Hello
First I would just like to say a huge hello and welcome to our new members, so here it is… Hello & Welcome! It is lovely to have you all here. If you have any technical questions just head straight over to The Clubroom and ask away. We usually answer questions once or twice a day during the week so you shouldn’t have to wait long for an answer. A quick reminder that if you spot a question from someone else and have a though about it don’t be shy about leaving a comment.
An so, onto my least favourite piece of hardware.
Printers…
I have had so, so, so many questions about printers. WiFi Printers, USB Printers, Laserjet Printers, broken printers and printers with lines on. I feel it is possibly time for me to put together a help guide for printers.
But I want to make sure it covers the things you most want to know about…
… please leave comments below about anything printer related you would like me to cover.
As a starter I was thinking the following things:
- WiFi Printers v USB printers
- Difference between Laserjet and Inkjet (and my favourite, Dot-matrix*)
- Printing from iPads / Android Tablets
- What to look for in a new printer
- Basic Troubleshooting (the next step up from turning it off and on again)
- Printers not working on older version of Windows
- 3D printers?
- …
Again if you think of something you want to know more about in detail just pop a comment below.
What do you think? Is this something which would benefit you?
Watch a how a comedian deals with an unwanted printer (age 15+, UK Viewing only, sorry.)
Mike
Not a printer owner!
*Not my friend Dot and her collection of fine-grained rocks with gems, crystals, or fossils embedded…
February 27, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Hello Mike, I have a printing problem, my printer has been great from the beginning but suddenly I can’t print from the computer, the WiFi is fine in both the laptop and the printer, it prints the test pages and even with them everything is OK, I’ve also used the original disc with the set up , that went well and it said print a test page and it did but they are still not talking to each other, it will scan and copy but not print , on its icon it says ‘not connected’. I’ve spent hours over the weekend trying all sort of things but to no avail. Hope you have a solution. Thank You. Vincent. ps, the printer is HP Photpsmart 5520. it prints from my Ipad alright.
February 28, 2017 at 9:57 am
Hi Vincent
I’m afraid I can’t think what would be causing the problems, is the printer connected to your computer with a cable or are you just connected to it via WiFi? I would be tempted to try it with a cable if it is jsut over WiFi, or if it has a cable, unplug the cable from the PC and plug it in a different USB Port.
I really have no clue as to why it is suddenly not working!? I think I would start with the HP Printer Doctor program, you can find a link to that on my printers page here: https://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/index.php/2016/12/top-troubleshooting-tips-wifi-printers/
There is also a phone number for HP on that page and it would be worth giving them a ring to see what they suggest.
Please give the HP Dr program a try and let me know how you get on and we can go from there.
Thanks
Mike 🙂
November 17, 2016 at 11:44 am
Many thanks – the “File Explorer” option works
November 17, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Fantastic!
Thanks for letting me know
Mike 🙂
November 7, 2016 at 10:37 am
Hi Mike I have an HTC 9 and a Samsung s2 tablet.IUse whatsapp on my phone and would lke to know how to transfer photos from my phone to my tablet.
Your help wil be appreciated as I am 88yrs young !!
Thank you
Roy Amos
November 7, 2016 at 6:07 pm
Hello
If you have Google Photos app installed on both devices, and logged into the same Google Account then photos should sync between both devices.
To get photos out of WhatsApp you tap and hold on the image and press “save” on the popup box.
If you have different Google accounts on each device let me know and we can have another think…
Hope this helps
Mike
October 28, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Hello Tim
I am another new subscriber and have high hopes now of solving my difficulties!
Firstly – printers: I have a Brother DCP-197C which I used with my previous computer, XP, but now have Windows 10. It works fine for printing and copying BUT I can’t figure out how to scan pictures/documents from it to the computer. With my old computer there were a set of instructions on how to scan but with Windows 10 I can’t find any. Any suggestions?
October 29, 2016 at 9:48 am
Hi Jenepher
Welcome to the Inner Circle, nice to have you here.
To scan something in Windows 10, Open the start menu and type in “Scan” (just start typing) then click on the App called “Scan” (the logo has a blue background)
Once this is open click “New Scan” button.
If that doesn’t work
If there is no scan button then your computer doesn’t recognise the scanner on your printer. Open the start menu again and type Scan. This time open the program called “Scan and Fax”. Again click the “New Scan” button and see if this works.
If not let me know and we can have another think.
Thank you
Mike
November 4, 2016 at 12:10 pm
Hi Mike,
Thanks for that. However, there was no “Scan” button so I clicked “Scan and Fax” and this worked. BUT from that I only seem to manage to move the scanned picture to an email but not to a document, which is what I need.
Below the “Scan and Fax” there is a cogwheel alongside of which is “Scan”. I tried this but no luck (or don’t I understand the jargon?)
Looking forward to your suggestions,
Jenepher
November 4, 2016 at 5:55 pm
Hello
Ahhh sometimes the scan button can be a little slow to appear, sorry I should have said that. Type scan into the start menu then wait a few moments and you should see the option like in my screen shot here:
https://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/start-menu-scan-fax-and-scan.png
If that doesn’t work…
The Fax and Scan program you used saves the files in the Documents folder in File Explorer
In File Explorer go to “Documents”, then look for the folder “Scanned Documents”, your scanned files will be in here.
C:Users[Mike]DocumentsScanned Documents
Hope this helps, but do let me know if you need a little more detail
Mike 🙂
October 24, 2016 at 11:10 am
I have a Android tablet. I have two problems at present.
1. I cannot load any new apps because I don’t have enough storage space on the internal memory. I have a 32gb removable micro SD card installed. Why is this not being used to store new apps? This card is mounted according to the tablet.
2. I copied a number of CD’s on to the tablet from a PC. But I cannot platy them on the tablet. In the past I downloaded a number of different music apps but they didn’t work. Any suggestions you have will be appreciated.
October 25, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Hi Charles
Storage Space
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/move-android-apps-to-sd-card,news-21279.html
I just tried this on my phone and it didn’t work, then re-read the instructions and it says “Your device may not support this feature at all”
So it could be that some of the music you have copied across is on your device.
In settings, tap on “Storage” and it should show you a graph explaining where all your space has gone. Mine looks like this:
https://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screenshot_2016-10-25-12-45-49.png
Music
Do you know what format the music is in? (MP3, WAV, Other…) The built-in Media player should automatically pick this is up.
If you could let me know if you know then I can have a think about which App to suggest. Normally we suggest VLC Player which plays most audio and video files you can find out more here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc
Let me know your thoughts.
Thank you
Mike
October 22, 2016 at 4:56 pm
Hi, I have Epson Stylus Photo RX520. I have tried to scan 35mm slides,but an error note appears informing me to reposition the slide,the. Epson slide holder is positioned correctly as far as I can see and according to manual.Hoping you may be able give an answer to the problem, Thanks.
October 24, 2016 at 11:02 am
Hi Peter
I am so sorry, I can’t find anything other than the manual for this printer.
I think the first thing I would try would be to contact Epson on 01952 607 111 (Monday to Friday from 9am to 5.30pm)
Let me know if they can/can’t help and I will do my best to help if they can’t.
Have you tried turning the printer off and on again (I know, I know. But sometimes this does actually work 🙂
Mike
October 22, 2016 at 6:00 am
How do I find if there has been any updates to my android tablet?
October 22, 2016 at 6:25 pm
Hi Pam
There are two types of updates to Android phones:
System Updates
These are the updates to the actual operating system (Android) and are fairly rare.
These will show in the top black bar, if you drag the bar down from the top of the screen it will says “Android Version XXxx is ready to install, tap to install” or similar. If there is nothing there then there is no update.
App Updates
Generally you will get a few App updates per week. And these will install automatically.
You can check for these manually by opening the Play Store App, selecting “My Apps and Games” from the left hand menu. Then it shows a list of “recently updated” apps, or a “Update All” button. if it shows the button just tap on it to do the updates.
Hope this answers your question
Mike
October 18, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Hi Mike, Printers!! How does one get a printer, that is telling you it is offline, back on line.?
Looks like Talktalk is out of action again. I am unable to access my E-mail account witch means I can
not complete the “have I been pwned “I clicked on the web page and entered my E-mail and I got an all
clear. So that is a relief . Will just have to wait until Talktalk is back on line. Cheers Ernie
October 19, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Hi Ernie
Oh dear, TalkTalk have a status page you can check their status here http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Service-Status-Dashboard/bd-p/service
Looks like everything is back to normal now.
As for the printer, is it telling you it is offline on the actual printer, or in Windows?
If it is in Windows, open the start menu and type in “Printers” open “devices and printers” find your printer in the list (towards the bottom) and right click on it.
You might need to power off your PC (restart not shutdown) and your Printer. You might also need to unplug it and plug it into a different USB port.
Let me know if the message is on your printer, and let me know the make and model and I can look into it further
Glad you got the all clear!
Thank you
Mike
October 11, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Hullo! First call. I have a printer, HP Envy 5530 [1 EA622] and a iPadAir. I use OS 10 and Pages and Sky email. In the past I have no difficulty in printing out emails, and docs in Pages. Currently with emails it prints email instructions (in blue) and download boxes but no text, and with Pages no text whatever.
Can you help me get over this glitch,please? I am normally quite optimistic!
Yours
October 12, 2016 at 11:34 am
Hey James
Ahh printers… I love printers… Well maybe not, but anyway, lets see what we can do…
I am unsure what you men by “downloaded boxes” sorry, could you describe in a little more detail what is being printed.
Having looked up your printer make and model and its use on iPads the recommendation appears to be to install the App called
” HP ePrint mobile app”
Is this something you have installed already? If not it might be worth looking for it in the iTunes store and installing it from there.
If you let me know a few more details about what exactly is printing I will do my best to help.
Thank you
Mike
October 7, 2016 at 2:06 pm
I have an Android tablet and sometimes I want to print out things like emails I’ve received. I have an Epson Wi-Fi printer so can you tell me how I can send the info to it for printing?
October 8, 2016 at 12:22 pm
Hi Jean
Please could you let me know the following details.
1. Your Printer model number
2. The Android version you are running (WikiHow shows you how to find the version) http://www.wikihow.com/Check-What-Android-Version-You-Have
According to the Epson help page here https://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Landing/android-print.do?UseCookie=yes you need Android 4.4 or more to make wi-fi printing work.
If you scroll down the page a little way you can select “view video” which talks you though the setup.
If you let me know your Printer model and Android version then I can provide further help
Many thanks
Mike
October 10, 2016 at 9:49 pm
Hello Mike, Here’s the info you need – My printer model is XP-312 & my Android tablet is version 4.42. Tk you, Jean Lewis
October 11, 2016 at 9:40 am
Hello Jean
Thanks for getting back to me.
I have read some of the details on this printer, and it looks like you can print from from your Android tablet. Which is good news!
The bad news is, that there seems to be lots of ways of making it work.
I think the way I would try first is a process called Google Cloud Print, which according to the Epson website your printer is compatible with.
You can learn more and get started setting it up over at the Google Cloud Print website here, just click on the button which says “Try it now” to get started.
Have a read and give it a go, if it won’t work for you (there are lots of mixed reviews) or if you would like me to go into a little more detail. let me know and we can have a think about a plan B.
Let me know how you get on
Mike
October 17, 2016 at 1:07 am
Hi Mike,
Sorry I’ve taken so long to get back to you. I noted your reply and tried the Google Cloud Print but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to follow everything through because I wasn’t quite sure of what to do, or interpret what it said (I’m not very computer illiterate although somethings I can do quite well). You said you maybe had a plan B. I might add (if it helps) my printer is WiFi set up and I have an Epson iPrint app on my tablet (GoTab GBT10X). I also have a Printer instruction manual but I can’t find anything that helps me program it to receive from a tablet, nor understand what my tablet tells me to do to send anything to print. I’m not really a stupid person but I am confused by much of the terminology. Hope this doesn’t send you tearing your hair out in despair. Jean
October 18, 2016 at 9:19 am
Hi Jean
It’s really no problem. I have huge problems with printers. I just don’t understand why they can’t work in a simple way!
What happens currently if you press print on your tablet, the print option is often in the top right menu, sometimes it has three dots. or it could be anywhere =
?
Mike
Not a fan of printers 🙂
October 6, 2016 at 11:03 am
Anything to help with printers is a bonus! I have a hate/hate relationship with any printer and I don’t understand why it is not simple! Upgrading to Windows 10 for example confused my printer at first but I managed to get my own way in the end. Good luck and I look forward to your guide. .
October 6, 2016 at 11:18 am
Hi Joy
Nice to hear from you, I too don’t understand why they can’t be simple.
They always seem to have caused problems for me too. I have to admit that I gave my last printer to my mum and never replaced it.
Keep an eye out on the Journal for future printer related posts.
Mike 🙂
-also not a fan of printers-
October 5, 2016 at 8:37 pm
Hi Tim,
Bill here, new member, thinking of buying a new computer & printer for family use so any information on printers would be very welcome. Been browsing the site & very impressed for my 27p. A day
October 6, 2016 at 10:06 am
Hi Bill
Nice to have you here. Glad you are finding the site helpful.
We will certainly take printers for different purposes into account, if there is anything you would like to see us discuss in more detail just let us know, we can’t promise to cover everything but we will do our best.
Thank you
Mike