Troubleshooting printers involves identifying
and isolating the problem then applying the solution
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Printer won't print
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| Confirmation |
Diagnosis |
Possible Solution |
| Lights don't light when printer is turned on |
Power supply not plugged in |
Plug in supply, check line cord, outlet |
| |
Power supply is bad |
Replace with other P/S; check P/S voltage (24VDC); replace P/S |
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Printer switch/main board or fuse is bad |
Return for service |
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| Lights turn on but flash |
Problem on main board |
Run self test; if fails return for service |
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| Lights turn on |
Not connected to printer |
Install cable; connect interface |
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Wrong cable |
Check cable or adapter; Connect interface |
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Interface not set correctly |
Print out settings on self test; change DIP settings |
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Driver not installed |
Install driver on Computer |
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Driver not correctly configured |
Verify port settings for the Interface installed |
Tip: Have more than 1
printer? If you do and think you have a problem with a printer, replace it with
the working printer. If the problem is solved, then the problem is probably with
the printer. If the problem persists then the problem lies elsewhere. Check the
cable, the port, the drivers and the computer.
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Printer prints garbage
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| Confirmation |
Diagnosis |
Possible Solution |
| Printer prints garbage characters when it should be printing text |
Printer or computer/scale/etc. have different settings |
Printer and computer interface settings must be same |
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| Printer prints garbage characters at random times |
Some other process is accessing the port |
Check for other programs or printers that may be trying to access the same port |
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| Printer prints garbage characters at computer startup |
Windows is querying the port |
Turn off printer along with computer; Most printers can be configured to only print characters it understands. See printer DIP switch settings. |
