Friday, November 12, 2010

Facts about printers

Facts about printers

Computer printers are commonly divided into two general classes according to the way they produce images on paper: impact and nonimpact. In the first type, images are formed by the print mechanism making contact with the paper through an ink-coated ribbon. The mechanism consists either of print hammers shaped like characters or of a print head containing a row of pins that produce a pattern of

Printer support and solutions can make operations more productive. Is it enough for a printer to just print? We don’t think so. Every function is an opportunity to improve operations.


Printer: Electronic device that accepts text files or images from a computer and transfers them to a medium such as paper or film. It can be connected directly to the computer or indirectly via a network. Printers are classified as impact printers (in which the print medium is physically struck) and non-impact printers. Most impact printers are dot-matrix printers, which have a number of pins on the print head that emerge to form a character. Non-impact printers fall into three main categories:

1). A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ a xerographic printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.


2). An inkjet printer is a type of compuer printer that creates a digital image by propelling variable-sized droplets of ink on to paper. Inkjet printers are the most commonly used type of printer and range from small inexpensive consumer models to very large professional machines.
The concept of inkjet printing dates back to the 19th century, and the technology was first developed in the early 1950s. Starting in the late 1970s inkjet printers that could reproduce digital images generated by computers were developed, mainly by Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Canon. In the worldwide consumer market, four manufacturers account for the majority of inkjet printer sales: Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Epson, and Lexmark



3). A thermal printer (or direct thermal printer) produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermo chromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image. Two-color direct thermal printers are capable of printing both black and an additional color (often red), by applying heat at two different temperatures.




Having a printer is more of a necessity; especially a computer without a printer connected to it is unimaginable. Though we retain most of the records and files electronically but the significance of maintaining a hard copy of a relevant document, filing contracts and printing of forms is essential too. So anytime you require printing something and obtaining a hard copy of a document then you need a print job. This is the very reason why it becomes important to maintain a printer.

So, if you face any problem with your printer then what would you do? You go on looking for a printer repair service and try to locate any source from wherever you can get help with it. Would it not be better if you just opt for a complete printer support? This would help you in acquiring information and get help with the current issue that you are facing. Not only this, you would be provided the right information and support that you require.
If you have a small or large organization where you have more one printer from different vendors you must have to seek help from different vendors, which really becomes a hectic.
No worries you can still opt for a single service all different brands of your printers at one place.

We support all models of printers from following vendors:

Hp Printers: Color Inkjet Printers, Mobile Inkjet Printers, Color Laser Printers

Dell Printers: Dell Inkjet Printers, Color Laser Printers, Black-and-White Laser Printers, Multifunction Laser Printers

Lexmark Printers: Inkjet Printers, Laser Printers, Dot Matrix Printers.

Canon Printers: Single function color printers, Single function monochrome printers, All-in-one color printers, All-in-one monochrome printers.

Epson Printers:  Inkjet Printers, Laser printers, Dot matrix printers, Point of sale systems.


Common issues with printers:
Here are a few printer problems and their solutions to make your printing life easier.

If nothing has changed on your printer or in your printer settings on your computer but your printer does not work then chances are that the problem is quite straightforward.

1). First check to see of the printer is on, especially if the trouble occurs first thing in the morning. Perhaps you or someone else turn the printer off when you finished your work the last time you sat down at you desk.

2). Check the printer status lights or status LCD screen. If there’s a flashing light or if the status screen shows an error, then it’s your first clue to a problem. Most printer manuals have a diagnosis process for alerts.
Chances are if the printer status is not normal, the fix is easy. Most common problems are related to paper or toner.

3). Check to see if the paper tray is empty. If so refill it. Make sure to feather the pages to eliminate static. Hold the pages in one had and flip through the pages at a fast rate with your thumb.
If the paper tray is not empty check for a miss feed. A sheet may have been caught in the mechanism. There may be many printer access doors to check. Pull out any remnants. Even the smallest piece of paper could be causing the problem so check carefully. Tweezers are handy for this procedure.

4). If the problem is toner-related, check to see if the toner cartridge is empty or low. The printer warning should indicate this. Swap it for a new one and the unit should work.
The toner drum on laser printers also needs to be replaced usually once a year depending on the volume of printing the device handles. The printer’s error lights should indicate this if it is a problem. Print-outs will become fuzzy or faded when this starts to go.

5). If all the physical hardware on the printer seems to be fine check to see that it is connected to your computer. Personal printers connect via either a parallel or USB (universal serial bus) connector. If the connector is at the rear of your computer follow the cable from the back of the printer to the back of the computer to make sure the connection is good.

6). If the printer is connected by what looks like an oversized telephone cable or coaxial cable (like the cable for cable television) then your printer is connected through a network. If this is the case the problem gets suddenly complicated. If your network based printer is acting up for everyone in the office then you’ll need to call in your resident network expert. You probably have a print server, hub or cable problem. If it’s just you that’s having a problem with your network printer, make sure that your computer is connected to the network.

7). If the printer works but spews strange characters or it appears as if the PC and printer creates error, it likely that you have a printer driver problem. When a printer acts up and there is no hardware problem, the solution is often driver-related. A driver is a piece of software that allows a computer to “talk” to a printer. It’s a kind of translator.

8). Occasionally if a printer has worked previously, but won’t work with a newly installed program, there could be driver problems.
To remedy this, download a driver from the printer maker’s Web site, remove the old driver and install the new driver. Drivers are normally available under the “support” area of a Web site.

9). If you have an inkjet printer and you get smudged or blurry images, you might want to look up the utility on the printer that cleans and or aligns the printer heads. Most inkjet printers either have software that can start this process or have a setting on the printer itself that can kick start it.
If all of these solutions fail, you might want to search the manufacturer’s support area for printer issues. Often there will be bulletins issued on how to fix newly discovered bugs.

10). If you get have a scanner and printer and experience printing problems take heart, this is easily solvable. Disconnect both the devices and remove the software and drivers for both devices. Then reinstall the printer first and then add the scanner second.