What to Do When Your Copier Scanner Breaks

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Having trouble getting your copier/scanner to work right? Need to troubleshoot? Here are some tips sent in by a community member that will help you.

• If the copier does not copy, print or scan turn it off and back on. They sometimes need to reboot just like a computer. They are more like your desktop PC then you know. Many run Windows Xp or Linux in their print controllers and others use Linux for the main operating system of the copier.
• If you pull out a jam and end up with less then a full sheet of paper in your hand, the copier is still jammed. Try to find the rest of the sheet. When you tear out a piece of paper, any fragments still in there will find a nice dark place to jam and will snag the next copy you make. Many times what would have been a simple jam clearing exercise will become a wait for a service technician to fix the machine.
• If the copies are light and the copier is not displaying a toner low message, don’t add toner. Something else is wrong. All copiers have sensors that detect low and empty toner conditions. Many problems start out as light copies. Continuing to run the machine may actually cause additional damage and expense. Call for service.
• All toner is not the same stuff. If you run out of toner, don’t add any that’s intended for a different model copier. You will cause a major problem adding the wrong kind. Think of it like getting a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type.
• If you get a dark line on your copies when feeding though the document feeder, but not when you copy from the platen glass check for Wite-out, ink or other foreign matter on the narrow piece of glass that is next to the big platen glass. Most modern copiers use document feeders that roll the originals over this narrow glass (often referred to as the “slit glass”). When something sticks to this glass it causes dark lines on copies.
• BonusTip!! The copier technician wants your copier to operate correctly as much as you do. Many times problems are very intermittent. It helps the technician to know the details of the copy job that caused the problem. Stuff like: paper tray used, single sided or doubled sided copies, the size of your copy/print job, finishing options selected and if it was a copy quality problem, a sample of the copy with the problem.

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