer yet. I've tried 6 brands so far.

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

make sure you use "clean" paper, cheap stuff has lots of paper-dust on it that screws up the guide and pickup rollers.
then you need to clean them with IPA.

[rhomanski]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

That's what zerox was bitching about, the paper. I told them it's the same paper I got 10,000 pages out of the first printer so how could that suddenly cause the toner to come off and the paper to stick after a few hundred sheets on all the rest. I still switched from Georgia Pacific to Hammermill which was $10 more a box with no change. Still messed up at about the same number of sheets. The Hammermill is labeled "Copy" 99.99% jam free! It should be with the ink jet. Zerox said I had to use laser jet paper and not even one labeled for both. I told them I'd have to mail order it, Wal Mart doesn't carry it around here.

[sean0118]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

i got a HP5 with a 300,000 pagecount (ex-university), still running strong!!!

I've got a HP 4+, also ex-university, really nice bit of engineering even has a metal door with hinges to upgrade the ram.

[stj]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

i had a 4, if you eventually get a laser-error then you just have to pop the cover & clean the dust off the mirrors.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

I can't prove it, but twice my printers have said an update was available, after installation they said my aftermarket ink wasn't recognized. I opened three cartridges both times at $5 a piece but they both still refused to use them. I ended up throwing both printers away because the branded ink was $25 each and would print 100 pages. None of my printers ever see the internet anymore and will never get a firmware update. So far none have refused the ink either. They just wear out every six months and jam. The one now is a zerox. Lasted six months and started jamming. I returned 5 they sent me under the warranty. All did the same thing, about 500 pages in, they started jamming. They told me they weren't refurbs but I don't believe them. I gave up and I'm waiting on an epson with the big tanks for ink. We'll see how it does.

You should really consider spending the cash on a laser or LED printer. I finally made the switch and will never go back to ink. It tries up, it's expensive, it can expire, etc. My friend Uncle Al had an HP printer. The printer with official ink just refused to print one day. The message said the ink had expired. Toner can sit on a shelf for 20 years and it's just as good as day one. Another problem he has, he'll go awhile without printing and when he goes to print, the ink's dried up and needs replacing. You don't gotta worry about that with toner either.

Although toner is a bit more expensive, you get a heck of a lot more pages before you need to replace the toner. We've printed over 500 pages (before the e-mail incident) and even after the e-mail incident, the black toner shows there's 99% still left. To get full toner cartridges, official ones, we're looking at around 300$ (give or take). That's expensive, don't get me wrong, but for the sheer number of jobs we get to print, I think that alone is worth it. Also, they make generic toner but from the research I've done, this isn't something you'd want to do. It almost always voids the warranty of the printer but from the videos I've watched, there's a reason. The generic, for four colours and a black or whatever we have, is around 128$ or something. But the video shows it under a microscope and it's not nearly as foundly ground up. The brand name stuff from Brother is. The generic stuff is really rough and can physically damage the printer, from what they say.

For the price we paid, we're not going to take the chance. Even pay over 300$, it's still much cheaper than ink per page, you know?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

the brother stuff has big ink tanks, but they seem to spend most of their time at brother trying to stop clone cartridges working - and killing real ones at the slightest excuse.

from what i can tell, you put a cartridge in and it reads and then writes a flag to the cartridge.
if you then remove it and re-insert it - it will refuse to recognise it anymore.

also, if it detects a clone cartridge, it locks the slot and refuses to recognise real cartridges in it afterwards.
you need to do a factory reset!

When Uncle Al had his "expired" ink cartridge message, he switched to refillable cartridges, even though I suggested against it. One of them ended up messing up and getting ink all over the inside of his printer. It leaked all over. He thew the printer out. Anyway, I remember seeing programs for certain printers that do kinda cool stuff, like reset the life of the cartridge or reset the counter. Maybe there's a custom firmware or a program that fixes the problem you guys are talking about.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

Should get a laser unless you really need color? I got a older hp out of the trash just other day. 23k page count, but has 60% tonor left. Works fine other than squeaking, aproximately 2005 model.

I have another laser lexmark I bought for 30 bucks for parts on ebay. Guy claimed it didnt work and had a flashing error code. Well it worked fine and still has the error code.

My last laser printer was trash surplus. 1998 roughly laser. Still had generic win 7 drivers that worked. It finally died when it tried to feed 5 papers at one and stripped gears...

Laser FTW!

The colour lasers have dropped a good bit in price too. We bought our Brother MFC-L8850CDW for I think 500$, on sale, from NewEgg. It comes with full toner cartridges, not the sample ones that usually come with them. Ours is a fancier one, more closer to the top of the line I think, at least back then. It does the duplex printing, duplex faxing, it's got a web server, telnet server, I can store the logs on a remote server, it supports sftp, all that fancy shit. It's wireless and also has an ethernet port. I bet you could get a simpler one for a lot cheaper.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: printer sent a bunch of e-mails!

i got a HP5 with a 300,000 pagecount (ex-university), still running strong!!!

I got a HP 5P here if anyone's interested...I was gonna tear it apart and try getting it to print directly on PCBs but if someone wants it, I'd rather see it go to them and get some good use out of it. I'll even throw in a free never used toner cartridge.