HP review: HP ENVY Photo 7155 All-in-One Printer

There are 7 dots along the bottom of the HP initializing screen and it stops at the first dot. I've checked the HP troubleshooting page and it was of no help.
That first-of-seven-dots symptom points to the printer failing during startup, not a Windows USB-port problem. Since the touch screen never reaches its menus, you can’t use the usual on-screen factory reset. HP support’s guidance for this model also says it has no physical Cancel/Wireless buttons for a button-combination reset.

HP says they can't help me, it's a hardware issue. What hardware could possibly go wrong or "break" that would cause such an issue?

The most plausible possibilities are:

Main logic board or its firmware storage: This board runs the printer’s startup software. A failed component or corrupted firmware stored on it can leave the printer frozen before it’s ready. There are reports of the same first-dot freeze on the 7155, including one HP Community post where a support agent reportedly identified the motherboard — but that’s an individual case, not proof that yours has the same fault.
h30434. www3. hp.com

Question:
Is this another case where a corporation installed malware to shorten the life of a product to keep their revenue stream alive? Or, is this such a poor product that it can't last 10yrs with minimal use? Either way... I will no longer buy a HP product. There are many other brands to choose from.