Green is a bad sign in a printer Tech Support |
- Green is a bad sign in a printer
- It's a phone cable
- Be cautious of the ignorant and well intentioned
| Green is a bad sign in a printer Posted: 30 Sep 2020 09:59 AM PDT So today I am called to help my neighbour, as her little Canon all singing all dancing ink devouring printer is not working. Go there, do the usual checks, paper in printer, there is ink, it is turned on and plugged in, then go do the test page. Printer does the usual spray half the cartridge into the foam, paper feeder tries to pick up a page, and whirrs, then stops, paper jam. Pull paper out, look inside, and nothing really obvious. Clean rollers inside the machine, try again. Paper goes down, then stops, and there is a green line in a sensor window. Green line should not be there, so look a bit, tilt the machine and it does move a little. Paper out, turn upside down and, holding all the loose parts, shake it, and still green line. Try to push back, using a sheet from the front, and the thing actually pulls the paper in, sensing it, and tries to bring the heads over, so a bit of cursing, and try again, pushing the green line towards the back. Do the pick up, hold the bits and shake, with the paper feed pointing down. No result, so harder shake, and there is a plink on the floor. One slightly mangled green coated paper clip is out. Place back on it's place, put the paper in, and wait, and it finally recognises there is a printer there, and it is ready. Black is low, new cartridge 2 weeks ago, and prints the head test page. Few bad dots in the colour, but not a worry, as it now prints. I prefer laser, my mono one is now finally on it's first replacement cartridge, after 3 years of use, and it was cheaper than the pair of inkjet cartridges. If I really need colour i can drive 2km to the store where they will print the pages for me right there and then, and it is cheaper than the cost of the printer, considering I do it every 2 years or so. Last one was on canvas. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2020 04:50 PM PDT This just happened. I'll keep this short and sweet. So I've been working on getting a label printer connected to a client's network for 3 days. It's mostly due to being so busy but I digress. They got two of these. One connected without an issue. The other didn't. They were both DHCP so I would have to statically assign them the IP they need. Got the first working no problem. The second would never get on the network. See where I'm going with this? I had the client plug it into the switch when they said the cord wouldn't fit because it was a phone cable. I died a little inside. 3 days of troubleshooting.... Hey at least it's job security though right? [link] [comments]  |
| Be cautious of the ignorant and well intentioned Posted: 30 Sep 2020 12:47 AM PDT Ok, put this off long enough, but now that I've passed server+ (humble brag) I've run out of excuses for not making good on a request. So LTR, FTP, blah, blah, go mix a jack an coke, with extra jack, its story time! TLDR: Nope. We all suffer on this ride. Time: Some years ago, less than 5 but more then 2 Place: Client's office, some kind of mid sized national legal firm, ~100 emps on site. Accuracy: Less than 5 but more than 2 years of memory fog, and identities obfuscated to protect the guilty (bad)Actors: #Me, Lawful good copier tech with a true neutral inner monologue #Mgr, My manager, best dude I've ever worked for (sry dad) #OM, Office manager, glad someone is here to fix her problems #LT, Local helpdesk, bravely and foolishly dove head first into the hell that is printer service, oops #OG, The genesis of this story So, I'd been to this site previously with a senior tech to set up all the dozen or so shiny MFPs they had just signed contract on. Single floor modern open concept office deal, my favorite kind of site, climate controlled, low dust, no closets to shove machines into. The ideal by the book specs for one of these machine to work in. As for the deployment, we had gotten good thorough documentation and the sales drones had even been browbeat into actually doing a site survey because it was a national account. Full support from #LT and the clients corpo tech staff, everything delivered on time and not damaged, even got one little problem with a misconfigured switch so we could claim the install had already seen its disaster come and go. I just paint that picture for you so I can emphasize how the coming carnage ruined a perfectly good install. So about 2 weeks go by and #Mgr calls me up, "requests" I drop whatever I'm doing (uhoh) and blast off outta my territory to clients office because usual tech is unavailable. So we (the royal we) pack up and head out asap breaking speed limits for more than just fun this time. I arrive, am buzzed in, and led to the victim. There I find #OM and #LT next to, of course, the biggest and most expensive (like 50k+, my Subaru more than twice over) machine on the contract. #OM unhappy, #LT worried, and doors wide open all over the machine. F. Step 1, So, what I did get out of the 2 of them was that there was an error code, that no one had remembered or recorded, and "strange sounds", no jams (why did I believe that?). So I reboot the machine with a service reset, expect to hear some squealing or rattling, but lord above it sounded like a scene from the exorcist. It starts to scream and grind and vibrate, stopped just short of spinning its touch screen completely around and puking developer at me when it coded out…. Fuser motor failure to turn, no shit. So open goes the side door and of course its full of jams. #OM and #LT have made themselves scarce right before I had gotten to turning it on. So I have naught but empty space to give a look of disapproval. Fast forward past a whole bunch of disassembly, accordion-ed paper, and obliterated gears, a picture starts to form. Luckily the only section of the machine that seems to have suffered was the fusing section and associated drive. Belt, devs, drums, ect live to fail another day. But there's some paper really jammed into that fuser, and it seems to have been in there so long its clear baked onto the pressure roller. But this brings us to our problem, I've placated #OM for now, but she needs this machine back, and management has give me a blank check to get it done. So this is a no kidding we actually mean get this thing fixed asap. Now normally I'd just run to the warehouse and grab a replacement fuser slap it in there and get the customer back up. But this machine was bran new, new new, top of the line new, first of its kind new, still out gassing that lovely new tech smell new. And we did not have readily available spare parts for them yet, they were still busy using those new fusers coming off the line to build new machines back across the pacific. #Mgr and his boss were both being total bosses and by hook, crook, blackmail, or other unmentionable act fightin' to get me one of those spares that may yet exist, as I had told them as the pieces begun to fall into place that such would likely be a necessity. Isn't it great when management trusts the professional opinion that they hired you for? Back on topic, spare isn't showing up till least the day after tomorrow, and were already an hour or 2 into ot territory, but I gotta try to get this thing back into a state in which I can at-least give it a temporary fix the next day. Talking to others I had put together that I could swap enough of the parts off of older but similar machines to get this thing working. But that roller, and the frame it was in needed to be salvaged. So after way too much gentle pulling and prying and working the edges. The paper started to come off! Yes, YES! Slowly, slowly, gently, gent….. wait a second. Why does this paper feel so heavy… and textured…. And SLIDE! SPRONG! F%K! Nearly crapped myself as the entire rest of the paper wrapped around the roller came loose in one go. Quick check and thank the spheres there was no further damage when the stuff let go. So I turned the attention to what I had in my hands. Time to reflect a bit. Have you ever held a concept? The object embodiment of an idea in your hands? Smelt the odors wafting off of it? Stared at it's physical manifestation in our plane. The very essence of guilt, weigh heavy in my hands. It's stink of cooked plastic and waxes stinging my nose. And its devilish, sinister mark staring me right back in the face. A MS clipart trophy wreathed by a circular marquee that read something like "Let's go accounting, fitness champs 201x". ……. An iron on t-shirt transfer….. several actually…. screams internally Welp, that's enough for one day. So I pack up, stick everything in a box, leave a sign not to touch anything and go the F home. … Day 2 Next morning I arrive bright and early at the warehouse and start salvaging parts off of donor machines and grabbing the new parts on my shopping list. Parts in hand, and maybe after a short stop at dunks, I'm back on site ready to solve the impossible and reign as a conquering hero. So I head over to grab the fuser from its box and tear it apart for a rebuild. And there's the clipart trophy staring right back at me… from the bottom. Of an. Empty. Box. What have I done to accrue such a karma deficit? Ok quick plan of action….. find manglement and work down! Break! GO! #ME: Hay #OM! Good mornin'. (puttin' on that customer service voice) #OM: Good morning #ME -small talk- #ME: so…… one issue, um. I left a bunch of parts here last night, but I think someone moved some of them. Maybe cleaning staff…..? #OM: Oh you mean the big part you were focusing on? #ME: Yes! (YES!) #OM: I think #LT has it #ME: Ok (…) #OM: he was taking a good look at it #ME: Ok (please) #OM: And those parts you were pointing out were bent yesterday #ME: Yep(no) #OM: He's confident he can bend them back straight again #ME: Ok (NO!) #ME: Can you point me towards his office, I have stuff to repair that part with me (NONONONONONONONONONONO!) And there lay fuser. Murdered by the best of intentions. The frame holding the pressure mechanism mangled beyond saving. #LT: So I got some pretty good needle nose and vice grips so I thought I could maybe get it straight and us back up this morning #ME: So… no luck? (just goin thru the motions) #LT: I mean you got the parts to fix it up anyways, so what's the harm #ME: … #LT: … #ME: … #LT: … #ME: … #LT: You… You do have the parts you need? And this is the point where I have to turn to give #LT the look. Not the angry look. Or even the you dun fucked up look. But the sad look. The one that says "sorry son, I know we promised you a bike for xmas, but we just don't have the money this year" #ME: not anymore. Aftermath Well #LT was worried, but I'm not gonna throw the man under the bus. I wrote the fuser off as ending up, unfortunately, not being salvageable even with the repair parts (yanno, like a liar). Past the time it would take to get the machine back up and running nothing was lost as the entire fuser was to be replaced anyways once the spare was sourced. But there remains but one more player in our tale of carnage and woe. #OG So nursing the fresh emotional wounds of finding my one hope to resolve this dead on a work bench, I track down #OM and explain my findings from the previous evening, presenting to her scrutiny the icon of guilt I had extracted. Some people were called and conversations were had and in lockstep with #OM we charged to confront the guilty party. I had yet to notice the hesitation in her gait. Then in front of us was the genesis of these events. Behind her desk sitting in her chair equipped with one of those wooden bead back manager mats you normally associate with cab drivers. Staring completely unaware of the consequences of her careless actions. In front of us sat this woman. This woman who had offered me candy from the bowl on her desk. Who had chatted me up about how her husband used to ride a motorcycle like mine before he passed. Who would share tales about her grand kids. Who wore decorative sweaters it looks like she knit herself. Who had rosey cheeks and always seemed to talk in a sweet and cheery voice. Who looked like she was 10 seconds from fetching a pan of fresh baked cookies magically from below her desk. In front of me sat this lovely sweet woman, in a cubicle filled with cat plushies and pictures of her grand kids. Oh no! In front of me sat office grandma, blissfully unaware she just cost the company 5 figures in parts and service. I… I.. I can't hold this woman accountable for this! And again thank the stars no one else could either. She had previously used the tshirt transfers in her home printer and thought they would be great for making some custom shirts to raise office morale. The most me or #OM could muster was a little finger waggle and an explanation its bad for these kinds of printers. What about all the missing sheets that ended up in the fuser. Didn't even notice and didn't know the new machine was not supposed to sound like a diesel truck. And that was it…… Really. No fallout. No one got in trouble. Customer was ready to pay the entire cost of the event, but my management (completely unnecessarily and unprompted) offered to eat half the cost. 2 days later the fuser arrived from whatever sealed bunker it was being kept locked away in. And that was many hours of my life I'll never get back. Now 5 more after writing this monstrous 2000+ word post. So. Sleep time for me. Pour one out for our dead homie, fuser. Be cautious of the ignorant and well intentioned. Good night, and good luck. Edits: Formatting is hard. Anyone know if there's an export for reddit module for libreoffice? [link] [comments]  |
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