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220-1201 Practice Question: A technician is troubleshooting a laser printer…
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?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
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 analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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The paper is too thick for the printer
Why it's wrong here
While excessively thick paper can indeed cause paper jams in a laser printer, this issue typically affects all printing modes, including simplex (single-sided) operation, due to increased resistance in the paper path or difficulty with pickup rollers. If the problem is specifically occurring only during duplex printing, it strongly indicates a fault within the dedicated duplexing mechanism rather than a general paper handling limitation related to paper thickness. Therefore, thick paper is unlikely to be the sole cause of jams exclusive to duplex mode.
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The fuser is overheating
Why it's wrong here
An overheating fuser assembly in a laser printer primarily causes print quality defects rather than paper jams, especially not ones specific to duplexing. Symptoms of an overheating fuser include toner smudging, poor toner adhesion, or excessive paper curling and warping due to the intense heat. While severe paper curling could potentially lead to a jam, the root cause would be print quality degradation, and it would not specifically target the mechanical paper path unique to the duplexing process.
- ✓
The duplex rollers are worn
Why this is correct
Worn duplex rollers are a common cause of paper jams that occur exclusively during double-sided printing. In duplex mode, the printer partially ejects the printed side, then reverses the paper's direction and feeds it back through a specific set of rollers to print on the second side. If these dedicated duplex rollers are worn, they lose their necessary friction and grip, failing to properly grab, guide, or flip the paper during this critical re-entry sequence, leading to frequent and specific jams only when attempting duplex operation.
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The toner cartridge is low
Why it's wrong here
A low toner cartridge in a laser printer primarily affects print quality, resulting in faded, light, or incomplete images and text output. This condition does not physically impede the paper path or the mechanical operation of the printer's paper handling components, including the duplexing unit. Therefore, a low toner level would not cause paper jams, particularly not those that are specific to the complex paper reversal and re-feeding process involved in duplex printing.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
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This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.