Printing Troubleshooting Guide

Written by Jason Sprague


With most printers, over 50% of all problems are customer fixable. This guide was created to help bail you out when you get stuck on tough printing problems. NOTE: If you need specific information or help with a particular printer, please contactrepparttar printer manufacturer.

You troubleshoot printing issues like you would any other computer/network related problem. You start at a general point and rule outrepparttar 107166 possibilities until you haverepparttar 107167 specific cause. The first question that you need to answer is: "Isrepparttar 107168 problem hardware, software, network or performance related?".

Hardware:

First make sure thatrepparttar 107169 printer is on and that it is in "ready" position. Make sure that there are no error messages onrepparttar 107170 LEDs or LCD if applicable. Now completerepparttar 107171 following steps:

  1. Any printer worth owning, can print an internal test or configuration page. This is absolutelyrepparttar 107172 first thing that you want to do, even if you think thatrepparttar 107173 hardware is notrepparttar 107174 issue. Make sure thatrepparttar 107175 page will print and it looks good. If it prints go to step 3 - If it won't print, go to step 2.
  2. Test page didn't print? Any error messages? Try cycling power onrepparttar 107176 printer and try again. If it still doesn't print, many printers have a special reset often referred to as an NVRAM reset. NVRAM stands for Non-volitile RAM and is where a printer may store a variety of information including network settings, ripped print jobs and more. Sometimes a piece of corrupted information from a bad print job can "confuse" a printer and cause it to hang. Sometimes an NVRAM reset will flush this bad information and restorerepparttar 107177 printer. It may also wipe all of your network/printer settings so you should contactrepparttar 107178 printer manufacturer before doing this. If this procedure doesn't fixrepparttar 107179 problem, then call for service.
  3. Your test page printed? Good! Take a good look at it and see if there are any print quality problems(i.e. spots, streaks, etc). Ifrepparttar 107180 test page looks fine, then you are probably dealing with a network or software problem. If there are visible problems, then keep reading. Before doing anything else, consult your manufacturers documentation for a list of recommended cleaning procedures before moving torepparttar 107181 next step. Almost all printers have "consumable items" or CRCs. These are parts ofrepparttar 107182 printer that are customer replaceable and have a lifespan, which means that they aren't intended to last forever. On a laser printer these may include a fuser, photo-receptor, scorotron charger, toner cartridges and more. It is a good idea to keep spares of these parts on hand for troubleshooting reasons. You can save a lot of time and headache waiting for a technician, by swapping these parts one at a time and seeing if it curesrepparttar 107183 problem. Make sure that you run about 20 test pages after inserting a new CRC and see if there is improvement. Sometimes hardware failures can leave messes that have to be "mopped up" with quite a few test pages. If these steps do not curerepparttar 107184 problem, then contactrepparttar 107185 manufacturer for further assistance.
Network:

When troubleshooting networking problems with printers, you will typically followrepparttar 107186 same lines of reasoning that you would troubleshooting a PC networking issue especially with newer models of printers. The very first thing to do is narrow downrepparttar 107187 scoperepparttar 107188 problem. Is it only an issue for 1 PC, multiple PCs or all of them. Once you have answered this question,repparttar 107189 following steps should get you on your way.

ISSUE IS AFFECTING 1 OR SOME PCs:

  1. If it is just one PC, make sure thatrepparttar 107190 PC is functioning properly onrepparttar 107191 network. Can it see file servers, print to other printers, ping other devices, etc. Ifrepparttar 107192 answer is "no", then it is not a printer issue. Ifrepparttar 107193 answer is "yes", continue reading. Do print jobs make it torepparttar 107194 printer? Most printers have an LED or LCD message that will signify thatrepparttar 107195 printer is processing a job. Tryrepparttar 107196 driver test page that can be printed fromrepparttar 107197 properties dialogue box forrepparttar 107198 printer. Does this print? If "no" go to step 2. If "yes" then it is probably a problem.
  2. If you are at this step, it means that nothing will print from 1 PC. This is most likely a configuration problem. Make sure that you can communicate withrepparttar 107199 printer at a protocol level. For example: ifrepparttar 107200 printer has an IP address, can you ping it? If it is Appletalk, does it show up inrepparttar 107201 chooser? Many printers have an internal "configuration page" that can be printed that will listrepparttar 107202 network addresses and available protocols. This can often be found on an LCD when applicable. Ifrepparttar 107203 answer is "no", go to step 3. Find out what is acting asrepparttar 107204 print server forrepparttar 107205 printer. Some printers act as their own print server and others will print through a Novell queue, Windows LPR port or jet direct box. Try sendingrepparttar 107206 test page and see if it makes it to this device. Doesrepparttar 107207 job show up inrepparttar 107208 Novell queue? Does it appear inrepparttar 107209 NT queue? Ifrepparttar 107210 job doesn't appear inrepparttar 107211 queue, go to step 4. Ifrepparttar 107212 job is making it torepparttar 107213 queue but not torepparttar 107214 printer, Make sure that this isrepparttar 107215 same queue thatrepparttar 107216 other PCs are printing to. If so, then quite frankly there is something very goofy going on if this isrepparttar 107217 only PC havingrepparttar 107218 problem. Getrepparttar 107219 classifieds and look for another job.
  3. If you are at this step, it is becauserepparttar 107220 PC cannot communicate withrepparttar 107221 printer at a protocol level, but can communicate with all other devices and other devices can communicate withrepparttar 107222 printer. Not sure what to tell you here. May be a routing/addressing issue of some kind. Consult your local network guru.
  4. If you are at this step, it is becauserepparttar 107223 print jobs are not making it intorepparttar 107224 queue onrepparttar 107225 print server. We will assume thatrepparttar 107226 PC is able to connect torepparttar 107227 print server via an appropriate protocol(if not, then it is not a printer issue). This is almost always a driver configuration issue. It usually means thatrepparttar 107228 driver is not pointing torepparttar 107229 correct port, print server or queue. Go to another PC and checkrepparttar 107230 network settings forrepparttar 107231 printer in question. Go back torepparttar 107232 ailing PC and deleterepparttar 107233 printer. Reinstallrepparttar 107234 printer and insertrepparttar 107235 correct network path, port or queue, depending on how you are connected.
  5. Sometimes permissions problems can cause weird printing behavior. Make sure that this user has appropriate permissions to use this resource.
ISSUE IS AFFECTING EVERYONE:
  1. Make sure that you can communicate withrepparttar 107236 printer at a protocol level. For example: ifrepparttar 107237 printer has an IP address, can you ping it? If it is Appletalk, does it show up inrepparttar 107238 chooser? Many printers have an internal "configuration page" that can be printed that will listrepparttar 107239 network addresses and available protocols. This can often be found on an LCD when applicable. Make sure that these settings are correct. If you are able to communicate withrepparttar 107240 printer, go to step 2. If not, then make sure thatrepparttar 107241 printer is onrepparttar 107242 network. Check cabling, network addressing/configuration, etc. Checkrepparttar 107243 cabling by connecting a known working device torepparttar 107244 network drop thatrepparttar 107245 printer is on and see if you are able to communicate with it. If not, then get a new cable. If you can see another device on this drop, their may be a hardware problem withrepparttar 107246 printer. Although it is rare, network cards do fail.
  2. Find out what is acting asrepparttar 107247 print server forrepparttar 107248 printer. Some printers act as their own print server and others will print through a Novell queue, NT port or jet direct box. Send a test page fromrepparttar 107249 print server torepparttar 107250 printer. Does this print? If "yes", go to step 3. If "no", continue reading. Ifrepparttar 107251 test page doesn't print fromrepparttar 107252 print server, it means thatrepparttar 107253 print server probably isn't properly configured for that printer which would obviously prevent anyone else from being able to print to it. Checkrepparttar 107254 type of printer port or queue that you have configured and make sure that it is correctly pointing atrepparttar 107255 printer.
  3. If you are at this step, it is because nobody can print torepparttar 107256 printer except forrepparttar 107257 print server. Make sure thatrepparttar 107258 printer is shared onrepparttar 107259 server and appropriate permissions have been set. Try sendingrepparttar 107260 test page and see if it makes it torepparttar 107261 queue onrepparttar 107262 print server. Doesrepparttar 107263 job show up inrepparttar 107264 Novell queue? Does it appear inrepparttar 107265 NT queue? Ifrepparttar 107266 job appears inrepparttar 107267 queue, go back to step 2 as something is either wrong atrepparttar 107268 print server or all ofrepparttar 107269 PCs are pointing torepparttar 107270 wrong queue onrepparttar 107271 print server.
Software:

DB Integration - software for combine MS Access databases

Written by Valery Semchukov


Our company, Novaprof Inc., developed unique software - DB Integration. This software makes it possible to integrate two databases of *.mdb format. An integration, in this case, is combiningrepparttar objects of two databases. Software features. This software makes it possible to combine two different databases. Final database can be made onrepparttar 107165 basis of one ofrepparttar 107166 initial database, i.e.repparttar 107167 objects of another initial databases are imported to one ofrepparttar 107168 initial database. Another variant of combining two initial databases intorepparttar 107169 third final database. Inrepparttar 107170 next versions. Next versions will have new features: first of all, apart fromrepparttar 107171 possibility to combine data, it will be possible to combine

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