Apple LaserWriter LaserWriter

How to Identify and Fix Common Problems ?

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How a laser printer works. They work by using a heated wire to positively charge a drum, which is then passed over by a laser that reverses the charge in the areas that it hits. The now-negatively charged areas of the drum represents the image or text that is to be printed.
Laser printers are mainly used in business office settings and home computing use. Examples of what can be printed are documents, letters, spreadsheets, presentations, stationary, labels, flyers and brochures. Monochrome laser printers only print black text.
All-in-one (AIO) printers or multi-function printers includes the features of multiple devices in a single package. These printers usually come combined with a scanning unit, which can act as a printer, a scanner and a copier.
Laser printers are faster than inkjet printers too. Print speeds are denoted in pages-per-minute (PPM). Laser printers have print speeds of 14 PPM and higher. The basic laser printer can print about 30 to 40 pages per minute, whereas high-end models churn out more.
The standard resolution in most laser printers today is 600 dots per inch (dpi). This resolution is sufficient for normal everyday printing, including small desktop publishing jobs. A high-end production printer might have a resolution of 2400 dpi. Some laser printers still use a resolution of 300 dpi.
Laser printers are printers that use electrophotographic technology. First, data sent from a PC is converted into printing data by a print engine. The print command is converted into laser light, which is irradiated (exposed) onto a cylindrical photosensitive drum.
Laser printers can print much faster than inkjet printers can. Most are equipped with high-capacity paper trays, so they can print more pages at a given time. They`re also built to handle the printing of thousands of pages per month without succumbing to wear-and-tear.
Canon 4-in-1 printers let you print, scan, copy and fax with absolute ease. Whether you`re printing documents or photos, make sure your home office is complete with a Canon copy, fax and scanner printer.
A 5-in-1 printer can scan and send original documents, like other faxes. It can also fax a document directly from a computer, eliminating the need for a printout. Faxes can also be sent from the printer itself, by placing a document on the scanner platen and dialing the number manually.
Laser printers provide superb print quality with crisp text, fast speeds, and economical printing for both home and office working. One of the big advantages of laser printers is that they don`t require ink.
A typical ink cartridge will yield 250 to 300 pages depending on the color density of the prints. The yield of a typical toner cartridge in a laser printer is between 2,500 and 3,000 pages. Some larger laser printers can even have toners that will yield up to 30,000 pages!
600 DPI printing simply means that the printer compresses 600 dots horizontally as well as 600 dots vertically for every square inch of the card. This allows users to print ultra-high resolution pictures, micro-text, OCR codes, and 1D & 2D barcodes.
For a 4″ x 6″ print, the image resolution should be 640 x 480 pixels minimum. For a 5″ x 7″ print, the image resolution should be 1024 x 768 pixels minimum. For an 8″ x 10″ print, the image resolution should be 1536 x 1024 pixels minimum. For a 16″ x 20″ print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum.
Lasers are classified into 6 types based on the types of medium used in them, and they are: Solid-state lasers. Gas lasers. Liquid lasers.
Is a laser printer an output device? Yes, a laser printer is an output device. A laser printer is a peripheral that connects to a computer and can print out a document or picture that is known as a hard copy.
Like a photocopier, laser printers read the electronic data from your computer and beam this information onto a drum inside the printer, which builds up a pattern of static electricity. This attracts a dry powder called toner onto the paper which is then fused using heated rollers.
Laser printers use toner powder instead of dye or pigment-based ink. Laser printers produce electrostatically charged dots on a light-sensitive drum which attracts toner powder. The toner is transferred to the paper and fixed by a heating process.

Relevant Questions and Answers :

the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue

LaserJet 4 won't Power Up
ANSWER : I haven’t seen that particular behavior on that model. It either works or it doesn’t. My first choice would be the power supply.

Paper Jam 13
ANSWER : Sticky paper pickup solenoid. Since MF tray doesn’t use it, it works fine. Solenoid is located on right side of printer at the end of the paper pickup roller shaft. You need to remove the solenoid, take the plate and spring off the top and then scrape off the gooey residue that’s causing it to stick. Then you get a thin piece of sticky backed felt and put it on top of the metal base. You can find some at the local hardware store, they’re used on the bottom of chair legs.

paper jam
ANSWER : If you remove the fuser (2 screws), look to the left and you’ll see a gear on a metal bracket. That’s the coupling gear. It drives the fuser. You’ll see that it is yellow with teeth missing. You’ll need to replace it. You have to take the formatter assy. to the left of it off, and then there are a few screws holding it in place.

Print file sent but no printing occurs
ANSWER : Been working on these since they first were released. Never seen a problem like yours. If it happens again, try doing an engine test, as it bypasses the formatter board. The engine test is located at the right side of the manual tray opening. Look for a hole in the side wall. Stick something like a paper clip into it to actuate the test button. It will then print a lined test page. If it does that, then it points to the formatter board as the cause of your problem.

hplj 4 stops working after being on for 5 minutes
ANSWER : Those are some strange symptoms. I would kind of suspect the culprit is the DC controller. The accordion jam is another issue. That is caused by the 2 exit rollers. They get glazed from age and aren’t able to push the paper out and it accordions because the fuser is still pushing it out and there’s nowhere for it to go.

Display blank
ANSWER : I think PCA just means Printed Circuit Board Assembly, it can also be listed as PCB but either way it’s the same thing.

Brother HL-4040 CDN Maintenance 4
ANSWER : I turned off the machine and restarted it. Problem solved. “Maintenance 4” message was replaced with “Ready”.

Error 51 Beam Detect Failure
ANSWER : I have never seen a scanner assy. go bad on one of those printers. I would suspect the DC controller board as that provides the voltage to the scanner assy. and displays the error codes as well. I’ve replaced quite a few of those.