IT ESSENTIALS Version 5.

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Chapter 9 Study Guide - Printers
9.0 Introduction
1.
What do printers do?

Produce Hard Copies

of
electronic files
2.
What 3 tasks might a technician be
1. Select a printer
asked to do by a customer?
2. Install/configure printer
3. Trouble shoot printer
9.1 Describe the types of printers currently available Laser printer, uses
image drums/inkjet printer, uses electrostatic spray
9.1.1.1 Describe characteristics and capabilities of printers Speed at which it
prints at (PPM), quality of printed text and pictures, contrast and sharpness, DPI
3.
Which type of printer uses
Ink Jet
electrostatic spray technology?
4.
What criteria is used when
1. Capabilities/Speed
selecting a printer?
2. Colour/black and white
3. quality
4. Reliability
5.
How is the speed of a printer
PPM, page per minute
measured?
6.
How does a printer produce color?
Subtractive colour mixing
7
What are the four colors in the
Cyan, magenta, yellow, balck
color system represented by the
acronym CMYK?
8.
How is the quality of printing
DPI, dots per inch
measured?
9.
What is MTBF (mean time between An average length of time that the
failures)?
printer works without
failure
10.
What is included in the total cost of Purchase price
, cost of
ownership (TCO)?
supplies, price per
, print
costs, warranty cost
9.1.1.2 Wired Printer Connection Types
11.
What is serial data transfer?
The movement of digital
bits
of information in a prinitng
cycle
12.
What is parallel data transfer?
The movement of
bits of
information in a single cycle
13.
What is the current standard for
IEE 1284
parallel printer ports?
14.
What are other names for Firewire? i.link, IEEE 1394,

15.

What is Firewire?

high-speed communication bus that is

platform independent

16.

How many devices can Firewire

support?

63 devices

17.

What is the data transfer rate of

400Mb/s
Firewire?
18.
What interface do most network
ethernet
printers use to connect to a
network or wireless interface.
9.2.1 Types of Printers
9.2.1.1 Describe inkjet printers produce high quality prints, easy to use
somewhat less expensive to operate
19.
What are the two types of inkjet
1. Thermal
nozzles?
2. Piezoelectric
20.
What forces ink out through a
A bubble of steam in the chamber
thermal nozzle?
21.
How long should you avoid
10-15 seconds
touching a printout from an inkjet
printer?
22.
What are the advantages of an
1. Initial low cost
inkjet printer?
2. High resolution
3. Quick to warm up
23.
What are the disadvantages of an
1. Nozzle prone to clogging
inkjet printer?
2. Ink cartridges expensive
3. Ink is wet after printing
9.2.1.2 Describe laser printers
24.
What is a laser printer?
A high-quality, fast printer that uses
a
to create an image
25.
What is the electrophotographic
A metal cylinder that is coated with
drum?
a light-sensitive insulating material
26.
What are the seven steps of the
1. Processing data
laser printing process?
2. Charging
3. exposing
4.
developing
5. Transferring
6. Fusing
7. Cleaning
27.
What takes place during the
The old latent image is
from
charging phase?
the drum and the drum is ready for
a new image
28.
What is the primary corona?
Charged wire or grid in laser printer
29.
30.
31.
32.

What is the charge of the primary

corona?
What is the charge applied to the
drum during the exposing process?
What happens in the fusing phase
What are the advantages of a laser
printer?

-600volts
-100volts
Loose toner is
melted
fused onto the paper
1. Low cost per page
2. High PPM
3. High capacity
4. Prints are dry

and

9.2.1.3 Describe thermal printers

33.
Where are thermal printers used?
34.
What happens to thermal paper
when it is heated?
35.
What are the advantages of a
thermal printer?

36.

What are the disadvantages of a

thermal printer?

9.2.1.4 Describe dot matrix printers

37.
How do impact printers work?

38.
39.

40.

What are two examples of impact

printers?
What are some advantages of
impact printers?

What are some disadvantages of

impact printers?

Old fax machines/cash registers

Becomes black
1.
2.
3.

long life span

no ink/toner
quiet

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

expensive paper
short shelf life paper
poor image quality
paper store at room temp
no colour

The print heads strike an inked

, causing characters to be
imprinted
on the paper
Dot matrix/daisy wheel
1.
2.
3.

less expensive ink

continuous feed paper
carbon copy ready

1.
2.
3.

noisy
low res
limited colours

41.

What is the highest quality of print NLQ near letter quality

produced by a dot matrix printer?
9.3.1 Installing and Configuring Printers
42.
What is included on an installation
1. drivers
CD?
2. manual
3. diagnostic tools
43.

What is a local printer?

Connected directly to a computer

44.

What is a network printer?

Connected to a
network
using a wireless or an Ethernet
connection

45.

Why should you never connect a

printer to a UPS?

The power surge that occurs when

the printer is turned on
damages the UPS

46.

What are printer drivers?

47.

What is PDL?

48.

What are the advantages of

postscript?

Adobe Systems developed PostScript to

allow fonts and text types to share the same
characteristics on the screen as on paper.
Hewlett-Packard developed Printer
Command Language (PCL) for
communication with early inkjet printers. PCL
is now an industry standard for nearly all
printer types.

49.

Where can you download printer

drivers?
What are the 4 steps to follow
when installing a printer driver?

Manufactures website

50.

51.

What does the test page confirm?

52.

How do you send a file to the

printer from the command line in
Windows XP?
Why would you test a printer from
the printer panel?

53.

54.

How do you designate a default

printer in Window s 7?

55.
56.

How is most optimization

completed?
What do print spool settings do?

57.

Why is calibration important?

58.

What is firmware?

Software programs that enable the

printer
and the computer
to communicate with each other
Page Description Language is a type
of code that describes the
appearance of a document in a
language that a printer
can
understand.

1. Determine if a new update

is available
2. Download the printer driver
files to your
computer
3. Install the CD/drivers
4. Test the printer driver with a
variety of
images/text
The driver software is up to date
and working correctly and that the
printer
and computer are
communicating
Start > Run; type cmd
Print thefile.txt
Enables you to verify the printer
operation separately from the
network
or computer
Start > Control Panel > Devices
and Printers> right-click the
printer and select default
software
Cancel or pause current print jobs in
the printer queue
Calibration makes sure that the
print heads are aligned
and
that they can print on different
kinds of
surfaces/papers
Firmware is a set of insructions
stored on the
that controls how
the printer

59.

How can you improve printing

speed and allow the printer to
handle more complex print jobs?
9.4.1 Describe how to share a printer
60.
What does printer sharing do?

Add

RAM, printer memory

Enables multiple users or clients to

access a printer that they are not
physically connected to
1. Select Start > Control Panel >
Network and Sharing Center >
Change network
2. Expand the network listing to
view the availible networks
.
3. If printer sharing is off, under File
and printer sharing, select enable
file and printer sharing, and then
click Save changes.

61.

What are the steps to enable a

computer to share a printer in
Windows 7?

62.

Wireless printers allow hosts to

connect and print wirelessly using:

63.

How do wireless printers designed

for 802.11 standards connect to
the wireless network?

Using an installed NIC

they connect directly to a wireless
router or access point.

64.

What is the maximum distance

apart of devices for infrared
printing?
What is the purpose of a print
server?

3.7M

66.

What are the three functions of a

print server?

67.

What are the three types of print

servers?

68.

What is an advantage of using a

hardware print server?

69.

What is a dedicated PC print

server?

70.

What resources does a dedicated

print server need to have available
to meet the request of the print
clients?

1. client access
2. admin print jobs
3. feed back to users
1. hardware server
2. dedicated PC server
3. computer shared printer
The server accepts incoming print
jobs from computers and frees
the computer for other tasks
A computer dedicated to
print
jobs
in the
most efficient minor
powerful
processor,
adequate hard disk space
,
adequate memory

65.

1.
2.
3.

wifi
bluetooth
infrared

To enable multiple computer users

to access a printer

9.5.1 Identify and apply common preventive maintenance techniques

for printers
71.
Where can you find the
manual
maintenance schedule for a
printer?
72.
What needs to be done before you Unplug it
start any type of maintenance on a
printer?
73.
What replacement parts might be
1. Fuser
included in a maintenance kit for
2. Transfer
laser printers?
3. Separator
4.
rollers
74.

75.
76.

77.

78.

79.

When you install new parts or

replace toners and cartridges,
visually inspect all internal
components and perform the
following tasks:
Why should you avoid refilling ink
cartridges?
Where can you find information on
the ink levels?
What do you use to wipe off dirt,
paper dust, and spilled ink on the
exterior of a printer?
What preventative maintenance
will extend the life of a thermal
printer?
What are the operating
environment guidelines?

1.
2.
3.

remove bits of debris

clean spilled ink/toner
look for wear and tear

Because the ink can leak

The
page counter
the printer
The printer
software
Damp cloth

inside

Clean the printer head

regularly with
utility supplied by
manufacure
.
1. Keep paper
dry
2. Keep printer in a cool
,
dust-free area
3. Store toner
in a clean,
dry environment
4. Clean the glass
on a
scanner

9.6.1 Troubleshooting processes for printers

80.
What are the steps in the
1. Identify the
problem
troubleshooting process?
2. Establish a theory of
probable cause
3. Determine the
cause
4. Implement
a solution
5. Verify full system funtionality
6.
document findings
.