Re: [LUG] New printer

I have a Dell 1250c colour laser, cost £50 from tesco but it's on ebuyer a lot for £55 delivered. A compatible set of toners that offer 1400 pages is only £30 a set and I was obviously looking for one that worked on Linux too although I haven't tried it yet it's compatible with the drivers for a Xerox phaser 6000b apparently.

Brilliant printer, really good quality in black or colour and is led rather than traditional laser so the drum is designed for the lifetime of the printer hence not yet another consumable price....

On 30 Nov 2012 17:49, "Neil Winchurst" <barnaby@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 30/11/12 11:15, tom wrote:

Can you connect to the printer and ask it what is wrong - some do have
diagnostics
Tom te tom te tom

I have done some more searching and what I have found will please Simon Avery even more!!!

I have found out that inkjets lose a lot of their ink inside the printer, partly when the heads are cleaned, which is collected in a small tank and by some absorbent pads which live somewhere inside the printer. This could eventually cause a mess so the manufacturers also include a counter in the software. This will count every page that you print and when the counter reaches a preset value you get this problem. The lights will flash and the printer will no longer work.

The plan is that you should send your printer to have the pads replaced and the tank cleared out. This will cost more than some new printers. So you may elect to buy a replacement. Either way more profit for the manufacturers.

There is a program available to reset the counter but it is of course Windows only. And, although the printer should now start working again, you should still sort out the ink problem or you could end up with a mess.

Also notice that all this 'lost' ink has never appeared on any of your prints. Again, more profit. Don't you just love it all??

All this of course will not happen to laser printers since they use toner and not ink. Meanwhile I am now considering getting a very cheap inkjet for when I need colour and a mono laser for printing documents. I think that my current printer is too old to bother with all this cleaning out.

This URL may be of interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwylF5dHgY4

Enjoy,

Neil

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