Before You Take Your Printer in to Be Repaired
The quality of consumer grade printers has allowed us to create documents and images at home that would only have been possible with professional equipment only a few decades ago. That impressive new technology also means more complicated printer issues that can arise, as well, though. Here are two easy things you should try to fix on your own before you take your printer in to be repaired.
When it comes to software errors, driver conflicts are probably the most common problem. Drivers are what they call the software that allows your computer to “talk” with your printer. When your computer’s software changes, and it does all the time, it can stop working with the drivers you used to use. To combat this, hardware manufacturers are constantly updating the drivers for their products to allow them to work with the operating system installed on your computer.
If your printer has stopped working recently and the issue is obviously not a hardware issue, try reinstalling the drivers. Look for new drivers on the printer manufacturer’s website. Remember that drivers are designed to work with specific hardware and specific operating systems, so only download and install drivers for your exact combination of hardware and software. If you can, install the drivers with a “clean install” option, as this removes old drivers for you and can help you avoid driver conflict errors.
A Quick History of Repairs
If your printer isn’t printing in the right colors, or if the things it prints have gaps or areas where the text or image isn’t printing, the problem is likely with the print heads or ink levels. Most modern printers have ink-level monitoring software installed, so check the levels on all ink or toner cartridges. If your printer or computer show that the ink levels are fine, the next thing to try is cleaning the print heads.
A 10-Point Plan for Repairs (Without Being Overwhelmed)
When you installed your printer’s software on your computer, it most likely came with some repair tools. If so, a print head cleaning feature is likely to be one of them. This should help clear up problems involving built-up ink smearing or interfering with the proper distribution of ink on the page. It is important to remember that this function does use ink, so it shouldn’t be run if it isn’t necessary. If it doesn’t fix your issue, do not run it again.
If these two fixes do not work for you, you may wish to seek professional help to repair your printer problems. Your local printer repair shop should be able to diagnose and repair both software and hardware issues that are common with today’s top printer models and computer operating systems. Call or visit them today to find out what’s wrong with your printer and get it repaired quickly.