220-1101 Printers — Timed 10 Questions

Question 1

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that produces a ghost image of the previous page on the current page. The ghost image appears slightly offset. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The drum's cleaning blade is worn. Ghosting in laser printers is often caused by a worn or damaged cleaning blade on the drum unit. If the drum is not properly cleaned after each rotation, residual toner remains and transfers to the next page. Replacing the drum unit or cleaning blade resolves the issue.

Answer

The fuser temperature is too high

Answer

The toner cartridge is low on toner

Answer

The laser scanner is misaligned

Question 2

A user's laser printer is producing pages with a repeating horizontal line defect every 3.75 inches. Which component is most likely causing this issue?

Accepted Answer

OPC drum. The distance between repeating defects often matches the circumference of a roller. In laser printers, the OPC drum is typically about 3.75 inches in diameter, so a defect repeating at that interval points to a damaged drum. Other components have different circumferences.

Answer

Fuser roller

Answer

Transfer roller

Answer

Toner cartridge

Question 3

A user reports that their laser printer is producing pages with vertical black streaks. The streaks appear consistently in the same location on every page. Which printer component is most likely causing this issue?

Accepted Answer

Drum unit. Vertical black streaks on a laser printer page are typically caused by a scratched or damaged drum. The drum transfers toner to the paper, and any defect will repeat with each rotation. Cleaning or replacing the drum assembly usually resolves this issue.

Answer

Fuser assembly

Answer

Toner cartridge

Answer

Pickup roller

Question 4

A small office has an inkjet printer that is printing blank pages even though the ink cartridges are full and properly installed. What is the most likely cause of this problem?

Accepted Answer

The printhead is clogged. When an inkjet printer prints blank pages despite full cartridges, the printhead nozzles are often clogged. Ink can dry and block the tiny nozzles, preventing ink from reaching the paper. Running the printer's cleaning cycle or manually cleaning the printhead usually resolves the issue.

Answer

The printer driver is corrupted

Answer

The paper type setting is wrong

Answer

The USB cable is faulty

Question 5

A technician is installing a thermal printer for a retail point-of-sale system. The printer uses direct thermal paper. What must the technician verify to ensure proper operation?

Accepted Answer

The paper is loaded with the coated side facing the print head. Direct thermal printers require heat-sensitive paper that darkens when heated. Using the wrong paper (e.g., thermal transfer paper) will not produce an image. The technician must ensure the paper is compatible with direct thermal printing.

Answer

The printer driver is set to color mode

Answer

The printer is connected via Bluetooth

Answer

The printer has enough memory for graphics

Question 6

A user reports that their laser printer prints fine from Windows, but when they print from a macOS device, the output is garbled with random characters. Both devices are on the same network. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The macOS printer driver is incorrect. Garbled output from one OS but not another typically indicates a driver or PPD issue. macOS uses PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files for laser printers, and an incorrect or missing PPD can cause communication errors. Installing the correct driver for macOS resolves the problem.

Answer

The printer's firmware is outdated

Answer

The network cable is faulty

Answer

The printer is set to the wrong emulation mode

Question 7

A customer complains that their inkjet printer's output has horizontal white lines across the page. The cartridges are new and the printer passes a nozzle check pattern. What should the technician check next?

Accepted Answer

Inspect the paper feed rollers. Horizontal white lines on inkjet output often indicate a paper feed issue, such as dirty or worn feed rollers. The roller's surface can lose traction, causing the paper to feed unevenly and creating gaps. Cleaning or replacing the feed rollers typically resolves the problem.

Answer

Replace the printhead

Answer

Clean the encoder strip

Answer

Update the printer driver

Question 8

A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer that frequently jams paper. The jams occur mostly when printing on both sides (duplex). What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The duplex rollers are worn. Duplex printing requires the paper to be flipped and fed back through the printer, which involves additional rollers and a duplex unit. Worn or dirty duplex rollers are a common cause of jams during duplex operations. Cleaning or replacing these rollers often fixes the issue.

Answer

The paper is too thick for the printer

Answer

The fuser is overheating

Answer

The toner cartridge is low

Question 9

A user reports that their inkjet printer prints colors that are significantly different from what appears on the screen. The printer uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black cartridges. What should the technician do first to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Run the printer's color calibration utility. Color mismatch between screen and print is often due to lack of color management. The printer and monitor use different color spaces (CMYK vs. RGB). Calibrating the monitor and using ICC profiles ensures consistent color reproduction. This is the first step before replacing hardware.

Answer

Replace all ink cartridges with new ones

Answer

Clean the printhead

Answer

Change the paper type to photo paper

Question 10

A technician is setting up a new network printer for a department. The printer needs to be accessible to all users on the same subnet without a dedicated print server. Which configuration method should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

Assign a static IP address to the printer. Assigning a static IP address to the printer ensures it has a permanent address on the network, allowing all users on the subnet to connect directly. DHCP could change the IP, breaking connections. A static IP is the simplest method for direct network printing without a server.

Answer

Connect the printer via USB to a user's workstation and share it

Answer

Use DHCP with a short lease time

Answer

Install a print server on a domain controller