Troubleshooting,Problems,With, computer Troubleshooting Problems With the Powis Parker P21x Fastback

----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website,offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as longas no changes a Gone are those times when the companies and the organisations didn't need a hi-tech system to handle them. Owing to the considerable increase in the business sector and thus, an enormous increase in the complexity of the organisational struc

This article is designed to help youtroubleshoot some of the most common issues that users face when usingthe Fastback Foilfast printer. The article will provide you withseveral common problems and potential solutions. Unfortunately the listis not extensive. However, it should give you a good start in trackingdown issues with your printer. Problem #1: Cartridge is stuck in the carriage 1.Turn off the power. 2.Open the front cover and remove all cartridges on the cartridge holder plates. 3.Close the front cover, and turn on the power. The carriage will reset. Problem #2: Power does not come on 1.Check to make sure the power cord is connected 2. Make sure the power cord is plugged into an outlet as well asconnected to the printer. After checking the power cord, push the powerbutton to turn on the printer. Is the printer plugged into an extensionblock or power strip? 3.After turning on the extension block or power strip, press the power button on the printer. Problem #3: Printing is light, distorted, or has gaps 1. Stop the printing and reinstall all the cartridges. Take up anyslack in the foils. If a particular cartridge repeatedly causesproblems, try a different cartridge. 2. Clean the printer head. The platen often gets dirty at the same timeas the head, so it is recommended to clean the platen after cleaningthe head. 3. Clean the platen. If anything is stuck to the platen, remove it,being careful not to damage the platen. The platen often gets dirty atthe same time as the head so it is recommended to clean the platen aswell as the head. If cleaning the head and the platen does not work,contact your authorized Fastback dealer for assistance. Problem #4: Printer does not print or stops while printing 1.Before printing make sure the printer is turned on. 2.Make sure that the front cover is closed properly. 3.Press the ready/insert button and make sure that the ready light comes on. 4. After connecting the cable, make sure nothing is putting pressure onthe cable, and tighten the fastening screws and clamps to secure thecable. 5. Remove the sheet. If the sheet is caught in the rollers, open thefront cover, push down on the release lever, and gently remove thesheet. 6. Recheck the printer settings in the application. NOTE: To use theparallel port for P21x printing you will have to set the printer portto LPT1 and not use the PPI_LPT1 port 7.Install the printer driver from the Installation Disc. 8. When one of the followings occurs, it is possible that the cable isbroken or disconnected. 1) The gauge in the Print dialog box does notprogress. 2) The "Out of Sheets" message appears repeatedly. Replacethe cable with a new one. Are you using a printer selection switch or aprinter buffer? With bi-directional interfaces, operation is sometimesunreliable when using printer switching boxes or printer buffers. Ifyou are using a printer selection switching box or printer buffer, useone-way communication. 9.Do not use a cable that is longer than you need. The signals become more unstable as the cable gets longer. 10.Use the correct cartridges. The Foilfast printer will only accept Foilfast" premium foil cartridges. 11.Insert cartridges in the holders with the B side up. 12. When the foil in a cartridge has been spent, black and silverstripes will be visible on the ribbon. Install a new cartridge. Afterreplacing the cartridge, printing will continue from where it left off.13. Do you have enough hard disk space? The Foilfast requires workspace on the hard disk when it prints. Keep enough free disk space toensure that you can print without problems. Problem #5: Printing is not working or is extremely slow 1.Make sure there is enough space on your hard disk. (The working space is released once printing is finished.) 2. Some applications have color printing enable/disable settings. Someapplications do not support color printing. Read the manual for theapplication and check the color settings. 3. When very little memory is available for print processing, printingmay take a long time or fail. Close as many applications as possibleand try again. 4. Handling color images requires a lot of memory for the applicationand for the data. Sometimes there is insufficient memory left forprinting. Make sure your computer has enough memory to print the sizeof images you are using. 5. General protection fault errors can occur when there is insufficientmemory for color printing or when part of the hard disk has becomecorrupted. After decreasing the size of the print data or scanning thehard disk, try printing again. 6. The time required for printing can increase dramatically if the freespace on the disk drive is extremely fragmented. Clean up your filesand defragment the disk by periodically running a utility like DEFRAG,which comes with Windows. Problem #6: Printer makes strange noises when the power is turned on, and the error lights blink 1.Has the carriage packing material been removed? 2.Has the packing tape on the case been removed? 3. Has a cartridge become dislodged from a cartridge holder? Open thefront cover and make sure the cartridges are correctly installed. Problem #7: Paper is not feeding correctly or not ejecting correctly from the sheet feeder 1.The cover material you are using may not be compatible with the Foilfast printer. 2.A curled sheet will cause sheet jams. The sheet should be curled the opposite way to flatten it out before it is used. 3. Sheets with folded or cut corners can cause problems if the sheetdoes not activate the position sensor and sheet length sensor properly.4.Set the feed guide so that there is approximately 0.02" between it and the sheets themselves. 5.The sheet feeder can hold up to 10 composition covers, 1 Clear Cover, or 1 Foilfast Title Sheet. 6. Composition covers should be between 16 - 18.5 points thick (.0016 -.00185 inches). Clear covers should be between 6.5 - 7.5 points thick(.0065 - .0075 inches). Covers that fall outside the bounds of thesethickness ranges may work in the Foilfast printer, but Powis Parkerdoes not recommend using them. Covers that fall substantially beyondthese thickness ranges may damage the printer's feeding mechanism andmay void your warranty. 7.Make sure nothing is on the output tray as this can cause sheet jams. 8. Sheets must fanned at least once before they are loaded into thesheet feeder. If not, sheets may stick to one another, and causemultiple sheets to feed into the printer at one time, or other forms ofmisfeeding. Article Tags: Fastback Foilfast Printer, Powis Parker, Fastback Foilfast, Foilfast Printer, Front Cover, Make Sure, Power Cord, Hard Disk, Color Printing, Sheet Feeder