1. Chapter 21
Supporting Printers

2. You Will Learn… How printers work
How to install printers and share them over a local area network
How to troubleshoot printer problems

3. Main Types of Printers for Desktop Computing
Laser
Ink-jet
Dot-matrix

4. Laser Printers Use electrophotographic process
Range from small, personal desktop models to large network printers capable of handling and printing large volumes continuously
Require interaction of mechanical, electrical, and optical technologies

5. How a Laser Printer Works
Places toner on electrically charged rotating drum
Deposits toner on paper as paper moves through the system at same speed the drum is turning

6. Six Steps of Laser Printing
Cleaning
Conditioning
Writing
Developing
Transferring
Fusing
Take place inside toner cartridge
Use components that undergo the most wear

7. Six Steps of Laser Printing

8. Step 1: Cleaning

9. Step 2: Conditioning
Conditions drum to contain a high electrical charge

10. Step 3: Writing
Laser beam discharges a lower charge to only those places where toner is to go

11. 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 the removable cartridge and on to the drum (7)

12. Step 3: Writing

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

14. Step 4: Developing

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

16. Step 6: Fusing
Heat and pressure fuse toner to paper

17. Ink-Jet Printers Small Print color inexpensively
Tend to smudge on inexpensive paper
Slower than lasers
Quality of paper significantly affects quality of printed output; use high-grade paper designed for an ink-jet printer

18. How an Ink-Jet 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)
Uses ink cartridges; best to use two separate cartridges – one for black ink and one for three-color printing

19. Ink-Jet Cartridges

20. Dot Matrix Printers Less expensive; lesser quality
Impact printer; can print multicopy documents
Print head moves across width of paper, using pins to print a matrix of dots on the page
Uses a ribbon
If print head fails, more economical to buy a new printer than to replace the print head

21. Dot-Matrix Print Head

22. Printer Manufacturers

23. How Windows Handles Print Jobs
Uses spooling
For Windows 9x or Windows NT/2000/XP using a PostScript printer
Print job data is converted to PostScript language
For Windows 9x applications using a non-PostScript printer
Print job data is converted to Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF)
continued…

24. How Windows Handles Print Jobs
For Windows 2000/XP
A printer language that competes with PostScript is PCL (Printer Control Language)
Text data that contains no embedded control characters is sent to the printer as is

25. Installing and Sharing a Printer
Local printer
Connects to computer by way of a port on the computer
Network printer
Accessed by way of a network
Default printer
The printer Windows prints to unless another is selected

26. Install a Local Printer
Physically attach printer to computer (via parallel, serial, 1394, or USB port, or wireless access point)
Install printer drivers
Use Windows Printer window
Use printer manufacturer’s installation program (best way)
Test the printer

27. Sharing a Printer with Others in a Workgroup
To share a local printer, File and Printer Sharing must be installed
To use a shared printer on a remote PC, Client for Microsoft Networks must be installed

28. Sharing a Local Printer with Others in a Workgroup (Windows 98)

29. Sharing a Local Printer Connected to a Windows 2000/XP Workstation

30. Using a Shared Printer
Two approaches to installing shared network printer drivers on a remote PC
Use the drivers on CD (either Windows CD or printer manufacturer’s CD)
Use printer drivers on host PC (quicker)

31. Using Manufacturer’s Printer Drivers on CD

32. Using Manufacturer’s Printer Drivers on CD

33. Using Printer Drivers on the Host PC

34. Other Methods of Sharing Printers over a Network
A regular printer can be attached to a PC using a port on the PC, and then that PC can share the printer with the network
A network printer with embedded logic to manage network communication can be connected directly to a network with its own NIC
A dedicated device or computer called a print server can control several printers connected to a network

35. Troubleshooting Guidelines for Printers
Routine printer maintenance
General printer troubleshooting
Problems with laser printers
Problems with ink-jet printers
Problems with dot-matrix printers

36. Printer Maintenance
Procedures vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and printer to printer
Make sure consumables for the printer are on hand
Research printer documentation or manufacturer’s Web site for specific maintenance tips
Clean inside and outside of the printer

37. General Printer Troubleshooting
Isolate the problem
Application attempting to use the printer
OS and printer drivers
Connectivity between PC and printer
Printer itself

38. Addressing Printer Problems Caused by Hardware
Verify a printer self-page can print
Check the printer cable

39. Problems with Laser Printers
Poor quality due to low toner
Printer stays in warm-up mode
Paper Jam or Paper Out message appears
Printed images are distorted
Printing is slow
A portion of the page does not print

40. Problems with Laser Printers

41. Problems with Ink-Jet Printers
Print quality is poor
Printing is intermittent or absent
Lines or dots are missing from the printed page
Ink streaks appear on the printed page

42. Problems with Ink-Jet Printers

43. Problems with Dot-Matrix Printers
Print quality is poor
Print head moves back and forth but nothing prints

44. Problems Printing from Windows
Try to print a test page using the Printer window
Print spool might be stalled
Reboot PC and verify that printer cable or cable connections are solid
Remove and reinstall printer driver
In CMOS setup, check configuration of USB, serial, or parallel port that the printer is using
Try another printer driver
Disable bidirectional support for the printer
continued…

45. Problems Printing from Windows
Check resources assigned to printer port
Disable “Check Port State Before Printing”
Verify printer properties; lower the resolution
Disable printer spooling (if you can print from DOS but not from Windows)
Application may be incompatible with Windows (Windows 9x)
Bypass spooling by printing to a file
Try the printer on another PC

46. Troubleshooting Networked Printers
Check that you can print from the computer that has the printer attached to it locally by printing a test page using the Printer window
At the remote computer, verify that you can access the computer to which the printer is attached
Using the Printer window, delete the printer, and then, using Windows 9x Network Neighborhood or Windows 2000/XP My Network Places, reconnect the printer

47. Chapter Summary
Three main types of printers, how they work, and how to support them
Printers connect to a PC by way of a parallel port, serial port, USB port, or wireless (radio or infrared) connection
How to install a printer
How to share a printer with others on a network
How troubleshoot printer problems