What are some general printer troubleshooting tips for non-techies?

Before you send your printer off to a service technician, make sure you have covered all of the obvious bases. The reason your IT guy always tells you to “turn the printer on and off” before he will come to your office to troubleshoot your printer problem is because people get in a hurry and don’t do the obvious. Even non-techies can take steps to diagnose and fix their own printer problems. Below are the top ten things to do before taking your printer in for service:

1. Make sure your printer has power.
2. Verify that the printer is turned on.
3. Inspect the cables and make sure they are firmly connected.
4. Replace the ink or toner cartridges.
5. Check for paper.
6. Look for paper jams by opening the cover and removing all of the paper trays.
7. Utilize your printer’s self-test.
8. Read the book that comes with your printer.
9. Find specific troubleshooting information on the manufacturer’s website.
10. If all of the above fails, turning the printer off and on again can solve a multitude of problems.
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What type of small and medium printer solutions does HP offer?

HP offers a wide range of business solutions in its inkjet printer line for your business. They provide many tools to its customers for HP business inkjet problems. HP simplifies printer technology by offering troubleshooting tips from their small to medium business solutions page. Here you will find not only a learning center but instant printer support. No matter what type of printer you have, when you are ready for a printer replacement, you can go to the HP site, select the type of printer that you want to replace, and HP will show you the latest HP products that may be right for your business.

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Why is my inkjet printer printing blank pages?

If your printer is only printing blank pages and you know the ink cartridge is full, make sure you’ve properly installed the print driver. A print driver reads signals that are sent through the cable that connects your printer and your pc. If your print driver is not installed, your computer will not know your printer can print! It’s the driver that tells your computer what model printer you have and what your printer can do. You can find software to install your printer driver either on the cd that comes with your printer, from your windows cd or from your manufacturer. As technology advances, print drivers may be updated. You can download a driver update and use it to replace your current driver. Check your manufacturer’s website for update information. (Tip: If your printer is still printing blank pages, make sure you have selected the correct paper size in the print driver.)
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What are some troubleshooting FAQs for inkjet printers?

Inkjet Printers work by spraying ink through tiny nozzles in the print head onto the paper. With this in mind, you can learn how to troubleshoot many common issues. Below are three faqs that will help you diagnose and correct ink jet problems.

Why is my printer printing documents with broken text and white streaks through the graphics?
Your cartridge is close to empty or defective. Simply replace the ink jet cartridge.

Why does the text on my printed document looks wavy or slanted?
The nozzles on your print head are clogged. Run your printer’s cleaning program to clear the nozzles.

Why are the images on my documents are rough and graining looking?
The print head is misaligned. Run your printer’s print head alignment utility.

Take some time to become familiar with your printer’s properties menu. The controls there will help you adjust how your text and images print.
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Where can I get tech support for the HP3000 Series printers?

Below are some faqs for HP3000 inkjet problems:

Why can’t I find the paper jam in my printer?

Make sure you are checking the entire paper path. Turn off the printer. Check under the top cover first, then remove trays one to three. Check the trays for wrinkled or improperly loaded paper. Then make sure the front output tray, and the simplex/duplex unit is clear.

Why does print speed decrease after I clear a jam?

The HP3000 has a jam recovery feature. There are three settings for the feature: auto, on and off. If your printer is set to “auto”, it will reprint jammed pages when memory is available. If it is set to “on”, it will attempt to reprint the pages whether it has sufficient memory or not. To improve print speed and increase memory, turn off your printer’s jam recovery feature.

I replaced my inkjet cartridge and now I’m getting the error message “10.30.00”. What does this mean?

If you did not use an HP brand replacement cartridge, your printer will display this message. Press the cancel button once to allow normal printing after installing a non-HP ink cartridge.
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What do I do when my documents have white specks, black lines or light print?

Seeing white specks before your eyes? Don’t worry, you might just be experiencing temporary laser printer problems. Sometimes to get better looking print output you just need to make a few minor adjustments.

If your document is full of white specks, it may be a paper problem. Remember, heat burns the toner onto the paper, and that’s how the toner sticks to the paper. So if your paper is moist from humidity, it will cause white specks to peek through the toner. Store your paper properly in a dry area.

What if your document has vertical black lines on the edge of the page? It’s probably one of two reasons: 1) You have a faulty toner cartridge, or 2) There is a toner spill inside your printer. Open your printer and change the cartridge, and clean up any excess toner you see.

Another common print problem with laser printers is light print or uneven print density across the page. This is caused by low toner. Take out the cartridge and gently rock it side to side to redistribute the toner. Then simply put it back in the printer, and you’re good to go.

Not all laser printer problems need technical assistance. Knowing how to identify minor printer problems will save you time and frustration.
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What will happen if I use a compatible cartridge in my HP Business Inkjet 3000 printer?
Here's a common HP 3000 inkjet problem: I replaced my inkjet cartridge and now I’m getting the error message “10.30.00”. What does this mean? If you did not use an HP brand replacement cartridge, yourBusiness Inkjet 3000 printer will display this message. Press the cancel button once to allow normal printing after installing a non-HP ink cartridge. Compatible cartridges are available with model numbers of C4844A (black), C4804A (cyan), C4805A (magenta) and C4806A (yellow).
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