Printer Mini Unit

 

Notes Cloze

 

Printers

Printers can be (1)___________________ biggest headache in the (2)___________________ environment because when the (3)___________________ goes down…productivity stops and (4)___________________ freak out.

Knowing how (5)___________________ printers work will help (6)___________________ be a more effective (7)___________________*

Types of Printers

Dot (8)___________________/Impact

Dye sublimation

Laser

Ink (9)___________________

Thermal*

Dot-matrix impact printers

(10)___________________ contain 9 or 24 (11)___________________ and “hit” a ribbon (12)___________________ pins that are pushed (13)___________________ to make the shape (14)___________________ letters, numbers, and punctuation. (15)___________________ noisy!

Daisywheel printers have (16)___________________ “daisy” array of letters (17)___________________ to the ends of (18)___________________ bars that turn and (19)___________________ the ribbon.

Dot matrix (20)___________________ still used due to (21)___________________ ability to print onto (22)___________________-part forms

A tractor feed “(23)___________________” the paper through using (24)___________________ strips on either side (25)___________________ the page with holes (26)___________________ it.

Can also use (27)___________________ feed, but this causes (28)___________________ MYRIAD or paper jams.

(29)___________________ very low DPI rating*

(30)___________________ Printers

Inkjet Printers

Aka “(31)___________________ dispersion” and “bubblejet”

Ink (32)___________________ forced through tiny nozzles (33)___________________ the paper

Each nozzle (34)___________________ 50-60 microns in diameter

(35)___________________ methods

Thermal bubble

Heats (36)___________________ ink, which vaporizes, creating (37)___________________ bubble that splats out (38)___________________ the page.

Pieoelectric bubble

(39)___________________ a bubble with a (40)___________________ crystal behind each nozzle. (41)___________________ electric current vibrates, causing (42)___________________ to either release ink (43)___________________ draw ink into the (44)___________________ (inward vibration releases, outward (45)___________________ ink in)*

Inkjet Cartridges

(46)___________________ that hold ink

One (47)___________________ hold four colors

Four (48)___________________ cartridges

Colors are cyan, (49)___________________, magenta, and black

Colors (50)___________________ together to create millions (51)___________________ colors

Shades are created (52)___________________ dithering by varying the (53)___________________ of dots

The printhead (54)___________________ usually part of the (55)___________________ cartridge, which is why (56)___________________ cartridges don’t work as (57)___________________ as new.*

Inkjet Printers

(58)___________________ Quality

There are usually (59)___________________-600 nozzles on an inkjet (60)___________________ head, allowing 300 to (61)___________________ dpi

Piezoelectric printers can (62)___________________ 720x720

Features

Higher quality

(63)___________________ can print on CDs

(64)___________________ can use photo-ink to (65)___________________ realistic photos on photo (66)___________________

Paper sits in a (67)___________________ and is drawn in (68)___________________ rollers

<http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjan99/inkjet.html>

 

Inkjet Issues

(69)___________________ look good, but are (70)___________________ waterproof and won’t last (71)___________________ long

Pages printed can (72)___________________

Recycled cartridges can have (73)___________________ print quality*

Laser Printers

(74)___________________ are produced using the (75)___________________ process which combines

Electrostatic (76)___________________

Toner

Laser light

To (77)___________________ high quality, waterproof images*

(78)___________________ Printer Components

Toner cartridge

(79)___________________ scanning assembly

Power supplies

(80)___________________ control and transport assembly

(81)___________________ corona assembly

Fusing assembly

(82)___________________ control package

Installed and (83)___________________ RAM*

Toner Cartridges

Hopper (84)___________________ with toner—a fine powder (85)___________________ of plastic, iron, and (86)___________________ particles

EP drum covered (87)___________________ a photosensitive coating that (88)___________________ a static charge until (89)___________________ to light

A blade (90)___________________ removes used toner from (91)___________________ drum

A corona charging (92)___________________ which applies a charge (93)___________________ the drum after the (94)___________________ has printed.*

Toner Cartridge

(95)___________________ Scanning Assembly

Laser—shines on (96)___________________ drum to create an (97)___________________ image of what’s being (98)___________________ using areas of negative (99)___________________ positive charge

Mirror—reflects the (100)___________________ beam

Lenses—focuses the laser (101)___________________. Multiple lenses can be (102)___________________.*

Electrostatic Printing Process

Laser (103)___________________ Process

 You DO have (104)___________________ remember the voltages

Cleaning - (105)___________________ Rubber Blade removes (106)___________________ excess toner which drops (107)___________________ the debris cavity. The (108)___________________ lamp that removes any (109)___________________ charge off the photosensitive (110)___________________. This leaves the drum (111)___________________ a charge of 0 (112)___________________

 

Laser Printing Process

 You (113)___________________ have to remember the (114)___________________

Conditioning - The primary (115)___________________ (High Voltage Wire) adds (116)___________________ negative charge of around -(117)___________________ volts to - 1000 (118)___________________

Writing - The laser (119)___________________ hits the photosensitive drum, (120)___________________ the light hits the (121)___________________ it dissipates the negative (122)___________________ to the center of (123)___________________ drum which is grounded. (124)___________________ then leaves sections of (125)___________________ drum with a voltage (126)___________________ -100 volts

 

Laser Printing (127)___________________

 You DO have to (128)___________________ the voltages

Developing - (129)___________________ drum rolls through a (130)___________________ of negatively charged toner (131)___________________ (Particles are -200 Volts (132)___________________ -500 Volts)

Where the (133)___________________ hasn't been touched by (134)___________________ laser light a lower (135)___________________ charge is still there, (136)___________________ the particles are not (137)___________________ to this section of (138)___________________ photosensitive drum.

 

Laser Printing (139)___________________

 You DO have to (140)___________________ the voltages

Transfer - (141)___________________ strong positive charge is (142)___________________ to the paper, the (143)___________________ of toner are attracted (144)___________________ the paper.

Fusing - (145)___________________ toner that is on (146)___________________ paper is heated and (147)___________________, the toner becomes bonded (148)___________________ the paper.

To remember (149)___________________ process

Clean-Charge-Write-Develop-Transfer-Fuse

California-Cows-Won't-Dance-The-Fandango

Can (150)___________________ Write Down The Facts?

 

(151)___________________ can guarantee this is (152)___________________ the test.

Other Printers

(153)___________________ Ink—use a stick of (154)___________________ that is melted to (155)___________________ ink, then sprayed onto (156)___________________ drum. Paper passes over (157)___________________ drum and under a (158)___________________ to transfer the image. (159)___________________ high quality, non-toxic, and (160)___________________ friendly

Dye sublimation—dye is (161)___________________ contained on a ribbon (162)___________________ roll. Print head is (163)___________________ against the paper using (164)___________________. Color depth is controlled (165)___________________ the amount of heat (166)___________________. They require special paper. (167)___________________ the dye is applied, (168)___________________ layer is applied to (169)___________________ the image from water, (170)___________________, and fingerprints.

Other Printers

(171)___________________ Printers—Output is produced with (172)___________________ using either

Thermal wax (173)___________________—Use ink with a wax (174)___________________. A heating element in (175)___________________ printhead melts the ink (176)___________________ the ribbon. Creates a (177)___________________ image

Direct thermal transfer—Use (178)___________________ paper and a row (179)___________________ heating elements burns dots (180)___________________ on the paper. Monochrome.

(181)___________________ autochrome—Uses special paper with (182)___________________ pigments embedded. Each page (183)___________________ 3 times under the (184)___________________ at different temperatures that (185)___________________ out the colors. UV (186)___________________ sets the colors.

Other (187)___________________

Plotters—pen based devices that (188)___________________ line images. Mostly used (189)___________________ engineering.

 

The Windows Print (190)___________________

Client

User sends print (191)___________________

Program calls the GDI ((192)___________________ Device Interface)

Spooler receives (193)___________________ job from the GDI

(194)___________________ Windows Print Process

Spooler

(195)___________________.drv issues an RPC (remote (196)___________________ call) to Spoolsv.exe (spool (197)___________________)

Spoolsv.exe calls the Spoolss.dll ((198)___________________ router)

Localspl.dll routes the (199)___________________ job to either the (200)___________________ printer or the print (201)___________________

Job goes either directly (202)___________________ the to the port (203)___________________ or to a language (204)___________________ THEN to the port (205)___________________.

Language monitor translates the (206)___________________ into code the printer (207)___________________ understand

The Windows Print (208)___________________

Printer

Spooler sends the (209)___________________ to the Printer (not (210)___________________ hardware device, but the (211)___________________ or driver)

Print language (212)___________________ translated.

Print device prints.

(213)___________________ a laser printer, the (214)___________________ is stored in the (215)___________________. Other printers, the RAM (216)___________________ the server or local (217)___________________ is used.*

Installing

Locally

(218)___________________ device

Install downloaded or (219)___________________ driver and utilities

Network

(220)___________________ a printer share on (221)___________________ network or locate the (222)___________________ itself and create a (223)___________________ (see labs)

 

Lab Check off Sheet and Report

Check off each of the labs as you complete them below. Turn this in with your lab reports.

 

Requirement

Completed

Filled Out Lab Sheet

Not Attempted (0 on labs for unit)

Lab P-1 Install a local printer

 

 

 

Lab P-2 Install a local printer to share on a network

 

 

 

Lab P-3 Install a network printer and share it

 

 

 

Lab P-4 Troubleshooting Scenarios

 

 

 

 

Lab P-1 Installing a Local Printer in Windows 98

  1. Get a printer from me and set it up on your lab computer.
  2. You may need to search for a cable to connect it. Be sure to return that cable to its proper place when you are finished.
  3. Go online on a Dell and find the drivers for all three of the operating systems you are using.

 

Plug and Play Printers - Usually to install a plug and play printer is simply a case of connecting it to your PC (connect with power off if it is a parallel printer) and following the instructions that came with your printer, if you have problems read the steps below.

Non Plug and Play - If you have a non plug and play printer or the machine is not recognizing the printer then you will need to install the printer manually, to do this follow the instructions below.

The instructions below are GENERAL. Your actual experience may vary.

Printer with USB Interface

You can connect a USB device to your PC while the PC is switched on, locate the USB port at the back (or front) of your PC (as shown on the left) and connect the printer to your PC, if your PC is not already on then switch it on now.

Printer with Parallel Interface

Always ensure your PC is switched off when connecting a printer/device to your PC's parallel port. When the machine is off locate the parallel port (as seen on the left) and connect the printer to it, then switch on the printer and then the PC.

If your printer is plug and play compatible then the PC will find the printer itself, in this case simply follow the on screen instructions.

If your PC doesn't recognise the printer then click on START hover the mouse over SETTINGS and then click on printers (as shown on the left).

Now double click on the Add Printer icon as shown on the left.

You will be presented with a screen telling you to click Next to continue installing a new printer, click the Next button.

Next it asks you if the printer is a local or network printer, choose Local (unless your printer is on a network) and then click the Next button.

Now you get presented with a window as shown on the left, if you have the Disk/CD that came with your printer then click Have Disk if you don't have a driver disk/CD for your printer then see if the printer is listed among those printers available.

If you have any problems refer to your printer's instructions.

When you have the Disk/CD

After you have clicked on Have Disk (see above) you will be presented with a screen asking you to locate the Disk/CD. Insert the Disk or CD into a drive and then select the drive from the pull down menu. Refer to your printer documentation for details of where to find the correct driver for your printer, it would normally be in a folder called Win98 or similar.

Next you are asked which port you would like to install the printer, if it is a parallel printer then choose LPT1 (standard), if it is a USB printer then choose the USB port (although USB printers should install themselves). When you have selected one of the ports click the Next button.

Now you get an option to rename the printer and/or select it as the default printer for Windows 98 based programs. Unless you have a reason to change the name then you can leave it as it is, making the printer the default or not also depends on your choice.

Once you have finished click on the Next button.

Now you will see a dialogue box asking you whether you want to perform a test print, it is advisable to print a test page just to make sure everything is ok.

 

 

Prove to me you can print to get this checked off.

 

Questions

  1. What type of printer did you install?

 

 

  1. What is the name of the printer you installed?

 

 

  1. Where did you find the driver?

 

 

  1. What interface does the printer use?

 

 

  1. Can you share this printer if you’re on a network?

Lab P-2 Installing a Printer Share on a Network

  1. Get a printer from me and set it up on your DELL computer.
  2. You may need to search for a cable to connect it. Be sure to return that cable to its proper place when you are finished.
  3. Go online on a Dell and find the drivers for all three of the operating systems you are using.
  4. Install the printer. Now share it.
    1. Right click on the printer.
    2. Select “Sharing”
    3. Name the printer share something simple
    4. Write down the name of your computer

 

    1. Write down the name of the share

 

  1. Prove that the printer can be accessed from another computer.

a.      Open the run command

b.      Type \\nameofcomputer\nameofshare

                                                              i.      Name of computer=your computer name (you wrote it down in d)

                                                            ii.      Name of share=the share name you gave your printer

  1. Install additional printer drivers so others from other operating systems can use your printer.

a.      First get the drivers you downloaded in P-1 and put them on a disk or on your computer.

b.      Right click on your printer share and select properties

c.      Click the sharing tab.

d.      Select Additional Drivers

e.      Click Intel Windows 95, 98, and Me. Click ok

f.        Browse to the drivers.

g.      Now when users of Windows 98 access your printer, they won’t need drivers. Try it with a neighbor who does NOT have the drivers installed.

 

Have me check off:

 

____ Printer installed

____Share name

____Additional drivers installed

____Neighbor prints to printer

 

 

Lab P-3 Installing a Network Printer to Share

  1. Do this on your Windows XP. You are going to install a printer connected directly to the network onto your computer and set it up as a printer share.
  2. Create a new printer. Even though it’s across the room, you’re going to select “Local printer attached to this computer” but you are going to deselect “Automatically detect plug and play”.
  3. Click next.
  4. Click “Create a new port.”
  5. Select “Standard TCP/IP Port”
  6. Click Next. Click Next. You’re going to a new wizard.
  7. Where it says Printer Name or IP Address type 192.168.1.171. Click next.
  8. A window will come up telling you that you have created a port. If it does NOT come up right away, make sure you typed in the right IP address. It goes out and finds the printer and it should find it immediately.
  9. Click finish. This takes you back to your installation thingy.
  10.  It is a Brother HL-5250DN Series. (The drivers will actually already be on your computer because you’ve been printing to this printer already. If they weren’t you’d provide a disk.)
  11. Tell it to keep existing driver.
  12. Give it a name like “Happy Printer”.
  13. Set it as the default printer.
  14. Share the printer. Give it your name.
  15. Identify your location (computer 13 by Winnie poster)
  16. Print a test page. Finish.
  17. Look in your printers. There it is!
  18. Go online and find if you can get the drivers for Windows 98 and install those drivers like you did in P-3.

 

Have me check off:

 

____ Printer installed

____Share name

____Additional drivers installed

____Neighbor prints to printer

 

 

Lab P-4 Creating a Printer Pool

Often in a business office you’re going to have more than one person printing to a printer, and more than one printer that people can print to. However, if one person is printing to PrinterA and two others need to print now, there may be confusion among users as to where to send the print job, or how to delete one and print to another computer. So in order to simplify that, often companies use Printer Pools.

 

Printer Pools have a few rules:

  1. All printers are “attached” to one printer share.
  2. All printers MUST use the same driver. So we couldn’t do a printer pool with our Brother printer and our Laserjet because they are different drivers.
  3. Using network printers is best, but you can have a printer attached via the network and one to a parallel port and even one USB, as long as they all use the same driver.
  4. The physical print devices are all in one general location. After all, if I send a print job out and it uses PrinterC I don’t want to have to go to three different locations to find my print job.

 

Here’s how it works. User attaches to a printer share. (As a network tech, you’ll probably create a batch file that will do that automatically.) You’ve set up a “pool” of three printers. User prints. The share figures out which print device is available, and his job goes to that device. Another user prints, and if the share determines that PrinterA is busy, it sends the job to PrinterB, and so on.

 

Create a pool:

  1. Our pool isn’t going to work, since we only have one printer. However, we’ll set one up anyhow.
  2. Open up the properties of your share created in P-3.
  3. Let’s pretend we have another brother printer with the IP address of 192.168.1.172.
  4. Go into the Ports tab.
  5. Click “enable printer pooling”.
  6. Create a new TCP/IP port using the IP address above. (You will get an error message saying it can’t find that port, so go ahead and create a RAW port.)
  7. Select that port. You know you did it correctly if you can select both ports.
  8. Note, you do not have to add another driver because you already have it. You can have three, four, five, etc. printers! It just distributes the jobs automatically, so if the boss is printing out end of month reports, everyone else can continue to print and get their jobs.

 

Questions:

  1. What is a printer pool?

 

 

  1. What is the purpose of a printer pool?

 

 

  1. What are three requirements to set up a printer pool?

 

 

  1. What are the benefits of the pool?

 

 

  1. Is water involved?

 

  1. Can I pool Bro and Joe? Why or why not?

 

Have me check off:

 

____ Printer installed

____ Ports created

____ Pooling enabled

 

Lab P-5 Printing in Vista

Like with any new operating system, Vista has compatibility issues. Usually those issues are resolved rather quickly by manufacturers coming out with new drivers.

 

HP laser printers had a LOT of problems printing to Vista when it first came out, so they created a Universal Print Driver (UDP). Let’s create an HP printer in Vista.

  1. Go into the closet and find an HP printer.
  2. Hook it up to the switch on your table so that each person can access the printer.
  3. Go into Vista. Make sure it’s online.
  4. Go to this website and make sure the printer is supported: http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/laserjet/archive/2007/02/26/2551.html
  5. Download the driver. Run the installer. It should find the printer.
  6. Install Bro
    1. Open control panels
    2. Hardware control panel
    3. Printers
    4. Click “Add a printer”
    5. Add a network printer.
    6. Type in the IP address for Bro.
    7. Connect away baby!
    8. Print a test page

 

Have me check off:

 

____ Printer installed (HP)

____ Bro printer created.

____ Test page printed

 

 

 

Lab P-6 Troubleshooting Scenarios

 

Read “How to Troubleshoot Printer Problems” and answer the questions below with solutions from the text.

 

Problem

Solution

Darth calls you and tells you his printer was working, the cat walked on it and now it’s not printing any more. It is plugged in and turned on. You ask him to describe the front panel and he says that there are no lights. What should he do?

 

Stormtrooper Potatohead just installed a new print cartridge in his old inkjet printer that he inherited from this aunt. Now nothing shows up at all on the page. It’s one of those “all in one” catridges and he’s never installed one before. You tell him to make sure it’s seated correctly. It is. What gives?

 

Dilbert installed a new USB printer. The printer did not come with a USB cable, but rather than buy a new cable he decided to use the old one that he had from an old scanner. Everything appears to work correctly on the printer, except the computer can’t see it.

 

Fishy’s printer was working fine, but now there is a red light on the panel and he doesn’t know what that means. What would you advise him to do?

 

 

 

Goofy has a printer that had a paper jam. He tried to clear the jam but ended up ripping the paper in the process. Now the printer just blinks a red light and won’t print. He’s tried turning it off and on a number of times and it still won’t print. He can see it on the computer, can see all the print jobs he sent it, but nothing is coming out. It just flashes. What should he check?

 

Mickey has a really old dot-matrix printer. Suddenly the printer is still acting like it’s printing, but nothing is showing up on the page. If he prints on multi-page forms, the pages underneath the first page print fine through with carbon, and the text is what it should be. Nothing is on the first page, although he can see the imprint of the letters. What should he look for first?

 

 

HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT PRINTER PROBLEMS

Introduction. This article will describe some general troubleshooting steps applicable to most, but not all printers.  It is not possible to describe all of the steps one might take to fix every make, model, and type of printer, but in many cases these simple set of procedures and a logical approach may save you a trip to a repair shop or even save that old printer you have just about given up on--don't shoot it yet or give it the old bounce test by dropping it out of a four story window!  A lot of this is pretty much common sense; but, some otherwise obvious steps can be overlooked if you are in a hurry, can be performed in an inefficient sequence without a logical versus an Easter-egging approach, or you have not had the pleasure of troubleshooting a printer before.

PRINTER

1.  Read the book.  I cannot begin to tell you how many people have brought their printer to my shop with the User Manual and paid my wife (no computer expert) $32.50 to sit-down, read the book, and fix the printer.  Unfortunately, some printer books aren't worth reading...

2.  Check the manufacturer's web site.  The problem you are having has most likely happened before.  If the manufacturer has a good web site, you may find the answer there and save a lot of time, money, and frustration. 

3.  Is it plugged-in?  Make sure the printer is plugged into a live outlet.  If it is plugged into a surge protector, make sure it is on.  Try moving it from the surge protector to a known-good wall outlet.

4.  Is it on?  Ok, you can't print and Windows, etc. says it can't find the printer.  Make sure the darn thing is turned on and there are no error lights (LEDs) lit.  If there are error lights, refer to the user manual/manufacturer's web site.  You should hear the print mechanism initialize when power is applied and most printers have at least one light which will be illuminated when it is on.

5.  Is it on-line?  Most printers have and on-line LED and button or the equivalent.  The computer cannot communicate or send stuff to a printer that is not on-line; i.e., not connected to the cable between the printer and computer, and that is what "on-line" literally means.  Again, I have gone to customer sites, pushed the on-line button, and charged them for my time and travel (I try to accomplish at least that much on the phone, but some...).

6.  Is it beeping at you?  Most printers will beep once or twice during or after initialization.  If it beeps more than that or beeps constantly, the poor thing is either hurt or trying to tell you something is wrong.  Look in the manual or go to the web site to learn what it is saying.  Unfortunately, beep code documentation can be hard to find, the beep you hear may not listed, or the meaning of the beep is nebulous.  Most, printers will beep when out of paper or out of ink and those are the most common causes for a printer turning into a road runner.

7.  Does it test-print?  Most printers have a built-in diagnostics program which can be very useful for troubleshooting problems and test-printing without a computer.  They are usually initiated by pressing a button or two while turning on the printer.  Check your user manual.  If the printer test-prints OK, you have probably eliminated the mechanical print mechanism as the problem.

8.  Does it have ink or toner?  Is the Ink cartridge full, ribbon installed correctly, or laser cartridge full?  An ink jet printer may have a black and a color cartridge.  Check both of them or at least set the printer to use a cartridge with ink in it.  You can usually extend the life of a laser cartridge long enough to order a new one by removing the cartridge and gently shaking it side-to-side to redistribute the tone.  Sometimes you can get a ribbon going temporally by removing from the printer and manually advancing the ribbon past a worn spot by turning the sprockets.

9.  Is it clean?  Most ink jet printers have a simple user procedure for cleaning the print heads.  You may have to clean them periodically or after the printer has been idle for a few days or weeks.  If you see funny colors or print-outs are missing colors, a cartridge may be empty or a head dirty.  You may have to clean a head many times to get it working again.

10.  Does it have paper?  Be sure the paper is installed correctly and there is enough of it.  Most printers have a paper-out detector.  On most dot matrix printers it is a photo diode.  If form-fed paper is not aligned correctly (usually on the left side) the diode won't see it.  DOS may indicate it has lost communications with a printer which is out of paper instead issuing a paper-out error.

11.  Is it jammed?  Paper jams are frequently the reason my wife is able to fix many printers.  She's very good at it (and she has smaller fingers than mine).  Always read the manual on how to clear a jam.    Don't be a "gorilla" with your printer!  You can easily damage a printer (strip gear threads, etc.), or even get hurt, if you do not follow instructions and are not careful.  Turn the power off--unplug it.  You have 110 volts running around the inside many printers.  And print heads, gears, etc. like to nip fingers.

Laser printers have some very fine wires to remove static charges from the paper near the fuser mechanism which will break if you aren't very careful.  Also, the fuser itself can be very hot (it fuses/melts toner to the paper).

Don't move a print head unless the instructions direct it.  You can damage the belt, etc.

Address labels cause many paper jams and cannot always be seen.  The old shirt cardboard trick can be used to dislodge them from many printers.  Just feed a shirt cardboard (or cut a piece of like-sized cardboard form a file folder) through like a sheet of paper and wiggle the label loose and out.

Staples, paperclips, dog hair, and cookie crumbs are among the many things we have coaxed out of printers.  A staple will raise havoc with the drum in laser printers.  If you see vertical lines on pages printed by a laser printer (or copy machine), the drum is probably scratched.  Replacing it can be a very expensive repair, indeed.

If jams persist, or the printer won't feed paper, there is a good chance that gears are stripped or rollers are worn-down or have flat spots.   Fixing this sort of problem may require specialized tools and elaborate alignment procedures and is often best done at a printer repair depot.   It is not usually economically feasible to send low-end ink jet and dot matrix printers, etc. to a repair depot.  Sometimes roller problems can be fixed by cleaning the rollers.

Changing to a different kind of paper may help.  Refer to your user manual for guidance.

On humid days, slightly damp paper can cause jams by sticking together causing more than one sheet to be fed at a time.  Try removing the paper from its tray, etc. and fanning it.  Make sure the edges or corners aren't curled and the tray is either not too empty or too full.  Read the book...

Then there are those printers which no one can figure-out how to dissemble without damaging them...

12.  Is it wedged?  The printer memory could be full or there may my a glitch caused by a power spike.  Turn-off the printer, wait a few seconds and turn it back on.

CABLE

13.  Is it connected? The printer test prints, but it won't go on line...  Well, is the cable from the printer to the computer connected?  Screw down the DB-25 connector at the computer end and clip the Centronics connector at the printer end (your printer and computer may have different connectors; e.g., USB).   Push-in and wiggle the connectors.

14.  Is it connected to the printer port?  Some SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) are physically identical to the male DB-25 connectors used for standard IBM/IBM-compatible printer ports.  Plugging a printer into a SCSI port can damage the SCSI host board and the printer.

15.  Do you have the correct cable?  Many printers now require an IEEE 1284 and Bi-Directional.  USB cables shouldn't be longer than 15 feet.

16.  Is the cable good?  Check for bent pins.  Try another cable.

17.  Is it connected properly?  Screw the PC end down and latch the Centronics end at the printer.

18.  Is there something else connected to the printer port?  Disconnect it and uninstall the device drivers for it.

19. Does the printer port have a software security device on it?  These devices attach to the printer port and the printer cable attaches to the device.  They can break.  Try printing without it.

COMPUTER

20.  Is the printer port set-up correctly in your computer's BIOS Setup?  Try the various printer modes in your computer's CMOS Setup. ECP+EPP usually works with bi-directional printers, but others may fix the problem.

21.  Is the correct printer cable/header assembly installed and is it plugged-in right?  I have seen cases where a baby AT motherboard was upgraded, but the printer cable/header assembly from the old motherboard was used and caused problems, but that is very rare. Also, the cable connecting to the motherboard could be backwards or loose.

DOS

22.  Does it print from the DOS prompt?  Try F8 (F8 or hold the Ctrl Key for Win 98) just as Windows starts to boot, select the DOS prompt or command console from the resulting menu, find a non-zero length text file (one that is 1-2K would be a good choice) (e.g., autoexec.bat or something ending in .txt), and print from DOS with:
C:\>type autoexec.bat>lpt1:
or
C:\>type filename.txt>LPT1:

Click Cancel, turn the printer off, unplug the printer cable, wait a few seconds, reconnect the cable, make sure the printer is on with no error lights, restart Windows, and try again.’  Try the various printer modes in your computer's CMOS Setup. ECP+EPP usually works with bi-directional printers, but others may fix the problem. Try F8 just as Windows starts to boot, select the DOS prompt from the resulting menu, find a non-zero length text file (one that is 1-2K would be a good choice) (e.g., autoexec.bat or something ending in .txt), and print from DOS with:
C:\>type autoexec.bat>lpt1:
or
C:\>type filename.txt>LPT1:
If that works consistently, the problem is probably in Windows.

WINDOWS

23.  Is it set-up properly?  Be sure Windows is set-up correctly with the correct printer driver and something else (another printer, FAX, etc.) is not assigned LPT1: Be sure the printer is set as the default Windows printer. Try it on another desktop computer. If that works, try another printer on the suspect computer.  Uninstalling and reinstalling the printer often fixes problems.   Get rid of duplicate printers.

24.  Does it have a stuck print queue?  Start>Settings>Printers>double click the printer> Printer>Purge Print Documents

25.  Have you used Windows Help to solve the problem? Start>Help>Contents>Troubleshooting>Windows 98 Troubleshooters>Print.

26.  Have you used Microsoft's Knowledge Base

 

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