Chapter 21

Supporting Printers

You Will Learn…

How printers work How to install printers and share them over a

local area network How to troubleshoot printer problems

Main Types of Printers for Desktop Computing

Laser Ink-jet Dot-matrix

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

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

Six Steps of Laser Printing

1. Cleaning

2. Conditioning

3. Writing

4. Developing

5. Transferring

6. Fusing

Take place inside toner cartridge

Use components that undergo the most wear

Six Steps of Laser Printing

Step 1: Cleaning

Step 2: Conditioning

Conditions drum to contain a high electrical charge

Step 3: Writing

Laser beam discharges a lower charge to only those places where toner is to go

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)

Step 3: Writing

Step 4: Developing

Toner is placed onto the drum where the charge has been reduced

Step 4: Developing

Step 5: Transferring

Strong electrical charge draws toner off drum onto paper; takes place outside the cartridge

Step 6: Fusing

Heat and pressure fuse toner to paper

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

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

Ink-Jet Cartridges

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

Dot-Matrix Print Head

Printer Manufacturers

How WindowsHandles 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…

How WindowsHandles 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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Using Manufacturer’s Printer Drivers on CD

Using Manufacturer’s Printer Drivers on CD

Using Printer Driverson the Host PC

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

Troubleshooting Guidelines for Printers

Routine printer maintenance General printer troubleshooting Problems with laser printers Problems with ink-jet printers Problems with dot-matrix printers

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

General Printer Troubleshooting

Isolate the problem• Application attempting

to use the printer

• OS and printer drivers

• Connectivity between PC and printer

• Printer itself

Addressing Printer Problems Caused by Hardware

Verify a printer self-page can print Check the printer cable

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

Problems with Laser Printers

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

Problems with Ink-Jet Printers

Problems with Dot-Matrix Printers

Print quality is poor Print head moves back and forth but nothing

prints

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…

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

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

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