Printer, Plotter and POS Troubleshooting Tips

POS RepairAlright, so maybe not everyone can do printer, POS, and plotter repair, but hopefully these tips will make your life easier if you absolutely have to.

Check out these tips, and hopefully they help you when you’re in a pinch:

    1. Printer problems – printing goes way too slow.  If you don’t need high print quality for your documents, reduce it.  To do this, in just about any piece of software, go to “Print,” “Properties,” and then you should see a quality setting somewhere.
    2. Ink costs way too much.  The printer isn’t the real expense – ink and toner are where companies make their money.  Consider purchasing third-party filled cartridges.  Plus, if you have to print a lot, the best solution is to buy cartridges with higher capacities.
    3. Your printing is light, spotty, or has horizontal lines.  Usually this indicates the print head is clogged.  You can usually have the ink cleaned out by choosing a command on the printer itself, or by going to its administrative software.  You can usually find it by going to the Control Panel in Windows.
    4. Wireless printing is too slow.  Wi-Fi is convenient, when it works.  If possible, make sure everyone at your business has a wired connection to your printer.  If not, have your printer situated as closely to your router as possible to speed up communication.
    5. Problems with your POS/receipt printer?  Turn it off, and disconnect it from all electronic devices.  Turn it back on in a couple minutes, and see if the problems aren’t corrected. Still having POS repair problems?  Update the driver.  Simply go to the manufacturer’s website and find the model of your receipt printer.
    6. Has the quality of your plotter’s printing declined?  Don’t try to save money on ink with plotters – this can result in more printing problems later on down the line.
    7. If the ink is bleeding…Your plotter may be located in a space with too much humidity.  Or the grade of paper could be too low.  Address each issue and see if that doesn’t correct the problem.
    8. What if only part of your image is printing?  Your plotter may not have enough memory.  File sizes have gotten much larger, so older plotters may need a memory upgrade.
    9. Your plotter doesn’t print at the right speed…Your computer’s settings override those of the plotter (usually).  Set the desired speed on your PC.
    10. Have a Good Printer Repair Service on Hand… Not all problems can be easily fixed, and often times, when you need the printer the most you don’t have time to repair it yourself.  Having a reliable printer, plotter and POS repair service on hand, one that preferably has local parts delivery and time and material contracts.

Those are just some of the most common POS, plotter, and printer repair problems you’ll encounter.  Hopefully these tips help you take care of them so you can get back to growing your business.

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