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"The P2015 series is known to have widespread formatter board issues. In most cases where the printer does not respond, it's usually related to the formatter board. This problem is very common and becomes worse as the printer ages. ALL P2015 series printers are going to fail if it already hasn’t happened.
The USB fix is worth a shot at this point since the cables are cheap, but just keep in mind it’s likely a bad formatter board. Don’t waste any more time on it if it continues to have problems.
The defect is repairable, but ANY attempts WILL BE TEMPORARY and it WILL KEEP FAILING! Sell off your unopened toner stock and empty anything you have opened while it runs. Replace it once you’ve run out of consumables - give it away to someone who wants to run it until it dies or recycle it with disclosure the formatter has been reflowed and will fail again. While the heatsink patch may help, it doesn’t do a whole lot foer extending it most of the time. However, it may be enough you will be happy with the lifetime increase. Don’t waste money on a repaired formatter board - they die the same way and some data will be lost forever like the page count, formatter number and serial number UNLESS you can somehow procure the LJ service tools HP uses.
Reflowing the formatter board does salvage the printer so I will mention it, but this is as far as I'd go if I was going to try to repair one of these and I had a lot of leftover toner when it died. Please use a oven that will never see food again. Being RoHS helps, but PCB chemicals aren’t something you want to eat. Each printer is identical to open up, but with different connections (p2015 base, n (Network), dn (Duplex+network), dtn (Duplex, Tray, Network), x (Duplex+network+factory 3rd paper tray).
NOTE: dtn/x have the same connectors - x means 3rd paper tray.
If you do opt to try reflowing the board, here's how to do it:
Step 1: Remove the formatter board. The board is on the side where the USB and Ethernet port are. To remove this panel, push it out with a flathead screwdriver.Step 2: Once you have the panel off, take a picture of the wiring and keep it for reference. It shouldn't be possible to mix up, but if it's your first try you might want this image. The network/duplex and network/duplex/add'l tray is going to have more wiring then a base model.Step 3: Remove the formatter board screws and unplug the cables going to the board. You will see ~4-5 screws holding it in. If you are not sure you can remember where each screw went, lay them how they came out of the printer but they should be the same.Step 4: Find a way to lift the board in the oven. You can do this with anything, but it needs to be 100% flat for this to work correctly. PC standoffs, an aluminum sheet with holes drilled in it for case screws and potentially nuts to keep the board stable will work for this.Step 5: To extend the life of the reflow and improve your odds, put liquid flux under all of the chips on the board. The idea is your reflow will be more consistent this way. Just make sure to use no-clean flux or ultrasonic the formatter board after baking it to clean it.Step 6: Preheat the oven at 450-500 degrees for 5 minutes. Put the board in until the solder is molten, then remove it. This takes around 5-8 minutes. DO NOT BUMP THE BOARD. Let the board cool for 8-12 hours.Step 6a: If you used a oven you cook food in, run a cleaning cycle and thoroughly clean it. This does not apply to an oven dedicated to reflow.Step 7: After letting the board cool, put it back in the printer and try your luck.
Putting a heatsink on the CPU (largest chip on the board) and Ethernet controller (network models) does sometimes bide your time better as well, but again it helps delay another failure a little longer at best. The glue on the back should be sufficient, but if you want to be sure they will not move use thermal Epoxy."
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