Archive for July, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Cleaning the inside of your printer
If you want to keep your printouts looking top notch you will need to regularly clean the inside of your printer. By cleaning the inside of your printer regularly you will not only improve it’s results but you will also keep it running smoothly for longer. Cleaning your printer involves more then just giving the outside a quick dust over every now and then!
1: Turn it off
Turn off the printer and make sure that all the parts have stopped functioning. Also, the power light must be off.
2: Clean the Inside
Wipe the outside of the printer and then open the printer cover. You can then see the printer ink cartridges by opening the front lid. Remove the dust accumulated in the area by using a clean dry cloth. There might be spots of ink that also need to be removed.
3: Avoid Circuitry
When you clean the inside you must avoid all the internal circuitry of the printer. Any physical contact with the circuits could end up permanently damaging the printer.
4 – Cleaning Test
You have to clean the printheads or nozzle by giving the ‘Clean’ command from the printer settings on your computer. You can do this by right clicking on the printer icon. Once you choose properties, you will see the maintenance and troubleshooting icon, select this and find your printer model then click select.
You should carry the above out about twice a month to keep your printer in tip top condition!
Tags: ink cartridges, printer, printer circuitry, printer ink cartridges, printer maintainence, printer nozzles, printer printheads, printers, printheads, regular printer maintenance
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
How to Find Your Printer Model
Trying to find the model number of your printer shouldn’t be difficult. What is considered a model number might be more confusing. Fortunately, if you are trying to contact the printer manufacturer you will likely only need the model name and series of your HP, Canon, Epson or Brother Printer.
Where to look
Usually, the model number of your printer is right under your nose. This is often true for finding a printer model or series number. Given the way that most computer engineers think you might believe that taking the printer apart is necessary to find the printer model or printer series. This is not true. In most cases, the model name and series number the customer service representative will need is actually right there on the front of the printer. After all, if it is easy for you to find it will be easier for them to help you troubleshoot the unit when you are in crisis mode.
Finding the serial number
When it comes to finding the serial number of your HP, Canon, Epson or Brother Printer you will need to look a little closer. On the back of most of these printers you will see a white rectangular sticker. It s likely it will have the printer company logo shown in a big way. The “UL” logo for Underwriters Laboratories will also be found on the sticker.
What you are looking for, however, is the always present barcode symbols that everything has on them these days. Numbers will be above the barcodes. There will likely be two barcodes here. One is a product code, which is not important, and the other is the serial number which identifies that particular printer. If there is no sticker on the back of the printer check under the lid or open the printer up and it should be there. In any case, these stickers are usually about 3×5 inches in size and have all sorts of other symbols on them that you don’t need to worry about.
If you have looked all around the printer for the printer model, serial number sticker and/or series and make of the printer with no luck try going to the printer test page option on the computer. Print out a test page and everything will usually be there. All this may sound like it is involved but it really will only take a few minutes.
Tags: Brother, brother printer, Canon, canon printer, Epson, epson printer, HP, HP printer, printer, printer company, printer manufacturer, printer model, printer models, printer number, printer serial number, printer series number, printing
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
Assigning an IP Address to Your Printer
There are a few ways to assign an IP Address to your printer. Below we have a few steps that will help you assign an IP address using a web interface. Another way of assigning is through the printer itself.
1: The Configuration and the Explorer
Take a printout of the configurations page. The internet explorer page needs to be open. All addresses from the address line have to be deleted.
2: Enter IP Address
You now have to enter the IP address in the address bar, and then press enter.
3: Printer
Once you connect the printer and switch it on, the IP address that has been entered will automatically get assigned to that printer.
4: Manual Assignation
Click on the networking tab in case of a newer model of printer; open the ‘administration’ window and then click on the ‘configuration’ tab.
5: Editing
You need to edit the IP Address entered previously. For this you need a Gateway address and also a Subnet Mask, no other field needs to be changed.
6: Apply
All you need to do now is scroll down to the bottom and ‘apply’. You then close the internet explorer window and restart the computer.
You will need to check that the configuration was set and you will need to print the configuration page again. The above steps will help you assign an IP address to your printer through the Wizard.
Tags: assigning ip address, ip address, printer, printer ip address, printing, printout
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Friday, July 23rd, 2010
How to Get Maximum Ink from a Cartridge?
To get the maximum ink from your new ink cartridge, you will need to use it very frugally, clean the print heads regularly, and also use the print quality setting. Here are a few steps that will help you get the maximum ink from your cartridge.
STEP 1: The Draft Mode
Maximizing ink usage means maximizing the amount of printouts. Therefore, it’s important to select the draft mode, whenever you can. This will reduce the ink used for the printing process and print more pages.
STEP 2: Select the Cartridges
If you want to take a black and white printout, do not select the colour ink cartridges for the process of printing. A colour cartridge will mix various colours to create black ink. This wastes large amounts of ink. So, just select the black cartridge from printer settings.
STEP 3: Manage the Colour
Once again the printer settings come in handy. If you are printing rough drafts just change the printer setting to draft. The default setting is ‘best quality’. The final version could then be printed in the best quality mode.
STEP 4 – Current Page
There are times when you want to print just one page on a document that has multiple pages. Some people just give the command to print the whole document. This will waste ink. In order to get the maximum ink from your cartridge you need to select the ‘Print current page’ option.
STEP 5: Cost of Cartridge
Once you realise the expense incurred in buying or refilling a cartridge, you will automatically adopt the steps given above!
Tags: black ink, black ink cartridge, colour ink, colour ink cartridge, draft mode, ink, ink cartridge, new ink cartridge, print head, print heads, printer settings, refilling cartridge, refilling ink
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Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
How Do They Print the Photos on Birthday Cakes?
Birthday and celebration cakes with a photograph on the top are increasing in popularity. What’s more you can actually eat the picture. All you need for this is to take a print out of the photograph with some special equipment and paper.
STEP 1: Clean the Printer
You don’t have to buy a new printer for this, just clean your existing printer thoroughly. The printer head needs to be cleaned of traces of the printer ink that has been used for the regular printing jobs.
STEP 2: Buy Edible Ink Cartridges
The next thing you need to do is buy edible ink cartridges. There are two manufacturers, Canon and Epson, whose edible ink cartridges are readily available. However, when it comes to the printers, they are only specific Epson and Canon printers that actually support these edible ink cartridges. There are also other manufacturers who offer such cartridges.
STEP 3: Edible Paper
Edible paper is very much like the normal paper, with one main difference. Edible paper is made from either potato starch or rice starch.
STEP 4: The Cake Size and Size of Print Out
This is the tricky part. The dimensions of the cake, its size and its shape need to be in sync with the paper print out or vice versa. In the normal course of the process, the paper size and printout is such that it fits the top of the cake perfectly.
STEP 5: Take the Printout
Once you have collected all the things that you need, you need to take a printout of the photos and put it on the cake. The process is finished. Stand back and enjoy!
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Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
How to stop your printer from printing?
There are times when you will need to stop a printer from printing, midway through the print job. There could be many reasons why you might need to do this. Below we have a few steps that will enable you to quickly halt the printing process.
STEP 1: Stop Job through Printer Settings
In Windows XP, go to Control Panel. Then click on ‘Printers and Faxes’. Once the window opens, click on your printer icon. Now, you will see your printer job. Cancel the job by right-clicking on it and selecting ‘Delete’ or ‘Cancel’.
STEP 2: Quick Launch Toolbar
In most operating systems if the printer process is on, your Quick Launch Toolbar will also be on. All you need to do is right click the icon and open the window. Once the dialog box is open, just right click on it and click ‘Delete’.
STEP 3: Turning Off the Printer
At times, there is no job running through the hard disk. But the printing process is still going on. Here, the culprit is the printer’s memory. So, the best case option would be to turn off the printer.
STEP 4: Removal of Paper
Another simple step would be to remove the paper from the paper tray. If there is no paper there would be no printout. After you remove the paper, cancel print job.
It’s really very simple to stop an ongoing printing job. The only problem that you might encounter is that the sudden stopping of printing process might lead to a paper jam.
Tags: paper jam, paper tray, print job, printer, printer memory, printer process, printer settings, printers and faxes, printing, printout
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Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Continue printing when only one cartridge is empty!
As you may have found, it’s quite difficult to continue printing if there is no ink in one or both or your ink cartridges. Most printer manufacturers have made sure that the printer stops working from a safety perspective. However, there are some steps you can take if only one of your ink cartridges is empty, read on…
Don’t remove the empty cartridge
If you are using a printer that can function with only a black cartridge installed, then it would be a good idea to keep the empty cartridge inside the printer. You should install a colour cartridge alongside it that is not empty.
Printer Settings
You will need to go into the printer settings, out of the available options choose the ‘black only’. You will also need to change the print quality to the lowest level.
Lie to your Interface
After you have reinstalled the empty cartridge, the printer will ask you if the ink cartridge is ‘new’. ‘Full’ or ‘empty’. This question will be in the form of tabs, always click the ‘full’ tab.
The Print Command
After completing the above steps, the only command that needs to be given is the printer command. Remember, this kind of process might not work on some printers, however the steps given above successful across most printers in the market today.
Tags: black cartridge, colour cartridge, empty cartridge, ink, ink cartridges, print, print quality, printing
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
What do Ink Cartridge Numbers mean?
One question we get asked frequently is “What do the different HP ink cartridge numbers mean?” Surely they must stand for something. HP prides itself for high quality printer inks and they have a variety of products to show for it.
Whether you are buying compatible or original HP inks, knowing what these numbers mean is surprisingly helpful. HP printer inks mean two things, these being the capacity of the ink and the regional origin. These factors serve a purpose for both HP and its consumers.
The first letter following the cartridge number signifies how much HP ink is in the cartridge. There are 4 letters to this effect: ‘A’, ‘D’, ‘G’ and ‘XL’. An ink cartridge that is filled to the highest capacity is suffixed with an ‘A’. These cartridges will have a print yield of around 700 pages to 1,300 depending on the printer model and how the cartridge is used. Meanwhile, cartridges with a ‘D’ suffix are only filled to around half their capacity and this usually translates to 350-650 pages. ‘G’ cartridges are filled with twenty five to thirty percent of the ink tank; this is the standard capacity for demo inks and starter cartridges when you buy a new printer. These cartridges will get used to quite fast!
You may be wondering why on earth HP sell cartridges that are only half full? Before remanufactured cartridges entered the market, HP ink cartridges and all ink cartridges for that matter, are very expensive, calling for the need for two kinds of ink capacity. There is no need to do this now as the market for HP ink has turned to lower pricing. ‘A’ printer ink is now the standard capacity being sold by HP.
‘XL’ or ‘X’ ink stands for extra large capacity or high yield cartridges. These cartridges are sold at a premium price but they will last considerably longer than standard sized cheaper cartridges.
The second part of the suffix is found in ‘HP Vivera’ inks and is attributed to their regional origins. With similar HP models and printer ink cartridges sold worldwide, it is very important to localise printer parts to avoid cross region compatibility and have only the parts of the same zone work together. The four zones are Asia-Pacific (P), North America (N), Latin America (L) and Europe (E). There are further variations of these cartridges including ‘W’ for Western Hemisphere, ‘WL’ for Mexico and ‘EE’ for the UK.
Some printer codes also have a letter which symbolises a colour such as Y (Yellow), C (Cyan) and M (Magenta). Black HP ink cartridges are not colour coded.
So now when you see a set of HP 350 XL or a HP C8560AN cartridge, you can make sense of it. This just shows us how HP has advanced in research and development to produce the standard for all printer inks and how printer manufacturers have advanced and diversified throughout the years.
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Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Storing your Ink Cartridges
Ink cartridges should always be stored in their original packaging in an upright position with the printhead facing up. If you have several cartridges in the same package, ink might start leaking and mixing if cartridges are stored on their side. Ensure the storage space is not too warm, excessive heat can cause air bubbles inside the cartridge to expand causing ink to leak out.
How do I store partially used ink cartridges?
There are times when it is necessary to remove an ink cartridge from your printer and store it for re-use. It is frustrating to reinstall an expensive ink cartridge that you know still has plenty of ink remaining, only to find that the printhead where the ink comes from has dried up! You are left with a dry cartridge with ink still left inside that you can’t use. You can easily prevent this frustration by storing your partially used cartridges correctly, read on …
- Place the used ink cartridge into a zip sealed sandwich bag, if you have more than one cartridge to store; use a separate bag for each cartridge.
- Wet a sponge or small towel and wring out the excess water so the sponge or towel is left damp but not dripping.
- Add the sponge or towel to the plastic bag holding the printer ink cartridge.
- Seal the bag with the sponge or towel and the ink cartridge inside.
- Store the sealed bag in a dark, cool place until you are ready to reinstall the printer ink cartridge and continue using it.
Don’t remove the ink cartridge if it’s empty and you don’t have a spare cartridge to replace it with. If you remove the cartridge then air will cause the ink to dry within hours which will clog the nozzles. This is especially important if you have an Epson printer where the printhead is attached to the printer and not the cartridge.
Tags: Epson, epson ink, epson printer, expensive ink cartridge, ink, ink cartridge, ink cartridges, print head, printer, printer ink, printer ink cartridge, printer ink cartridges, printers, printhead, storing ink, storing ink cartridges
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Friday, July 9th, 2010
Printing Pictures in Windows XP
Printing pictures in Windows XP is a simple and easy process. Any pictures that have been downloaded from your computer or transferred from your digital camera should automatically be sent to the ‘My Pictures’ folder. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be printing your pictures like there’s no tomorrow!
- In Windows XP, go to the ‘My Pictures’ folder.
- In the blue task bar on the left, you can choose ‘Print Pictures’ from the Picture Tasks bar.
- When the photo printing wizard pops up, click ‘next’.
- Each picture in the folder should appear with a checkbox in the upper right hand corner. If you don’t want to print all the pictures, click on the ‘Clear All’ button and then you can re-select the photos you want. Click next.
- Now you will need to select which printer you want to use, although most of us will only have one. Click next.
- Now you will be selecting the layout of your photos. There is a preview box of the first image in the folder to your right, and then several photo layout options to the left. You can scroll down through the various options until you find the one you want. Also take note of the option below the layout for the number of times to use each picture.
If you want to print multiple pictures, it will be best to print one page at a time. Select some of the pictures you want, choose the appropriate layout and then you can see how the pictures will line up on a single sheet. Repeat the above steps for all the other pictures too!
Tags: my pictures folder, photo printing wizard, print multiple pictures, print pictures, printer xp, printing pictures, printing windows xp, printing xp, windows xp
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