1. PC Support & Repair Chapter 11 Printers
7 days including study guide and test

2. Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will meet these objectives:
Install a printer to meet requirements.
Explain the purpose and characteristics of different types of printers.
Install a printer.
Configure printer sharing.
Explain how to improve printer availability.
You will learn how printers operate, what to consider when purchasing a printer, and how to connect printers to an individual computer or to a network.
You must understand the operation of various types of printers to be able to install and maintain them, as well as troubleshoot any problems that arise.

3. Common printer features
11.1

4. Printers Customers will ask you for help with: Common types:
Selecting a printer
Installing and configuring a printer
Troubleshooting a printer
Common types:
Laser
Inkjet
Dot Matrix
Laser- uses imaging drums
Inkjet- electronic spray
Dot Matrix- used for carbon copies

5. Printer Features Speed: Pages Per Minute (ppm) Color or B&W
Inkjet may be slower than laser
Color or B&W
Uses CMYK
Choice depends on needs
Quality: dpi
More dpi= higher resolution
High-quality ink/toner & paper
Speed is also affected by the complexity of the image and the quality desired by the user. For example, a draft quality page of text prints faster than a high-quality page of text. A draft quality image of a color digital photograph prints faster than a photo quality print. Inkjet printers are usually slower, but they are often sufficient for a home or small office.
The choice between a black-and-white printer and a color printer depends on the needs of the customer. If the customer is primarily printing letters and does not need color capability, a black-and-white printer is sufficient and can be less expensive. An elementary school teacher might need a color printer to add excitement to lessons.
The larger the dpi number, the better the image resolution. When the resolution is higher, text and images are clearer. To produce the best high-resolution images, use high-quality ink or toner and high-quality paper.

6. Printer Features Reliability Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Warranty- what is covered
Scheduled servicing after so long
Mean time between failures (MTBF) – average length of time the printer works without failing
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Initial purchase price
Cost of supplies, such as paper and ink
Pages printing per month
Price per page
Maintenance costs
Warranty costs
When calculating the TCO, you should also consider the amount of material printed and the expected lifetime of the printer.

7. TCO over 3 Years Ricoh 5200dn HP LaserJet Pro M501dn Printer cost $800
$1000
Toner cost
$168
$176
Sheets per toner
25,000
18,000
Toner needed per year 1
Toner cost per year
$181
Toner cost over 3 years
$543
$528
Paper case cost
$50
Cases per year
$500
Paper cost over 3 years
$1500
2843; 3028

8. Printer to Computer Interfaces
Serial (OLD)
1 bit at a time
No high speed needed
Dot matrix
Parallel
Multiple bits, wider path than serial
IEEE 1284 standard
EPP & ECP operation modes for communication
Bi-directional data path
Serial ports known as COM ports.
Parallel Cable is Centronics to DB-25. LPT port.
EPP (Enhanced parallel port) is a faster than normal bi-directional transfer of data.
ECP (Enhanced capability port) uses direct memory access in transfer instead of letting the CPU do the work.

9. Printer to Computer Interfaces
USB
PnP
Firewire
IEEE 1394 (iLink)
Ethernet
Wireless

10. Professor Messer Inkjets
Inkjet Printers
Ink cartridges spray liquid ink onto paper through nozzles
Thermal- steam forces ink out
Piezoelectric- vibration controls ink flow
Let ink dry for 15 seconds
A: low cost, high res, quick to print
D: nozzles can clog, ink $$, ink wet after print
dpi
Professor Messer Inkjets

11. Laser Printers High quality & fast Uses a laser to create image Drum
Powder toner
A: low cost per page, high ppm, high capacity
D: high startup cost, toner is $$, high maintenance
When the laser hits the drum, it becomes a conductor where the laser hit it, then attracting the toner powder to it.

12. Laser Printers Prof. Messer Process How it works
Processing - The data from the source must be converted into a printable form. The printer converts data from common languages, such as Adobe PostScript (PS- TAKES LONGER; PROCESSES JOB ON PRINTER) or HP Printer Command Language (PCL- SIMPLE AND FASTER; PROCESSES JOB ON PC), to a bitmap image stored in the printer’s memory.
2. Charging - The previous latent image on the drum is removed and the drum is conditioned for the new latent image. A wire, grid, or roller receives a charge of approximately -600 volts DC uniformly across the surface of the drum. The charged wire or grid is called the primary corona. The roller is called a conditioning roller.
3. Exposing - To write the image, the photosensitive drum is exposed with the laser beam. Every portion of the drum that is scanned with the light has the surface charge reduced to about -100 volts DC. This electrical charge has a lower negative charge than the remainder of the drum. As the drum turns, an invisible latent image is created on the drum.
4. Developing - The toner is applied to the latent image on the drum.
5. Transferring - The toner attached to the latent image is transferred to the paper. A corona wire places a positive charge on the paper. Because the drum was charged negatively, the toner on the drum is attracted to the paper. The image is now on the paper and is held in place by the positive charge. Because color printers have three cartridges of ink, a colored image must go through multiple transfers to be complete. To ensure precise images, some color printers write multiple times onto a transfer belt that transfers the complete image to paper.
6. Fusing - The toner is permanently fused to the paper. The printing paper is rolled between a heated roller and a pressure roller. As the paper moves through the rollers, the loose toner is melted and fused with the fibers in the paper.
7. Cleaning - When an image has been deposited on the paper and the drum has separated from the paper, the remaining toner must be removed from the drum. A printer might have a blade that scrapes the excess toner. Some printers use an AC voltage on a wire that removes the charge from the drum surface and allows the excess toner to fall away from the drum. The excess toner is stored in a used toner container that is either emptied or discarded.

13. Review- 4Q A printer’s image quality is measured in what?
Dpi
What is the IEEE standard for the old parallel ports?
IEEE 1284
What are the two IEEE 1284 bidirectional modes?
EPP & ECP
What’s another common name for a serial port?
COM

14. Review- 4Q What is the IEEE standard for Firewire?
What is another name for Firewire?
iLink
If you wanted a network printer, what two port/features would you look for?
Ethernet or wireless
What does TCO mean?
Total cost of ownership

15. Activity

16. Activity- ANSWERS

17. Thermal Printer Receipt printer, old fax machines Waxy paper
Prof. Messer
Receipt printer, old fax machines
Waxy paper
Turns black when heated
A: Few moving parts= longer life, quiet, no ink/toner cost
D: Paper $$, paper storage issues (temp & life), poor graphics, no color
Look up at Staples:
EPSON® TM-T88V EDG 300 mm/sec Parallel And USB Thermal Line Dot Single Station Receipt Printer
Item: IM1DA8549
Model: C31CA85834
$291.39
Paper: Staples® Thermal Paper Rolls, 3 1/8" x 230', 10 Rolls
Item:    Model:
$34.99

18. Impact Printer Print head strikes inked ribbon Dot matrix Daisy wheel
Print head with pins
Daisy wheel
Wheel with characters
A: Cheap ribbon, continuous feed paper, can print on carbon copy paper
D: Noisy, low-resolution, slow
9 or 24 pins
Continuous tractor-feed paper
Carbon copy capable
Printing

19. Virtual Printers Does NOT send to printer in local network
Prints to file (PDF or image)
Cloud printing, like Google Cloud Print

20. Review- 3Q Which printer can you use carbon-copy paper in?
Impact
Which printer can print photo quality pictures and is inexpensive?
Inkjet
Which printer has the most inexpensive consumable?

21. Review- 4Q A drum, fuser, and toner are in what printer?
Laser
What printer takes liquid ink cartridges?
Inkjet
Which printer has nozzle that can get clogged?
Which printer uses heat on waxy paper?
Thermal printer

22. Installing & configuring printers
11.2

23. Unpack & Connect Remove all packing materials Install consumables
Connect data cables
Connect power cables
Printer detected & installs driver
Sometimes the drive MUST be installed first
CAUTION: Never plug a (laser) printer into a UPS. The power surge that occurs when the printer is turned on damages the UPS unit.

24. Update Drivers
A printer driver is a program that enables the computer and the printer to communicate with each other
Driver also provides an interface to configure printer options
Check to see if there’s a newer driver first
Test to see that it works properly

25. Types of Drivers: Page Description Language
PDL is type of code describing the appearance of a page to the printer
PostScript (Adobe)
PCL (HP) ** Now the standard

26. Test Page Print one after install From Printers in OS
From application like Word
From Printer’s panel
Test other functions to like: copy, scan, duplexing, draft mode, OCR, different paper

27. Activity
Lab Install a Printer & Print a Test Page

28. Spooling & Queue Print Spooler Print Queue Service in Windows
Manages jobs sent to printer
Restart PC or restart the service
Print Queue
List of actual print jobs being held in memory until they get sent to printer

29. Configuration Options
Paper type – standard, draft, gloss, or photo
Print quality – draft, normal, photo, or automatic
Color printing, Black-and-white printing, Grayscale printing
Paper size – standard paper sizes or envelopes and business cards
Paper orientation – landscape or portrait
Print layout – normal, banner, booklet, or poster
Duplex – normal or two-sided printing
Collate - how printed material is organized
Also which paper tray to use for input & output
Options can be set globally or per document.
Collate: For example, if you had a document that was five pages long and was printing multiple copies with collate enabled it prints pages 1,2,3,4 and 5 in that order and then repeat. However, if collate was disabled and you were printing three copies of those same five pages it would print pages in this order: 111, 222, 333, 444, and then 555.

30. Set as Default

31. Software Optimization
Print spool settings
Cancel or pause current print jobs in the printer queue
Color calibration
Adjust settings to match the colors on the screen to the colors on the printed sheet
Paper orientation
Select landscape or portrait image layout
Printer Calibration
Make sure print heads are aligned

32. Hardware Optimization
Firmware
Controls how the printer operates
Must get manually from manufacturer
RAM
Need more for graphics
Some are upgradeable
Print job buffering is when a print job is captured in the internal printer memory
Buffering allows computer to continue with other work instead of waiting for the printer to finish
Buffering is a common feature
If you receive low memory errors, this can indicate that the printer is out of memory or has a memory overload. In this instance, you may need more memory.

33. Ricoh 5200dn

34. Sharing printers
11.3

35. Configure Print Sharing
Local printer connected to PC via USB
Turn file and print sharing on
Or create HomeGroup
Connect other PCs to printer
Make sure to use correct drivers on other PCs
Add a printer
Virtual port is created

36. Add Shared Printer
First with HomeGroup and then without creating a HomeGroup.
Connect the printer to one of your PCs and share it with the network over Homegroup. If connecting a printer directly to the network isn’t an option, you can connect it to a PC on the network and share it with Windows Homegroup. It’s easy to set up, and is optimal for networks that are made up of mostly Windows computers. This method, however, requires that the computer its connected to be up and running in order for you to use the printer.
Connect the printer to one of your PCs and share it without Homegroup. This is ideal if your network has other computers running different operating systems, if you want more control over file and printer sharing, or if Homegroup just isn’t working very well. Like the Homegroup method, this requires that the computer its connected to be up and running in order for you to use the printer.
With HomeGroup:
When PCs are part of the same Homegroup, Windows will automatically connect to any printers shared from other PCs. They’ll just show up in your Devices and Printers window automatically and any PC in the Homegroup can print to them.
Without HomeGroup:
Windows will perform a quick scan of your network for discoverable devices that are not yet installed on your PC and display them in the “Add a device” window. Chances are high that you’ll see your printer on the list, whether it’s directly connected to the network or shared from another PC. If you see the printer you’re looking for, then your job just got super easy. Click the printer you want to install. Windows will handle the installation, download drivers if needed, and ask you to provide a name for the printer. That’s all you have to do.

37. Other Printing Setup Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Print Server
Stores jobs in its queue & spools to printer
Enter SSID & Passphrase.
Print servers come in hardware or software.
Larger networks have a dedicated server as a print server. Has powerful CPU and enough RAM and HD space.

38. Acitivity
Lab Share a Printer

39. Review- 4Q Which printer would a store use for receipts?
Thermal
What software, in the printer itself, controls how the printer operates and can be upgraded?
Firmware
What could be included in an all-in-one device?
Printer, scanner, copier, fax
Where would you get an updated driver for your printer?
The printer manufacturer’s website

40. Review- 4Q What standard is for parallel ports?
IEEE 1284
What are the parallel port’s bidirectional modes?
EPP, ECP
After installing a printer, what should you do?
Print a test page
If everyone here hits print, where are the print jobs kept until they print?
In the print buffer (memory) in the printer

41. Maintaining & troubleshooting printers
11.4

42. Vendor Guidelines
Preventive maintenance decreases downtime and increases the service life of the components
Follow recommended maintenance from manufacturer
Some sell maintenance kits
The maintenance kit might contain replacement parts that often break or wear out:
Fuser assembly
Transfer rollers
Separation pads
Pickup rollers

43. Maintain Printers Unplug 1st! Reset counters after maintenance
When you install new parts or replace toner cartridges, visually inspect & do these:
Remove bits of paper and dust
Clean spilled ink or toner
Look for worn gears, cracked plastic, or broken parts

44. Replacing Consumables
Use correct (recommended) type of paper
Load it correctly too
Use correct type of ink/toner
Wrong type may not work or print properly
Avoid refilling as it may leak
Use toner save or draft quality to save ink/toner

45. Cleaning Inkjet Laser Clean print head/nozzles Align heads
Don’t touch drum
Use a HEPA filter vacuum to clean up toner
Some inkjet print heads are replaced when you replace the cartridge.
Regular vacuum will scatter the toner; hepa filter catches the particles

46. Operational Environment
Keep paper and toner cartridges in their original wrappers. These supplies should also be stored in a cool, dry, dust-free environment.
High humidity causes paper to absorb moisture from the air. This can cause the paper to wave, which causes pieces of paper to stick together or jam during the printing process.
High humidity can also make it difficult for the toner to attach to the paper correctly.
If the paper and printer are dusty, you can use compressed air to blow away the dust.

47. Review- 3Q
Which type of printer has a maintenance kit available that may contain a fuser or transfer rollers?
Laser
You print 20 copies of a 5 page document. They are printing out 20 copies of page 1, then 20 of page 2 and so on. What feature is turned off?
Collate
John’s document is not printing in color. What is a simple solution to check?
It may be set to grayscale

48. Printer Problems Streaks on laser printer Defective drum
Toner can stick to a damaged drum even if it isn't supposed to and get transferred as a crisp black vertical stripe

49. Printer Problems Toner smudging
Fuser is not melting the powdered toner to paper

50. Printer Problems
No one can print to a network printer. It has power, paper and toner. The Ethernet jack is fine. Jobs are in the queue. What should you do?
Restart the print spooler
Paper jams or misfeeds (2 papers go in).
Pickup rollers are dirty/dusty and not tacky
Clean them
Printing garbage
Incorrect drivers

51. Printer Problems
Inkjet is not printing certain colors. The cartridges are full.
Print head is clogged

52. Common Problems & Solutions

53. Common Problems & Solutions

54. Common Problems & Solutions

55. PC Support & Repair Chapter 11 Printers
7 days including study guide and test