Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: troubleshoot, upgrade, fix | Themes: Desktop Computers
- 1. Common-Sense Solutions to Hardware Headaches
- 2. Top Ten Crimes against Your Computer, 1-4
- 3. Top Ten Crimes against Your Computer, 5-10
- 4. Getting Good Technical Support
- 5. Secrets of the Hardware Gurus
- 6. Check the Cables First
- 7. Power Supply
- 8. Hard Disk or Hard Disk Controller Problem?
- 9. Solving Printer Problems
- 10. Monitors
- 11. Liquids and Page Fault Errors
- 12. Slow Display
- 13. Memory
- 14. Bigger Hard Drives
- 15. More on this topic
9. Solving Printer Problems
The good news about printer problems is that you can usually isolate the hardware from the software. Most printers have self-tests that can tell you whether they are working properly, and you can also try plugging them into another PC to see whether they work with a different machine. Don’t forget to rule out the cable as the source of the problem. After you are satisfied that the printer is ¬working, you can turn your attention to the operating system and software.
The causes of a printer malfunction can range from a broken or disconnected cable (most likely) to a bad printer port (the least likely). The printer itself can fail to operate properly because of paper jams — from huge wads of crumpled paper to tiny shards stuck at critical sections of the paper path. Ink or toner cartridges can also gum up the process. Test the possible causes, in this order:
1. Cables and power
2. Switch box or parallel pass-through device (if you have one)
3. Printer
4. System configuration
Cables and power
See whether the data cables are properly attached at each end; a cable that is not squarely seated on its connector may result in garbled or unreliable operation. Be sure that the printer is receiving electrical power; check any suspect wall outlet by plugging in a radio or lamp. Test the cable by substituting one you know to be good. That’s one good reason to stock your closet with a few extra pieces of hardware — mine includes cables, connectors, and keyboards.
Switch box
If you use a switch box to share a printer between two computers or to share the use of a single parallel or serial port, test the setup by removing the box from the circuit and attaching the cable directly to the computer and printer. If the printer works now, you either have a failed switch or a problem with one of the extension cables used with the box.
Many switch boxes don’t fully support bidirectional cables; they may be able to transmit data to the printer but not report back on paper supply, ink or toner, or other information. If you have a parallel pass-through device, like a scanner, cabled between the PC and the printer, make sure that it’s on and the cables connected to it are seated properly. If your printer still has a problem, remove the device from the circuit and attach the cable directly to the computer and printer. If the printer works now, you either have a failed pass-through device or a problem with one of the extension cables used with it. Note that this does not apply to modern printers that use a USB port for connection. Devices connecting to USB either have their own port or are able to daisy chain one behind the other without the need for a switch.
Printer
Run your printer’s self-test. If the printer appears to be working properly, test it by hooking it up to another computer in your office or take it to a friend’s setup. If you purchased the printer from a retail store, you may be able to take it to the shop to test it there. That option may or may not be possible if you bought the printer or your computer from an electronics superstore.
System configuration
Before you break out your screwdriver, take a moment to check whether your computer has done anything to disable or redirect the parallel, serial, or USB port used by the printer. Have you installed a new operating system, utility, or application since the last time the program worked? Go to the Windows Device Manager and check to see whether the port is operating properly without any system resource conflicts. If there are any conflicts with IRQs, DMAs, or memory resources, they need to be fixed. To test the port, use a diagnostics software package. The best utilities require use of a loopback plug that attaches to the parallel and serial ports and simulates an attached device for the purposes of the test.
Cross-Reference
For more information about troubleshooting printers, consult Chapter 18.
- Previous page Hard Disk or Hard Disk Controller...
- Next page Monitors
Not bad, but I'll take a few exceptions:
1 - cleaning up and defragmenting your hard disk is Windows specific.
The Microsoft block allocator is brain dead, was made that way, and will remain so for as long as Diskeeper and Norton Systemworks create revenue: a Mac OS X, xBSD or Linux-based system doesn't need defragmentation(*), as it is done by the OS on every disk access. You can get efficient defragmentation by:
- disabling System Restore: it doesn't work very well anyway, is a virus nest, and eats up to 6 Gb on your hard disk.
- setting your swap file to a fixed size.
- disabling file system indexing.
- deleting DrWatson's log.
- running Ccleaner once in a while with most settings enabled: once you have applied hotfixes, you don't need the uninstall files anyway. You'll need to clean up IE7's and WMP's patches yourself though.
- make Pagedefrag run at every boot after 0 second wait: the first time it may take a while to run, but it'll keep the Registry and swap file in one piece.
(*)to be fair, such a system may still fragment if you fill up a partition with huge files when it is already more than 80% full - Windows will fragment any file if you get past 10% partition capacity. Some say it's a way to prevent data corruption, as usually adjacent sectors are more likely to get corrupted, but then if that's the case Windows doesn't fragment ENOUGH.
2 - a resident antivirus is a resource drain.
Using a limited user account, a well configured firewall (in software or hardware, preferably both), and scanning downloaded files before you run them (and not making use of MS Outlook Express, which runs files for you) will keep you safe enough.
Not using IE may help, too: Opera or Firefox can operate as pure user level processes. Firefox 3 will be able to notify antivirus when a file is downloaded (if it interacts well with ClamAV, you can dump Norton and forget about the yearly AV tax).
3 - power surge protection.
A sound advice. However, a beefy PSU that you change every 1-2 years and a good power surge preventer are, in my experience, less costly and more efficient than a pack of batteries you'll need to renew every year. A good PSU in great shape can handle brown-outs, especially if your system doesn't draw too much current, and a surge protector will cover the PSU's most damaging attack. Changing the PSU regularly ensures that its capacitors remain at peak efficiency, and that its voltage regulators work as required. It is also unsound to clean up a PSU (it's dangerous!), so getting a new one is the most efficient way to get a clean one. With Vista, no UPS lasts long enough to allow you to save your files and shut down a system cleanly.
Clutz. I eat and drink around mine everyday and I've never once spilled so much as a drop of milk.
Milk eh?
I'd suggest keeping your files on a NAS drive or USB external drive and formatting your MS OS every year.
Besides running a limited account try Virtual Machines for avoiding those pesky viruses