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220-1201 Practice Question: That their inkjet printer produces output with…
A user reports that their inkjet printer produces output with horizontal white lines through text and images. The printer has been used heavily for months without maintenance. What should you do to resolve this issue?
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
✓
Run the printer's printhead cleaning cycle
Horizontal white lines on inkjet output indicate clogged printhead nozzles. Over time, dried ink can block nozzles, preventing ink from being deposited. Running a printhead cleaning cycle uses the printer's built-in routine to clear clogs. If that fails, a manual cleaning or replacement may be needed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Replace the fuser assembly
Why it's wrong here
The fuser assembly is a component exclusively found in laser printers, where it utilizes heat and pressure to permanently bond toner powder onto the paper. Inkjet printers, by contrast, operate by spraying liquid ink directly onto the paper, which then dries. Therefore, replacing a fuser assembly would be an entirely irrelevant and ineffective action for troubleshooting any issue with an inkjet printer, as this part does not exist in their operational mechanism.
- ✗
Perform a printhead alignment
Why it's wrong here
Performing a printhead alignment calibrates the precise positioning of the printhead nozzles to ensure that all colors and text are accurately superimposed and aligned on the page. This procedure corrects issues such as blurry text, color shifts, or jagged lines where different colors fail to meet precisely. However, it does not resolve the problem of missing lines or white streaks, which are indicative of ink not being ejected from specific nozzles due to blockages, rather than incorrect positioning.
- ✓
Run the printer's printhead cleaning cycle
Why this is correct
Running the printer's printhead cleaning cycle is the primary and most effective troubleshooting step for resolving issues like missing lines, streaks, or faded output in inkjet printers. This utility forces a small amount of ink through each nozzle at high pressure, dislodging dried ink, dust, or other debris that may be causing blockages. By clearing these obstructions, the cleaning cycle restores the printhead's ability to eject ink consistently across all nozzles, thereby eliminating the white lines caused by clogged nozzles.
- ✗
Replace the pickup rollers
Why it's wrong here
Pickup rollers are mechanical components responsible for grabbing individual sheets of paper from the paper tray and feeding them accurately into the printer's paper path. When these rollers become worn, dirty, or lose their frictional grip, they typically cause paper jams, misfeeds, or the printer failing to pick up paper at all. They have no direct role in the actual deposition of ink or the quality of the printed image; therefore, replacing them would not resolve print quality defects such as white lines in the output.
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Printer Types and Components
Key term
Inkjet printer
An inkjet printer is a computer peripheral that creates printed documents or images by spraying tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper.
Key term
CAN
A CAN (Controller Area Network) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.