Monday, August 28, 2006

#*!@$# printers!

I've got a report to print out for Reader's Digest (Canada). I hand in my work in hard copy because that's the way it's done. Heck, when I was last working in that office, the e-mail package of choice was Lotus Notes.

I look forward to handing in my reports because it gets me out of the house and into downtown Montreal, which is always a nice place to be in late spring, summer, and early fall.

We have two printers, both Epsons. Mine is three-in-one printer/scanner/copier, a gift from my generous father. It scans beautifully, but I don't print enough to keep the ink from drying up - and if I did, a laser printer would be more economical. I usually use my wife's printer, which is an older Epson Stylus Color 640 with cheaper ink. Between us, we use it enough to keep the ink from drying out.

Today, I tried to print out a report. I hadn't looked, and the printer ran through the four remaining pages. I refilled it, hit the form-feed button, and the first page of the new sheaf jammed the printer. I unjammed it, but now the printer is printing only one or two rows of dots and dashes per page.

Is it crying for help in machine Morse code? It better be. I'm about to hit it with a sledgehammer. Nothing else will stop it.

My print jobs don't show up in the queue. When I turn the printer off, it will wait mischievously until it comes back on and then starts spitting out dots and dashes again. Nothing I do will correct the printer's misbehaviour. In my youth, I'd grab the opportunity to learn how to troubleshoot this. In my grumpy middle age, the only things I clench are my teeth. Any ideas out there?

2 Comments:

Blogger wcdixon said...

wish I could, sir...but have a little HP 3 in 1 that, now that I think about it, has yet to give me grief in 3-4 years...wow

August 29, 2006 4:35 PM  
Blogger Naila J. said...

Put it on a disk/CD/key and print it out at Staples, a copy center, or at school

August 29, 2006 6:43 PM  

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