Fax machine will not reset to be able to answer the phone

Not sure how a fax machine is supposed to sound when it rings, before the fax answers it will sound exactly the same on the phone as dialing a regular phone number. If you are using distinct ring tone service where the fax line is supposed to double ring and it is not then it is possible that your phone provider has problems. Are you able to make a regular voice call on the phone line that the fax is supposed to use? If no, then it is definetly the line not the machine.

You can receive faxes automatically or manually. If you turn off the Auto Answer option, you must receive faxes manually. If you turn on the Auto Answer option (the default setting), the device automatically answers incoming calls and receives faxes after the number of rings that are specified by the Rings to Answer setting. (The default Rings to Answer setting is five rings.)
If you receive a legal-size fax and the device is not currently set to use legal-size paper, the device reduces the fax so that it fits on the paper that is loaded. If you have disabled the Automatic Reduction feature, the device prints the fax on two pages.
NOTE: If you are copying a document when a fax arrives, the fax is stored in the
device memory until the copying finishes. This can reduce the number of fax pages stored in memory.
This section contains the following topics:
• Receive a fax manually
• Set up backup fax reception
• Reprint received faxes from memory
• Poll to receive a fax
• Forward faxes to another number
• Set the paper size for received faxes
• Set automatic reduction for incoming faxes
• Block junk fax numbers
• Receive faxes to your computer (Fax to PC and Fax to Mac)
Receive a fax manually
When you are on the phone, the person you are speaking with can send you a fax while you are still connected. This is referred to as manual faxing. Use the instructions in this section to receive a manual fax.
NOTE: You can pick up the handset to talk or listen for fax tones.
You can receive faxes manually from a phone that is:
• Directly connected to the device (on the 2-EXT port)
• On the same phone line, but not directly connected to the device
NOTE: The automatic document feeder must be empty to receive a fax. If there are documents in the ADF, then the device will not be able to receive incoming faxes.
To receive a fax manually
1. Make sure the device is turned on and you have paper loaded in the input tray.
2. Remove any originals from the document feeder tray.
NOTE: The automatic document feeder must be empty to receive a fax. If there
are documents in the document feeder, then receiving the fax will be
unsuccessful.
3. Do one of the following to answer a fax manually:
• Set the Rings to Answer setting to a high number to allow you to answer the
incoming call before the device answers.
• Turn off the Auto Answer setting so that the device does not automatically
answer incoming calls.
4. If you are currently on the phone with the sender, instruct the sender to press Start on their fax machine.
5. When you hear fax tones from a sending fax machine, do the following:
a. Press START FAX Black or START FAX Color on the device control panel.
b. When prompted, select Fax Receive.
NOTE: Depending on your country/region, the device might receive the fax
automatically when you hear fax tones from the sending fax machine.
6. After the device begins to receive the fax, you can hang up the phone or remain on the line. The phone line is silent during fax transmission.

There are two ways to configure a fax machine to answer the phone line. The first way is by pushing the "auto answer" key on the keyboard of the fax itself. When this key is used, the fax machine answers all calls that come in after a certain number of rings. The other way is to manually press the fax button when an incoming call is happening. You can set the number of rings for your machine to pick up by using the keys on the fax machine under the menu feature and then scroll using the up and down arrow keys until you see fax set up and then number of rings.

I have heard about the option that your speaking of, where they give you a separate phone number for your customers to fax when you own a business line but I don't know how the fax machine itself would be able to distinguish between the normal ring of a regular call and the double ring of the merged fax line call. I was told that when I set that up for my friends business recently, that the machine would auto recognize the double ring without any programming and to use the auto answer feature for all calls. He has not had any faxes yet (its a new business) so I can't say for sure if it works or not? I can say that none of his regular calls have been picked up by the fax so far though.

For a phone line dedicated only to the fax machine, the process is as follows:

1. Press Menu/Set, 0, 1.
2. You will see the Fax Receive window
3. Use UP and DOWN arrows to change the setting to FAX ONLY
4. Press Menu/Set.
5. Press STOP/EXIT

Your fax machine will now answer every incoming call.
If the fax machine is sharing the phone line with a telephone, repeat the above steps and change from FAX ONLY to FAX/TEL This option will allow you to share the line with a phone only, not an answering machine. Once in FAX/TEL mode, the fax machine will still grab every incoming FAX call, and give a special ring (slightly different than a regular telephone ring) when it's a regular incoming phone call signaling you to answer the phone. I hope this helps with your problem. Best of luck!
Greg

The following set up assumes you have one conventional phone line, but two different phone numbers. One being your regular phone number and the other a distinctive ring for your fax machine

If that is what you have then this is how you set up the phone. Its important to know what type of distinctive ring your phone company will send to your phone. If it doesn't work you can talk to them about getting a different one than their default distinctive ring.

2 Set the HP all-in-one to answer incoming calls automatically.

Press the Auto Answer button until the light is on.

3 Change the Answer Ring Pattern setting to the pattern that has been assigned to your fax number by the telephone company, for example, double rings or triple rings.
For information on changing this setting, see Change the answer ring pattern
(distinctive ringing).
Note Your HP all-in-one is factory-set to answer all ring patterns. If you do not set the correct ring pattern assigned to your fax number by the telephone company, your HP all-in-one might answer both voice calls and fax calls or it might not answer at all.

4 (Optional) Change the Rings to Answer setting to one ring or two rings.

For information on changing this setting, see Set the number of rings before answering.
5 Run a fax test. For information, see Test your fax setup.
Your HP all-in-one will automatically answer incoming calls that have the ring pattern you selected (Answer Ring Pattern setting) after the number of rings you selected (Rings to Answer setting). Then it will begin emitting fax reception tones to the sending
fax machine and receive the fax.


If it is easier or you want to know other options which may be more applicable to your phone setup. You can find that information here.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00235090.pdf

It's either your phone, or it's your fax machine that does not support fax through phone.

Fax machines are designed to have their own dedicated fax line.

Anything else is a **** shoot.

• The Rings to Answer feature might not be set to answer after the
appropriate number of rings for your office setup.
• If you have a voice mail service at the same phone number you use
for fax calls, you must receive faxes manually, not automatically. For
information on how to receive faxes manually, see receive a fax
manually from a phone on page 48.
• If you have a PC modem on the same phone line with your
HP Officejet, check to make sure that the modem’s software is not
set to receive faxes automatically. Modems with this auto fax
receive feature turned on will take over the phone line to receive all
incoming faxes, which will prevent the HP Officejet from receiving
fax calls.
• If you have an answering machine on the same phone line with
your HP Officejet, you might have one of the following problems:
– Your outgoing message might be too long or too loud to allow
the HP Officejet to detect fax tones, and the calling fax machine
might disconnect.
– Your answering machine might not have enough quiet time after
your outgoing message to allow the HP Officejet to detect fax
tones. This problem is more common with digital answering
machines.
The following actions might help solve these problems:
a. Disconnect the answering machine and then try receiving a fax.
If faxing is successful without it, the answering machine might
be causing the problem.
b. Reconnect the answering machine and re-record your outgoing
message. Make sure the message is as short as possible (no
more than 10 seconds long), and that you speak softly and
slowly when recording it. Try again to receive a fax.
• If you have a special ring pattern for your fax phone number (using
a distinctive ring service through your telephone company), make
sure that the Answer Ring Pattern feature on your HP Officejet is set
to match. For example, if the phone company has assigned your
fax number a double ring pattern, make sure Double Rings is
selected as the Answer Ring Pattern setting. For information on
changing this setting, see change the answer ring pattern
(distinctive ringing) on page 63.
Note that some ring patterns cannot be recognized by the
HP Officejet, such as those with alternating short and long ringing
patterns. If you are having problems with a ring pattern of this type,
ask your phone company to assign a non-alternating ring pattern.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00095626.pdf

Press the 'RECEIVE MODE' button on the right side of the control panel, its next to the large 'FAX START' button. Here are your options :

Select Receive Mode
MANUAL
—You must answer all calls yourself. If you hear fax tones, press
Fax Start
to begin receiving the fax, then hang up. You can use this mode with
Distinctive Ringing. (See
Distinctive Ring
, page 8-1.)
FAX ONLY
—The fax machine automatically answers every call as a fax call. You
cannot receive a voice call, but you can dial out and make a voice call.
FAX/TEL
—The fax machine automatically answers every call. If the call is a fax, it
prints the fax. If the call is not a fax, it signals you with a double-ring (ring-ring),
different from the phone company ringing, to alert you to pick up the call. If you select
this setting, you’ll need to set the Ring Delay and F/T Ring Time features (on the
following pages). If you have extension phones on the same line as the fax machine,
set Ring Delay to 4. (See
For FAX/TEL Mode Only
, page 5-5.)
TAD:ANSWER MACH.
—This is the only setting in which you can use an external
answering machine. Your telephone answering device is connected to your fax
machine, and answers every call. Once the TAD answers, the fax machine listens for
fax tones. If it detects fax tones, it prints the fax.
The TAD setting works
only
with an external telephone answering device (TAD); it
does not work with telephone company Voice Mail. Ring Delay and F/T Ring Time
do
not
work in this setting.

make sure the phone line is plugged into the port marked "line" not "phone"