Why is your printer output so difficult to see?

One of your customers has been using a new laser printer in their office for about month. Although the printer has been providing clear and sharp output, over the course of the last week the printouts have become very faded over the entire page. What is the most likely cause of this problem?

A) The voltage to the laser printer is low

B) The laser printer is low on toner

C) The laser printer’s optical drum is damaged

D) The laser printer memory is faulty

The answer: B) The laser printer is low on toner

When the toner becomes depleted on a laser printer, the text on the pages becomes faded and difficult to see. Replacing the toner cartridge will almost always resolve this issue.

The incorrect answers:

A) The voltage to the laser printer is low
A low voltage to the laser printer will probably cause it not to print at all, since the laser printer requires a great deal of heat and power for the motor.

C) The laser printer’s optical drum is damaged
If the optical drum is damaged, you’ll usually see a problem that looks like a single line down a page or an anomaly that appears multiple times on the page as the drum rotates around during the printing process.

D) The laser printer memory is faulty
A bad set of memory in a laser printer will usually cause the printer to give an error and/or print garbled pages.

Want to know more? Watch “Troubleshooting Printers and Scanners.” When the printer or scanner is down, where do you start the troubleshooting process? What tools will you need to solve the problem? In this video, we’ll show you where to start troubleshooting, what tools to bring to the job, and what common problems you can expect to see with printers and scanners.