I.T. Specialists have a condition, called "Printer Shudder". It's a very common condition, which results in cold sweats, palpitations and indigestion, and is usually triggered by a certain phrase...
"My printer's stopped working."
At this point, many professionals hardened by a life in the trenches, under constant fire from users, managers & suppliers, have lost the will to live, and have ended their lives using the ancient japanese rite of Hari-Epson-ki (death by a thousand paper cuts).
To ease their ancient burden (and to prevent many a premature, and stingy death), we present to you everything you (as a user) need to know about your printer.
First off, you have 3 basic types of printer -
- Dot Matrix - these print onto paper by punching blunt pins through a inked ribbon, to create characters on your page. Old, but still useful in some cases...
- Ink Jet - these spray small dots of ink onto your page - usually in varying colours. These are the most common home printers...
- Laser - these create a image of your printed page on a special drum using static electricity - the drum is then covered in black powder called toner which sticks to the static image. The drum then transfers the toner to a paper page, which is then heated to fuse the toner to the page as ink.
- Colour Laser - same as a normal laser, but the image is seperated into 4 distinct colours (black, cyan, magenta and yellow), before fusing to the page.
- Connection - make sure your printer is connected to your computer - no connection, no printee...
- Installation - you have installed the printer software for your operating system haven't you? No? Really? Good Grief! Go back to GO, do not pass GO, do not collect £200...
- Power - don't laugh! You have turned the printer on haven't you...
- Paper - make sure you have loaded the paper according to the manual...
- Is the printer ready? Usually, there is a light that shows the printer is ready to print - if that light is not shining, check your printer documentation (you might need to press one of the buttons on the printer to get it going you know...)
- Paper Jams - no matter how good you are with your printer, you will have paper jams - it's a fact of life. However, when clearing a paper jam, remember the following...
- Remove paper slowly and carefully
- Do not use sharp objects to poke anywhere in the paper path - seriously!
- Look very carefully for foreign objects (such as paper clips, screws, pins, pencils, coins, sweets, condoms - I'm not kidding here...)
- Faulty ink cartridges - try wiping any electrical contacts with a lint free cloth, or even better, isopropyl alcohol. Replace the cartridges as a last resort...
- Marks on toner drums (you can try wiping these off with a lint free cloth.
- Refilled Inks/Toners - I know inks/toners are expensive, but refills are always problematic - any problems, replace with an new cartridge.
- Print Quality - normally cured by using a new ink/toner cartridge - especially true with HP printers...
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