Printers Chapter 22

Overview In this chapter, you will learn how to Describe current printer technologies Explain the laser printing process Install a printer on a Windows PC Recognize and fix basic printer problems Instructor Tip When gaining attention and establishing common ground, ask questions of the class such as, “How many here do not have a printer?” or “How many of you have had printer problems?” For a positive statement, tell the class, “In this lesson, we will learn about the various types of printers and how to install and troubleshoot them.”

Six Types of Printers Impact printers Inkjet printers Dye-sublimation Printers Thermal printers Solid ink printers Laser printers Printers Impact Inkjet Dye-Sublimation Thermal Solid Ink Laser

Impact Printers Impact printers leave an image on the paper Physically strike an inked ribbon against the surface of the paper Relatively slow and noisy Used for multipart forms Point of sale receipts Offices

Dot-Matrix Printers Dot-matrix printers Use an array of pins known as printwires to strike an inked printer ribbon and produce images The case that holds the print wires is called the printhead Use either 9-pin (draft quality) or 24-pin (letter or near-letter quality) Dot-matrix printers transfer an image or text via pins.

Inkjet Printers Inkjet printers Simple devices that consist of the following: Printhead, support electronics, a transfer mechanism, and a paper-feed component Work by ejecting ink through tiny tubes Ink is heated by tiny resistors or electroconductive plates at the end of each tube The resistors or plates boil the ink, which creates a tiny air bubble that ejects a droplet of ink onto the paper Some inkjets use mechanical methods to eject ink Most color printers are inkjet and produce a high-quality image Last bullet point is a known question on the exam.

Inside an Inkjet Printer

Ink Issues Older inkjets had two ink cartridges Newer ones have four Black Color Newer ones have four Cyan Magenta Yellow Or more . . . Still outrageously expensive Cost of replacements more than cost of printer! Cost of ink is between $4000 - $8000 per gallon!

Inkjet Key Features Print resolution Print speed Density of the ink Dots per inch (dpi) Print speed Pages per minute (ppm) Can print to almost anything Modern inks of archival quality (200+ years)

Dye-Sublimation Printers Dye-sublimation printers (or thermal dye transfer printers) use sublimation Sublimation causes something to change from a solid form into a vapor Desublimation changes vapor to solid Used for fine detail and rich color One pass for each color Produces high-quality output

Dye-Sublimation Printers (continued) Use CMYK method of printing Cyan, magenta, yellow, black Roll of heat-sensitive plastic film embedded with dye Fine printhead that vaporizes the dyes onto special paper Requires four passes to complete Creates continuous tone images Other processes create dithered images where the dots fake the blended colors Professional-caliber output

Thermal Printers Thermal printers Two types: direct thermal and thermal wax Direct thermal Same as first generation of fax machines Use a heated printhead to burn dots into the surface of special heat-sensitive paper Still used for receipts at some businesses Thermal wax transfer Like dye-sublimation printers Use film coated with colored wax that gets melted onto page No need for special paper But dithered images

Laser Printers Laser printers use a mechanism called electro-photographic imaging Produce high-quality and high-speed output of both text and graphics More expensive to purchase than inkjet or impact printers Far less expensive over the lifespan of the printer when you factor in consumables Use lasers as a light source Tech Tip Hidden Costs Some printers use consumables at a much faster rate than others, prompting the industry to rank printers in terms of their cost per page. An inexpensive printer (laser or inkjet) costs around 4 cents per page, while an expensive printer can cost more than 20 cents per page—a huge difference if you do any volume of printing. This hidden cost is particularly pernicious in the sub-$100 inkjet printers on the market. Their low prices often entice buyers, who then discover that the cost of consumables is outrageous—these days, a single set of color and black inkjet cartridges can cost as much as the printer itself, if not more!

Laser Printer Parts Toner cartridge Photosensitive drum Erase lamp Holds the toner Many other parts that suffer the most wear and tear contained in toner cartridge Photosensitive drum Aluminum cylinder coated with particles of photosensitive compounds Erase lamp Exposes the entire surface of the photosensitive drum to light, draining any electrical charge

Laser Printer Parts (continued) Primary corona Enables voltage to pass to the drum and charge the photosensitive particles on its surface Creates a uniform negative charge (~600 to ~1000 volts) Laser Acts as the writing mechanism of the printer Discharges areas on drum to negative ~100 volts

Laser Printer Parts (continued) Toner Fine powder made up of plastic particles bonded to iron particles Charged by toner cylinder to negative ~200 to ~500 volts Attracted to parts of drum struck by laser Discussion Point Toner Toner is nasty! It is a very fine powder that seems to jump onto your new dress shirt from across the room! It gets into everything. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to clean up—just a damp cloth or paper towel will collect it. However, it is nearly impossible to get out of clothing. Also, many governments consider it a hazardous waste, not to be thrown in the trash. Many companies recycle toner. Please check with your local authorities for disposal methods.

Laser Printer Parts (continued) Transfer corona Applies a positive charge to the paper Toner jumps Static eliminator removes charge Fuser assembly Attaches the toner permanently to the paper using a pressure roller and heated roller

Laser Printer Parts (continued)

Laser Printer Parts (continued) Primary power supply Provides power to the motors that move the paper, system electronics, and transfer corona High-voltage power supply Provides power to the primary corona When inserting a new toner cartridge, always turn the laser printer off before opening it Turning gears Discrete units called gear packs or gearboxes Safety Alert Because of the high voltage present in a laser printer, you should unplug it even before changing toner cartridges.

Laser Printer Parts (continued) System board Contains the main processor, ROM, and RAM ROM can often be flashed Not enough RAM results in memory overflow error Ozone filter Ozone (O3) generated by coronas can damage printer components Filter needs to be replaced periodically Sensors and switches Detects paper jams, empty paper trays, low toner levels, and so on

Solid Ink Printers Use solid sticks of non-toxic “ink” Produces vibrant color Ink is melted and absorbed into the paper fibers Only needs a single pass More expensive than other printers But ink sticks are significantly less expensive than inkjet cartridges Solid ink offers significant advantages over color laser in the proper applications. Serious heavy monthly duty cycle: 185,000 pages average Up to 30 ppm in color Laser printers use 30X more waste over 100,000 prints 1/3 the moving parts of a laser printer One downside is the life expectancy of the print outs Two years in office lighting Two months in sunlight

Printer Languages American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) Basic alphanumeric characters and a variety of control codes for transferring data and controlling printers Limited in its capability The PostScript page description language (PDL) developed by Adobe Device-independent printer language capable of high-resolutions and scalable fonts Printers print faster because most of the image processing is done by the printer and not the PC; PostScript defines page as single raster image PostScript files are very portable PDL makes PDF files

Printer Languages (continued) Hewlett Packard developed the Printer Command Language (PCL) Expanded set of printer commands Dependent on the printer hardware Does not support advanced graphical functions Does not define the page as a single raster image

Printer Languages (continued) Windows 2000/XP uses the Windows graphical device interface (GDI) The operating system handles print functions If the printer has a capable raster image processor and enough RAM, you don’t need to worry about the printer language Windows Vista/7 uses the XML Paper Specification (XPS) print path Provides improved color management and print layout fidelity Vista/7 also still supports GDI

Printer Connectivity Most local printers connect to one of two ports on the PC DB-25 parallel port USB port Wi-Fi becoming more common (though not on A+) The parallel port was a lot faster than the existing serial ports at the time Slow by today’s standards with a maximum data transfer rate of 150 KBps IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1284 standard addresses standardizing parallel ports

IEEE 1284 Standard Seeking speed and true bidirectional communication The IEEE 1284 standard requires Support for five modes of operation Compatibility mode, nibble mode, byte mode, EPP, ECP Standard methods of negotiation for determining which modes are supported A standard physical interface A standard electrical interface All data transfers are half-duplex with the IEEE 1284 standard. Many techs confuse the concept of “duplex” printing—a process that requires special printers capable of printing on both sides of a sheet of paper—with bidirectional printing. They have nothing to do with each other! Although the phrase “Centronics standard” was commonly used in the heyday of parallel ports, there actually was no such animal. Prior to the development of IEEE 1284, there was only a very loose set of “standards” adopted by manufacturers in an attempt to at least reduce incompatibility issues.

Setting Up Parallel Ports For parallel ports built into motherboards, use the System Setup utility to configure Three options SPP (150 KBps transfers) ECP (~ 2 MBps transfers) EPP (~2.5 MBps transfers) Choose the option that best fits your device (e.g., ECP for the last generation of parallel laser printers)

Parallel Connections, Cabling, and Electricity A standard printer cable A male DB-25 connector on one end and a 36-pin Centronics connector on the other Acceptable for transferring data at 150 KBps at distances of less than 6 feet IEEE 1284-compliant cable Can be up to 32 feet (10 m) Required for bidirectional printing Tech Tip No Cheap Cables! Some parallel cables are cheaper than the IEEE 1284 cables, but these may— or may not—work. Don’t set yourself up for unnecessary hassles— just get an IEEE 1284 cable! Installing a parallel cable is a snap. Just insert the DB-25 pin connector into the parallel port on the back of the PC and insert the Centronics connector into the printer’s Centronics port, and you’re ready to go to press!

USB and FireWire Printers Most new printers use USB connections Most use USB type A on one end and USB type B on the other end USB predominant connection type today FireWire Works as easily as USB USB B In almost all cases, you must install the drivers before you plug a USB printer into your computer. Some printers come with both USB and parallel connections, but this is becoming increasingly rare, so if you need a parallel printer for a system, be sure to confirm that the particular model you want will work! USB A

Network and Other Printers Printers can be connected on a network Needs NIC and connection (typically RJ-45) Needs IP address (either manually assigned or automatically assigned from DHCP) Can be connected to print server Some also have wireless and Bluetooth capabilities Other printers Rare, but may see serial or SCSI printers

Physical Side of the Process California Cows Won’t Dance The Fandango Clean Charge Write Develop Transfer Fuse Discussion Point Mnemonic The A+ exam expects students to know the steps of the laser printing process in order. To help students remember the laser printing process order—Clean, Charge, Write, Develop, Transfer, Fuse—try this mnemonic: California Cows Won’t Dance The Fandango. It may sound silly, but it works!

Clean the Drum Printing process begins by physically and electrically cleaning the photosensitive drum Physically by scraping the surface of the drum with a rubber cleaning blade Electrically with an erase lamp to completely discharge any particles

Charge the Drum Next the drum is charged by applying a negative charge to the entire surface Charged by primary corona wire Between ~600 and ~1000 volts

Write and Develop the Image A laser is used to write and develop an image on the surface of the drum Every particle hit by the laser will release most of its negative charge into the drum Toner attracted to the drum; this is the develop portion of the process

Transfer the Image Using the transfer corona, the paper is charged positively The negatively charged toner particles leap from the drum to the paper Discussion Point Charges Remember the phrase from high-school science class, “opposites attract”? That is the underlying principle behind laser printers. The toner jumps around from one place to another based on the positive or negative charges it is following. The negatively charged toner seeks out and jumps to the positively charged paper.

Fuse the Image Image fused to the paper The heat roller made of a nonstick material and the pressure roller are used to fuse the image onto the paper Toner particles melted into the page Static charge eliminator removes charge from paper Stops paper from sticking to drum The heated roller produces enough heat to melt some types of plastic media, particularly overhead transparency materials. This could damage your laser printer (and void your warranty), so make sure you’re printing on transparencies designed for laser printers!

The Electronic Printing Process Click [Print] CPU sends print job to print spooler Spooler can handle multiple print jobs in the print queue Spooler is a service Killing the spooler service deletes all print jobs Print device takes it from there

The Electronic Printing Process (continued) Raster image Impact printers print a line at a time Laser printers generate a raster image of the page A raster image is a pattern of dots The raster image processor (RIP) chip translates the raster image into commands for the laser printer

The Electronic Printing Process (continued) RIP needs RAM in order to store this data Mem Overflow error indicates insufficient RAM Add RAM, reduce the resolution, or print smaller graphics HP LaserJet 21 error means the data is too complex Reduce complexity by using fewer fonts and less formatting, reducing graphics resolution, and so on Resolution enhancement technology (RET) Enables the printer to insert smaller dots among the characters to smooth out jagged curves Disabling RET helps MEM OVERFLOW errors

The Electronic Printing Process (continued) Resolution A laser printer can print at different resolutions Resolution is expressed in dots per inch (dpi) such as 600 × 600 or 1200 × 1200 dpi The first number is the horizontal resolution—how fine a focus can be achieved by the laser The second number is the vertical resolution—the smallest increment by which the drum can be turned

Printing in Windows The physical printer is called a print device The printer is a program that controls one or more print devices One printer can support more than one print device Print drivers Print spooler Exercise Troubleshooting As usual, surreptitiously make changes without the students present. This will more closely emulate a real tech-environment service call. Have some bad cables available for students to eliminate as the cause of a printer problem. Delete printer drivers. Move different printers from one computer to another (without reinstalling the drivers) so the computer doesn’t recognize the printer. Use old toner cartridges or ink cartridges. While a laser printer is running a sheet of paper through, kill the power to simulate a paper jam. Then have the students perform the service calls.

Setting Up Printers PnP devices usually work after plugging them in If necessary, can use applets to install With USB, install the drivers first or read documentation to see what manufacturer recommends Open the Printers applet Windows XP: Start | Printers and Faxes Windows Vista/7: Control Panel | Printers applet Click the Add Printer icon to start the Add Printer Wizard

Setting Up Printers (continued) Add Printer wizard Select local or network printer Select a printer port

Setting Up Printers (continued) Add Printer Wizard Add the driver Windows Update easiest to use (if driver installed) Or can download driver from manufacturer or use CD accompanying printer and use Have Disk Checkmark indicates default printer

Lab – Virtual Printer Install (1) Install a local printer Click Start | Printers and Faxes Top left side of window | Add a Printer Wizard appears | Next

Lab – Virtual Printer Install (2) Select Local printer attached to this computer Deselect Automatically Detect | click Next Use default port LPT 1 Choose the following then click next Manufacturer: HP Printer: HP LaserJet 4 Plus

Lab – Virtual Printer Install (3) Name printer | Next Print Test Page | No | Next | Finish The last step a tech should take when installing a printer is ALWAYS print a test page There is no actual printer installed so for this lab we select No Check the Printers and Faxes window, your printer should be listed Are printers listed in Device Manager? Find out

Supporting Additional OSes With networked printers, need only server name and printer name Installing additional drivers adds support for additional operating systems To add drivers Printer | Properties | Sharing | Additional Drivers to open the Additional Drivers dialog box Not in book

Optimizing Print Performance Printout may not match screen colors Monitors use RGB Printers use CMYK Both don’t always match exactly Calibration Manually calibrate monitor Print a test image and adjust monitor to match printout Automatically calibrate printer Use an International Color Consortium (ICC) color profile Instructs the printer to print colors a certain way DisplayMate ColorVision Spyder To change the profile, check the Color Management tab in Printer Properties.

Optimizing Print Performance (continued) Add memory Best first upgrade for printers Increases speed, especially with graphics Install a network card Better printers can be freed from needing print server Only need DHCP (and DNS) Not in book

Optimizing Print Performance (continued) Configure application to request low- resolution or draft mode Optimizing can mean speed too Creates a lower quality image, but does so quickly Manage printer availability Can set when particular printers available Restrict access to printer during critical times Right-click printer | Properties | Advanced tab Not in book

Lab – Share Printers (1) An early reason for local networks was to share expensive printers It is possible to share a locally attached printer Make sure File and Printer Sharing is enabled Share Printer Open Printers and Faxes Right-click your installed printer | Select Sharing

Lab – Share Printers (2) Click Share This Printer Give the printer a shared name | Ok By default, it will be the same name you used to set it up locally. You can change how others see it if you want Open Printers and Faxes Notice anything different about the icon for your printer?

Lab – Share Printers (3) It is possible to adjust the times the printer is available for others to use Adjust availability Open Printers and Faxes Right-click on your installed printer | Properties | Advanced Select Available From 9am to 5pm Click OK

Troubleshooting Printers

General Troubleshooting Issues Tools of the trade Multimeter Cleaning solutions such as denatured alcohol Extension magnet for retrieving loose screws CD or USB drive with test patterns Phillips-head and flat-head screwdrivers Tech Tip Readme Files You’ve seen how to get your system to recognize a printer, but what do you do when you get a brand-new printer? Like most peripherals, you’ll have an installation CD that contains various useful files. One of the most important, but least used, tools on this CD is the Readme file. This file, generally in TXT format, contains the absolute latest information on any idiosyncrasies, problems, or incompatibilities related to your printer or printer driver. Usually, you can find it in the root folder of the installation CD, although many printer drivers install the Readme file on your hard drive, so you can access it from the Start menu. The rule here is read first to avoid a headache later!

General Troubleshooting Issues (continued) Print job never prints Is the printer on? Connected? Does it have paper? Is printer offline? Check the spooler status Can bypass spooler if desired If the print spooler is overwhelmed, you might need to delete print jobs This requires the proper permissions You can manually start and stop the print spooler from the command line NET START SPOOLER NET STOP SPOOLER

General Troubleshooting Issues (continued) Strange sizes Points to setup error Check the Page Setup option in the application

General Troubleshooting Issues (continued) Misaligned or garbage prints A corrupted or incorrect driver—reinstall You may have asked the printer to do something it can’t do, such as printing PostScript with a PCL driver Consumables Printer components should be properly disposed of to avoid environmental hazards Some companies buy used toner cartridges Check the material safety data sheet (MSDS)

Other Issues Sharing multiple printers on a parallel port A mechanical switch box may be used to share multiple printers Laser printers should only be used with electronic switch boxes Crashes on power up Printers require a lot of power on start up HP recommends that you turn on the laser printer first and then the PC

Troubleshooting Dot Matrix Printers Dot-matrix printers require regular maintenance The printhead and the platen should be cleaned with denatured alcohol Prevents problems such as white bars on text, dots and smudges on paper, and so on Gears and pulleys should be lubricated according to the manufacturer’s specifications Bad-looking text Dirty or damaged printhead Clean with denatured alcohol or replace Bad-looking page Clean the platen with denatured alcohol Adjust the platen Replace the ribbon

Troubleshooting Inkjet Printers Use the maintenance software that came with the printer setup program Align and clean the print heads Ink will dry out in a short time if an inkjet printer is not used—the ink in the tiny nozzles of the printhead dries out Multisheet grab Fan the paper Let the printer rest if you’ve been printing a lot Humidity can be an issue Clean the small tank where the printhead rests or parks with a paper towel If color seems fuzzy, run an alignment page on the jets to see if they’ve lost alignment All inkjet inks are waterbased, and water works better than alcohol to clean them up.

Laser Printer Maintenance Keep printer clean Excess toner and paper dust commonly cause the printer to get dirty Clean with a special low-static vacuum designed for electrical components (indoors) or a can of compressed air (outdoors!) The rubber guide rollers will pick up dirt and paper dust over time, which causes paper jams Before you service a laser printer, always, ALWAYS turn it off and unplug it! Don’t expose yourself to the very dangerous high voltages found inside these machines. The photosensitive drum, usually contained in the toner cartridge, can be wiped clean if it becomes dirty, but be very careful if you try this! If the drum becomes scratched, the scratch will appear on every page printed from that point forward. The only repair in the event of a scratch is to replace the toner cartridge. Failure of the thermal fuse (used to keep the fuser from overheating) can necessitate replacing the fuser assembly. Some machines contain more than one thermal fuse. As always, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. Many manufacturers have kits that alert you with an alarm code to replace the fuser unit and key rollers and guides at predetermined page counts. Always let the fuser assembly cool down before cleaning it because they operate at 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit!

Laser Printer Maintenance (continued) Certain components should be replaced regularly Follow manufacturer’s recommendations Most manufacturers sell maintenance kits for most of their printers After installing, reset the page count Clean or replace ozone filters regularly Check and clean fuser assembly and heat roller

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Print a diagnostic print page as a first- step in troubleshooting Hold down the On Line button as the printer is started as a first step in troubleshooting Blank Paper May be out of toner Check the imaging drum to see if image is on drum but just not transferred to paper Could be transfer corona or high-voltage power supply Dirty printouts Light dusting of toner on the paper (front or back) indicates dirty printer Clean the printer

Troubleshooting Laser Printers Ghosting Can be light ghosting or dark ghosting Light ghosting explored on next slide Dark ghosting can be from a damaged drum— replace the toner cartridge Low temperature or low humidity can aggravate ghosting problems

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Light ghosting Caused by printing an extremely dark or complex image Referred to as developer starvation Lower the resolution Use different pattern Avoid 50 percent grayscale and dot-on/dot-off patterns Change the layout so grayscale patterns do not follow black areas Make dark patterns lighter and light patterns darker Print in landscape Adjust print density and RET settings Print a completely blank page before the next one

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Vertical white lines Clogged toner Try shaking the toner cartridge or replacing it Blotchy print Uneven dispersion of toner Try shaking the toner cartridge from side to side Make sure the printer is level Make sure the paper is not wet in spots Check the fusing rollers and photosensitive drum for foreign objects

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Spotty print Try wiping off the fuser rollers Check the drum for damage Embossed effect Like putting a penny under a piece of paper and rubbing it with a lead pencil A foreign object on a roller A foreign object on the photosensitive drum Replace the toner cartridge

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Incomplete characters These may occur on transparencies Try adjusting the print density Creased pages Cotton bond paper is more susceptible Try using a different paper type

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Paper jams Do not pull on the paper to remove it Can damage the printer by pulling jammed paper out Check manufacturer’s jam removal procedure If there is no jammed paper, sensors may be bad Pulling multiple sheets Try using a different ream of paper—if that works, the issue is humidity Check the separation pad—a small piece of rubber or cork that separates the sheets as they are pulled from the paper tray www.printerworks.com

Troubleshooting Laser Printers (continued) Warped, overprinted, or poorly formed characters Paper that is too rough or too smooth Don’t open a ream of paper until it is loaded into the printer Always fan the paper before loading it in the printer Do a printer self-test to determine if it is the printer or the computer Replace the toner cartridge, check the cabling, replace the data cable Turn off advanced functions and high-speed settings to see if they may not be supported by your software configuration

Also called IEEE 1284.4 standard Beyond A+—DOT4 Also called IEEE 1284.4 standard Created for multifunction peripherals (MFP) Devices that combine printer, fax, and scanner in one piece of equipment Allows simultaneous sending and receiving across a single physical channel