How to Work Out Printer ERROR 50.4?

While printing in laser printers we might face such an error message like Error 50.4 with all stuck up. There are many other printer problems. You might actually have to switch off and then switch on the printer but still the error messages might reappear on the display. Different error messages, be it a plain text or a number like the one we are discussing here is very significant to the understanding of the printer-fault.

In this case, it is the fuser of the printer, the mechanism by which the toner melts on the media is the reason of the printer problem. Thinking how can the fuser go bad? It is mostly due to the line voltage. After long usage, the wire windings in the fuser go bad and there might be a sudden spike in temperature in the fuser.

The necessary thing to do at this point of time is to change the power source. Try a different wall outlet and remove spike busters or power strips that could be present in between. Connect the power supply plug directly to the wall outlet.

It is a possibility that even after changing the fuser the problem still persisted not letting you print anything. The problem in such a case is an f.e.t. transistor on the circuit board of the printer and that is again something you cannot fix if you are not very technically savvy and have soldering equipment handy. You might have to replace the printer by calling the manufacturer if it is within warranty.

You can talk to a remote tech support provider for getting help.

Most Common Printer Problems

Printer is a commonly used device which is essential for our day to day activities. Some common problems like printing garbage, error message on computer, no response, wrong text attributes in text, faded texts etc are some very common problems. These can be solved if you follow the steps described by the computer support expert team in most of the time.

If you have Inkjet printers and you are facing the problem like printing garbage this can probably be due to the wrong printer driver installation. In this case you can call to the tech support experts any time and they will direct you the steps you need to follow then.

If you get no response from the printer and an error message is shown it can be due to connection error. In this case the computer help service advice to check whether the cables are properly connected. You can consult the manual for advises on what cabling you need to select.

Sometimes you can see some texts have wrong print attributes like in the soft copy it was written as bold but in the hard copy it came out as normal attributes. This thing generally happen when a wrong printer driver is installed.

Another common problem with the printer is that sometimes it looks like that it is printing but no ink can be seen. The computer help experts say that this happens mainly due to the missing of ink cartridge installation. Because sometimes it is a different item from the print head assembly that is already installed in the printer from the factory.

Another problem has been noticed many times. In many times it is seen that parts of characters are missing or characters not coming into the correct color. The computer repair experts say suggest that this may be due to the fact that the ink cartridge is either clogged or running out of ink. They suggest that you should run the software cleaning utility to fix the clog. In case of ink cartridge running out of ink you need to replace the same.

When Laser printer is concerned the prints garbage is caused mainly due to the result of a wrong or corrupt printer driver, such as a PostScript driver on a non-PostScript printer. Computer help experts advice to install the right driver for proper service.

Sometimes the letters are seen to jumble together .This happens mainly because the font is unavailable. In case the printer is taking too much time in printing the computer help experts suggest that you need to check whether printer is trying to print text in graphics mode. Then you need to put a font change code at the beginning of the document for a font that exists on the printer.

If the printing is found smeared or you found some faint lines on the page this may be due to the dirty or broken fuser. You need to replace it if this is the case.

Source: sooperarticles.com

How to Fix HP Printer Error Code 20?

HP Printer error code 20, as the name describes, is a problem with the HP printer on your system. The issue is typically caused if the printer is either not configured correctly, or your system tries to send an erroneous command to it. This error will typically show when you try and print a document / spreadsheet or another piece of data from your system, and will stop the print-out from proceeding. In order to fix this, it's advisable that you follow the steps outlined in this tutorial.

The HP error 20 will generally show in this format:

"Printer not activated - Error code 20″

There are several reasons why this error may show, including having an outdated / erroneous printer driver, not installing the printer software you need on your PC correctly, or having registry errors on your system. The bottom line of the problem is basically that when you try and print out a document / file from your Printer, there are certain issues which prevent Windows from either recognizing or connecting with the printer on your system. To fix the issue, you need to repair the various problems which cause this to occur - which can be done in quite an easy way.

The first thing to do to ensure the error code 20 is does not show up again on your system is make your HP printer the "default" printer. It might be the case that your system will be unable to use the printer as it cannot identify which one to use. Making your HP printer your default printer will resolve this issue, and should help your system to correctly print out. After that, you should also look to reinstall the HP printer software on your computer. This will essentially remove the printer from your PC and then place it back there again - allowing your system to correct any potential issues it had the last time it was installed.

It's highly recommended that you also "clean out the registry" of your PC by using a registry cleaner program. These are software tools which will fix any errors that are inside the 'registry' of your system - which is a large database that Windows uses to store vital settings and information for your computer. It's often the case that many registry settings will either become damaged or corrupted - leading your PC to be unable to use the files that it needs to run. This often causes a variety of errors to show, and is one of the main reasons for the HP printer error code 20 showing. To fix this, it's advisable that you clean out the registry of your system with a registry cleaner tool.

Source: ezinearticles.com

Troubleshooting Printer Problems

Printer problems are one of the more frustrating issues we computer users sometimes have to deal with.  That's because most of us only have one printer attached to the computer and when we need to print something, we typically need it now. 

There are many different things can cause printer problems, but regardless of the problem, the basic steps to troubleshoot the problem are the same.  Hopefully the steps below will help solve your problem.  If they don't, you may need to contact technical support for further help.

First things first .....

Look for error messages on the computer or the printer itself.  These messages can help you find the cause  immediately.  Some of the common error messages you may see include paper jam or no ink.  Some printers only have flashing lights to indicate problems.  Your printer manual should be able to help you decipher what the flashing lights mean.  If you don't have your printer manual (or can't find it), you should be able to download a copy of it on the manufacturer's website.

Listen to the printer.  If you hear the printer trying to print, then you know the computer is talking to the printer and that the problem is in the printer itself.  It may be that the printer is out of paper, or the paper isn't feeding correctly.  if you don't hear anything, the printer is either off  (or really dead) or the computer may not be talking to the printer (which requires further troubleshooting).

The next step is to check the printer queue.  Every time we click the print button, the print job is sent to the queue and when the printer isn't working, these print jobs can pile up (causing more problems).  Checking the print queue will reveal backlogged print jobs ... and if there are any, you'll want to delete them all.  Follow the steps below to check the print queue.

1. Click the START button and then CONTROL PANEL
2. Open the PRINTER folder
3. Double-left click on your printer icon (a new window opens)
4. If there are any print jobs queued, they will show up on the window.  When troubleshooting the printer, you want to delete all of these print jobs. To do this, single-left click a job (to highlight it) and then click DOCUMENT and CANCEL on the window's menu. Repeat the process for every print job. 
5. Once the print queue is empty, it wouldn't hurt to reboot the computer as well as power-cycle the printer.

Power-Cycling the Printer is another good troubleshooting step when having printer problems.  Doing so re-initializes the printer and can clear up some issues.  You can also reboot the computer.  Sometimes it's best to shut down the computer, then power-cycle the printer, and then start the computer back up.  This helps to re-establish communication between the two.

Check the Manufacturer's web site for more help. Most manufacturer web sites have a good support section that details common problems and how to fix them.  They may also offer software patches to fix known technical issues. This step may be too advanced for some people, but this is still an option.

Uninstalling your printer's software and reinstalling is another option ... although, I typically consider this a last resort.  If you do decide to try this, be sure to uninstall through the control panel.  If you don't have your printer disk, you can download the software from the manufacturer's web site. Be sure to get the software that matches your operating system (Winy7, Vista, XP, etc.) and System Type (32 or 64 bit).

Ink Problems are another common issue all together.  Most of these problems can be solved by cleaning the print heads, removing the tape on the ink cartridge, reseating ink cartridges, or changing cartridges all together.  Your printer manual can help you accomplish these tasks. 

These steps won't fix every printer problem, but they do fix the majority of them.  And with luck, they'll fix yours as well.