chapter 21

A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PCFifth Edition

Chapter 21

Supporting Printers

2 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

You Will Learn…

How printers work

How to install printers and share them over a local area network

How to troubleshoot printer problems


How Printers Work

Connect to a PC by parallel, serial, USB, IEEE 1394, or SCSI port, or by infrared, wireless, PC Card, or network connection

Can be combined with fax machines, copiers and scanners in the same machine

Most often use AC power


Major Categories of Printers Impact printers

Dot-matrix

Non-impact printers Laser (highest quality) Inkjet Solid ink Dye-sublimation Thermal


Laser Printers


How a Laser Printer Works

Places toner on electrically charged rotating drum

Deposits toner on paper as paper moves through system at same speed the drum is turning


Six Steps of Laser Printing

1. Cleaning

2. Conditioning

3. Writing

4. Developing

5. Transferring

6. Fusing

Take place inside toner cartridge

Use components that undergo the most wear


Six Steps of Laser Printing (continued)1. Cleaning Cleans drum of residual toner & electrical

charge

2. Conditioning Conditions drum to contain high electrical charge

3. Writing Laser beam discharges a lower charge to only those places where tone is to go

4. Developing Toner is placed onto drum where the charge has been reduced

5. Transferring Strong electrical charge draws toner off drum onto paper; takes place outside the cartridge

6. Fusing Heat and pressure fuse toner to paper


Six Steps of Laser Printing (continued)


Step 1: Cleaning


Step 2: Conditioning


Step 3: Writing


Step 3: Writing Data from PC is received by formatter (1) and

passed to DC controller (2) which controls laser unit (3)

Scanning mirror (4) is turned clockwise by scanning motor

Laser beam is reflected off scanning mirror, focused by focusing lens (5) and sent to the mirror (6)

Mirror deflects laser beam to a slit in removable cartridge and on to the drum (7)


Step 3: Writing (continued)


Step 4: Developing


Step 4: Developing (continued)


Step 5: Transferring


Step 6: Fusing


Inkjet Printers


Inkjet Printers (continued)

Use ink-dispersion printing

Popular: small and print color inexpensively

Most give photo-quality results(eg, PhotoREt II color technology)

Paper quality affects quality of printed output

Slower than lasers


How an Inkjet Printer Works Print head moves across paper, creating one

line of text with each pass Shoots ionized ink at a sheet of paper in a

matrix of small dots Several technologies are used to form ink

droplets (eg, bubble-jet) Require ink cartridges Nozzles tend to clog or dry out

Can be cleaned automatically


Inkjet Printer Ink Cartridges


Dot-Matrix Printers

Less expensive; lesser quality

Print multicopy documents (impact printer)

Print head moves across the paper, using pins to shoot against a cloth ribbon and print a matrix of dots

If print head fails, buy a new printer


Dot-Matrix Printers (continued)


Thermal Printers and Solid Ink Printers

Relatively new printer technologies

Non-impact printers that use heat to produce printed output


Thermal Printers

Use wax-based ink heated by pins that melt ink onto paper

Popular in retail for printing bar codes and price tags

Variation: dye-sublimation printer


Solid Ink Printers

Store ink in solid blocks that melts into print head which spans width of paper

Print head jets liquid ink onto paper as it passes by on the drum

Simple design, excellent print quality, easy to set up and maintain

Takes print head ~15 minutes to heat up


Installing and Sharing a Printer

Local printers

Network printers

Default printer


Installing a Local Printer

Physically attach printer to computer

Install printer drivers

Have Windows do it

Use printer manufacturer’s installation program (recommended)

Test the printer


Sharing a Printer with Others in a Workgroup

To share a local printer using Windows

File and Printer Sharing must be installed

To use a shared printer on a remote PC

Client for Microsoft Networks must be installed


Using a Shared Printer

Approaches to installing shared network printer drivers on remote PC

Use drivers on CD

Use printer drivers on host PC


Using a Shared Printer (continued)


Ways to Make a Printer Available on a Network Attach regular printer to a PC using a port on

the PC

PC can share printer with network

Connect network printer with embedded logic to manage network communication directly to network with its own NIC

Use a print server to control several printers


Troubleshooting Guidelines for Printers

How Windows handles print jobs

Printer maintenance

General printer troubleshooting

How to troubleshoot problems specific to laser, inkjet, and dot-matrix printers


How Windows Handles Print Jobs Windows NT/2000/XP or Windows 9x using a

PostScript printer Converts print job data to PostScript language

Windows 2000/XP can also use Printer Control Language (PCL)

Windows 9x using a non-PostScript printer Converts print job data to Enhanced Metafile

Format (EMF)


How Windows Handles Print Jobs (continued)

Text data lacking embedded control characters is sent as raw data (DOS)

Spooling


Printer Maintenance Procedures

Vary depending on manufacturer and printer

Make sure consumables for printer are on hand

Research printer documentation or manufacturer’s Web site for specific maintenance tips

During routine maintenance, clean inside and outside of the printer


Using Printer Manufacturer’s Web Site as a Resource Online documentation

Knowledge base of common problems and what to do about them

Updated device drivers

Flash BIOS updates

Catalog of options and upgrades for purchase


Using Printer Manufacturer’s Web Site as a Resource (continued)

Replacement parts

Printer maintenance kits

Additional software


General Printer Troubleshooting

Isolate the problem

Application attempting to use the printer

OS and printer drivers

Connectivity between PC and printer

Printer itself

• Verify that a printer self-test page can print


Isolating a Printer Problem


Problems with Laser Printers

Poor print quality or a Toner Low message is displayed

Printer stays in warm-up mode

Paper jam occurs or Paper Out message appears

White streaks appear in the print


Problems with Laser Printers (continued) Print appears speckled

Printed images are distorted

Printing is slow

Portion of the page does not print


Problems with Inkjet Printers

Poor print quality

Intermittent or absent printing

Lines or dots missing from printed page

Ink streaks appear on the printed page


Problems with Inkjet Printers (continued)


Problems with Dot-Matrix Printers

Print quality is poor

Print head moves back and forth but nothing prints


Troubleshooting Printer Problems

Problems printing from Windows

Troubleshooting printing from applications

Troubleshooting networked printers


Summary Main types of printers and how they work

Laser Inkjet Dot-matrix

How to install a printer How to share a printer with others on a

network How to troubleshoot printer problems

chapter 21

Documents

printer sharing

ink droplets

inkjet printer worksprint

passshoots ionized ink

maintaintakes print

matrix of dotsif print

excellent print quality

laser unit