Printer Troubleshooting At Home
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by: robertjohnston
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Word Count: 600
Troubleshooting according to Stephen Bigelow is an odd pursuit that falls somewhere between being an art and a science. Success in this takes a keen eye, a clear head, and a real understanding of the printer mechanism and a healthy dose of patience and persistence.
In order to troubleshoot a printer successfully, you will need to be able to first identify the problem clearly; second, isolate the problem to some software or hardware fault; third, correct the suspected fault quickly and cost-effectively; and last, retest the printer to ensure that the fault has been corrected. If the problem persists, you will need to start the cycle again from the beginning. By this time you will really need a dose of patience and persistence. But take note, this is a tried and true technique used by many professional technicians.
A printing company reviews that the most important part of all troubleshooting is your safety. You must also be aware of the value of the printer that you are trying to fix especially when you don’t own it or it belongs to someone else. You have to handle it with care.
The following guidelines offer some important suggestions that may help to ensure your personal safety, save valuable time, and improve your effectiveness in troubleshooting. (Stephen Bigelow, 2000.)
First, always try the printer first and examine its symptoms before making any moves. Making a repair based on descriptions given by someone else’s vague or partial description of a problem can send you running in circles.
Next, you need to check the basics. You need to check if printers are properly connected to a working pc. Make sure that the printer powers on properly and is using a known good printer cable attached to a properly configured printer port.
Check the consumables. Proper printing relies on an adequate supply of acceptable paper and fresh media like toner, ink, ribbon and so on. Many printing problems can be traced to odd paper or expired media. That is why you need to always verify that your printer is using the recommended paper and fresh media before concluding that there is a more serious problem.
You can also check the product manual. A printer’s user guide contains helpful information regarding set-up, recommended paper types, upgrade requirements and so on. If you don’t get your needed info on the manual, check some online printing reviews to see if they have articles similar to your case.
Remember to always turn the printer off and unplug it from its AC outlet before working on it, especially when troubleshooting requires that you check the inside part of the printer. This prevents the possibility of accidental electrocution.
Let the printer cool first before opening or working on it. Impact print heads and laser fusing rollers can become extremely hot during normal operation.
Never add lubricants. Modern printers are designed with mechanisms that do not generally require lubrication. Do not add lubricant unless it is specifically suggested in the user manual and use only a minimum quantity.
Lastly, retest the printer thoroughly. Once you have fixed your printer and totally reassembled, be sure to test it in detail. Try to print some until you can tell that it is fixed and able to run normally again. By that the time you can already tell whether you are done with troubleshooting…or you need to contact a repair expert.
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