HP Web Jetadmin - Upgrading Firmware Using HP Web Jetadmin

for each device is to upgrade to the

recommended most recent version.

An alternative method for upgrading

firmware is to select Upgrade Firmware

from the firmware repository. A box

appears offering the list of all devices

from which to make a selection

(Figure 8).

No matter which method is used to begin

the upgrade process, once a newer

firmware image is selected to download,

the firmware downloader sends the

firmware image to the device. This

process is fully fault-tolerant. If the

firmware upgrade process is interrupted

for reasons such as a power outage, it

can be completely recovered by running

the firmware downloader again and

reinitiating the download.

For most printer firmware, HP Web Jetadmin opens up a port 9100 connection and sends the .rfu file

as a print job. The printer power cycles itself at the conclusion of the upgrade. For HP Jetdirect

firmware, HP Web Jetadmin uses the TFTP protocol to complete the upgrade.

Newer HP devices can use Web services over HTTP to perform firmware upgrades. These firmware

files have a .bdl extension. While header information is no longer PJL as found in .rfu files, the

firmware bundle provides attributes similar to that of the PJL header and HP Web Jetadmin supports

parsing of this new header type to determine which image to send.

SETTING THE FIRMWARE LEVEL FOR DEVICES WITH HP

FUTURESMART 3 AND LATER

By default, devices that are upgraded to HP FutureSmart Bundle Version 3.x or later receive the latest

fixes and maintain the look and feel of the previous firmware. In order to obtain the latest functionality

on those devices, the HP FutureSmart level must be changed to the highest available setting.

Figure 9 shows a device that has a minimum of HP FutureSmart 3.

Figure 9—EWS page for printer with HP FutureSmart 3

Figure 8—Upgrading from the repository