Color medical printer going *KTHUNK* while attempting to print Tech Support |
- Color medical printer going *KTHUNK* while attempting to print
- Repairing a (specialty) hospital printer
- Windows 10 update and Kevin
| Color medical printer going *KTHUNK* while attempting to print Posted: 09 Jan 2021 10:36 AM PST So another one from medical tech support. I received a call to drive about 3 hours away to deal with a small format color (thermal) medical printer that was jamming in new and creative ways. After the drive, I get to the site just as they are closing up imaging for the day in that department. I ask what is going on they show me to the printer and the immense mess of color film transfer that was wrapped around used film roller with virtually none of it having been used, but having been dragged across the heating element. I thank the tech and get started cleaning things up trying to figure out what is going on. I backed up the color film a couple of films worth so I could do some testing. Then I try to do one of the internal test patterns to see what is going wrong. This is one of those machines that has very distinctive sounds for each stage of printing, so I listen to the film base being lifted out of the tray, the print drum latching on to the film base, rotating into position, KTHUNK, color film transfer moving into position, transfer and base moving, vaguely identifiable test pattern on the film as it comes out. This machine is not made to KTHUNK and indeed has a glass thermal print head, so KTHUNKing is a very bad thing. Call tech support, I get one of the support people that enjoys my calls - as he once said, either it is going to be a 3 second 'because you forgot' question or it is going to be a 'learn something new about how this particular machine works because you run into issues no one else has ever reported'. I explain the KTHUNK and when it happens - he suggests the rolled pin that is used to lock the print head's movement gear. OK, that is an hour or two of tearing apart the machine, but if I can get it working then I don't have to drive back tomorrow. Machine is apart and the rolled pin is definitely sheared off. I find the other piece of it, so I can remove it to prevent damaging the printer more. I go look in my truck bed full of spare parts, random parts, things I've taken out of other machines, and such. No luck and before tech support closes they say that the reason they use the rolled pin (small sheet of metal rolled up) is because of the strains of moving the 15 lb print head back and forth. And the only way I'm getting one by tomorrow is doing an emergency call which requires the customer's approval because it adds several hundred dollars to the cost of the $18 pin. I call the regional service manager to give a report on what is going on, while standing by my truck. As I'm explaining, I notice a lamp assembly that I took out of a wet laser for holding the halogen bulbs that dry the film. It has some of the stiffest steel I've seen, but is still flexible enough that it has some give. I ask if I can try a field experiment and he reluctantly agrees. I cut 10 roller pin length pieces of this guide, take it up to the printer, manage to get 7 of them in the roller pin slot through the drive and nestled safely in the gear so they won't slip out. Run 10 films back to back - as this is typically about as rough as the workload gets for this printer. No KTHUNK, prints calibrate successfully, I can officially find a signature to get out of there. After several additional printers having the same issue and performing the same fix, that became the unofficial fix for that result in my region. None of the ad hoc pins failed in the remaining five years they were in service. Nationally, the printer was eventually replaced because of the failing rolled pin issue and the infamous KTHUNK. [link] [comments]  |
| Repairing a (specialty) hospital printer Posted: 09 Jan 2021 10:39 PM PST This was back in the 1990s, when I was self-employed as a computer technician in a mid-sized NSW country town. I was called to the local hospital to look at a printer. No big deal, except it turned out to be the printer that made the labels that go on the patients' wrists, in the admissions office. Not something I had ever seen before. Feeling a bit nervous about working on such a specialised printer, I was glad to be left alone with it. It turned on, but wouldn't do much past that. I turned it off and unplugged it, wondering what to do next. I decided to take it out of its case, so turned it over to remove screws. I was greeted by the clink of falling pieces of metal. Many pins and paperclips were falling from inside the printer onto the desk. After cleaning out all the loose metal I cleaned and lubricated the drive chain, then reconnected the printer, and it worked beautifully. From talking to the woman who used it, it became obvious that she stood over the printer with a patient's paperwork while printing their labels. That paperwork was held together by a pin or paperclip, probably depending on who had assembled it. Sometimes that pin or paperclip fell on the desk or floor, and sometimes it fell inside the printer. I politely suggested that this wasn't good for the printer! I was never called to it again, so hopefully the lesson was learned. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Jan 2021 01:15 PM PST Every windows 10 update someone brings a computer to the computer shop I work at. Most of the times it is actually that the average user would struggle to understand. The work is easy and doesn't take long. However this one guy let's call him Kevin mid 50s not particularly tech savvy brings in a laptop and is very impatient. Me: M Kevin: K M: What is the problem? K: I left it on the side to do an update and when I came back the screen was black I already explained to (my boss). M: Alright let's turn it on quickly to see if it went to sleep. Turn on the computer and the windows update is being reversed don't power off screen comes up clearly turned off during he has done this before. M: Did you turn off the laptop during the update? K: The screen was black I am in a hurry just fix it. In short we had to let windows do its thing and that is it. The update was fine no problems. We figured might as well do a basic check up no malware. So we charged Kevin £15 and the job took about 30 minutes. TLDR: Kevin impatience to wait for an update to finish on a perfectly good laptop cost him £15 for us to do it [link] [comments]  |
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