Power Cycling Hardware

Posted in: Tips & Tricks, blog by Jack on 12 July 2010

When I worked on help desks we frequently advised people to power cycle their hardware and see if that corrected the particular problem they were experiencing. We offered that advice so often that some folks accused us of using that as “busy work”, a tactic to get people off the phone and out of our hair.

That wasn’t, and isn’t, the case. Power cycling performs a vital function. It clears out errors and corruption that can occur in volatile memory, memory which requires power in order to store data. Once power is shut off to volatile memory the data it is storing is lost.

Examples of volatile memory configurations

Most single-function devices like printers, routers and modems have volatile memory chips. This short-term memory stores information relating to start-up errors, cartridge status and machine readiness.

When a device is power cycled it clears out all the data in volatile memory; a power cycle is similar to a reboot of the operating system.

Occasionally a print job sent by the computer becomes corrupted en route and once stored in the printer’s volatile memory refuses to allow another print job to be completed. The first step in fixing this issue is to open Printers and Faxes in the Control Panel (Windows XP, Vista, 7), select your printer and choose the option that deletes or clears the print queue. All too often this accomplishes nothing.

The next step would be to power cycle the printer. This should clear all the pending print jobs from memory and return the printer to a ready-to-print status.

A power cycle can be accomplished in two ways. You can simply turn the device off with its power switch, wait 15-30 seconds, then turn its power back on. This works in most devices that do not have internal batteries. The more effective way to power cycle any device is to first turn off the power with its switch then unplug the device from its supply of electricity. This cuts off all power to the device so that even things like computers, TVs and some printers that have an internal battery will shut completely down. Wait up to a minute before plugging the device back in and powering it up.

Just as most computer experts will suggest the occasional full reboot of your computer, the occasional power cycle of your electronic devices that run on A/C can help performance and clear out problems with the memory.

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Canon 210/ 210XL and 211/211XL

Posted in: blog, inkjet by Jack on 9 April 2010

We now have inks and weights for the Canon 210 and 211 series cartridges.

Pricing for refilled cartridges in this series is:

• PG-210 blk  $11.99
• CL-211 color  $14.99
• PG-210XL  $14.99
• CL-211XL  $18.99

At present we have a couple of cores on-hand that we were able to resuscitate, but most of those we had collected have sat empty too long for us to reuse. We would encourage you to bring in your freshly emptied cartridges for us to refill. You may have to wait 10-15 minutes but you’re more likely to get a cartridge that works. Eventually we’ll build up a backstock of these and have them available for purchase in quantity.

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Samsung ML-2525 on sale at Fry’s

Posted in: blog, laser by Jack on 2 April 2010

There are often really good bargains to be found at the week-end sales at Fry’s Electronics. I don’t usually recommend shopping at Fry’s as it can be a frustrating experience to find what you need. But for those brave enough to wander the aisles of the cavernous store some good deals can be found.

Samsung ML-2525

This weekend Fry’s is selling the Samsung ML-2525 monochrome (black only) laser printer for only $59.99 after an instant savings of $48.00.

If you only ever print out forms, receipts and documents with no color, you can reduce your costs by a substantial amount over the life of your printer by switching from an inkjet printer to a laser printer. The cost-per-page with a laser printer can be as much as a tenth of the per page cost of an inkjet. In addition there’s no worrying about ink cartridges drying out or leaking with a laser printer.

The Samsung ML-2525 is one of the new breed of laser printers aimed at the home user. They take up no more room than an inkjet printer, they’re quiet and easy to operate. These printers offer no copy function, so if you need a printer with a scanner and copier, this would not be a model for you. These printers are generally easily recognized by Windows, Macintosh and Linux, so no matter which operating system you use connecting this printer to your system should be plug-and-play simple.

If you still want to have the option of printing in color, you can have more than one printer connected to your computer, especially if both connect via USB. The only consideration would be that you should remove the color cartridges (if they are the type with an integrated print head) if you aren’t going to be using the inkjet printer for a while. Keep them store in a cool, dark place with the clip on the color cartridge until you need them.

The cartridge required for the ML-2525 is the MLT-D105S which is available at office supply stores for around $70. Currently we do not have parts available to remanufacture these cartridges but we are looking into the possibility of reusing these in the near future.

The Fry’s site describes the ML-2525:

The ML-2525 mono printer is designed to fit into any workspace. Built for durability boasting print speed of 24 ppm and a monthly duty cycle of 12,000 pages.

Geared to give more print flexibility, the ML-2525 series printers offer a range of features to make you more productive. These include a print screen function so you can print what you see on your screen at the touch of a button.

• Designed to fit into any workspace, this mono laser printer is built for durability
• Print speeds up to 24 ppm to keep you on track
• A monthly duty cycle of 12,000 pages for durability
• Built-in 8MB memory
• 250-sheet paper tray

• Output Type Black and White
• Printer Type Laser Printer

• Automatic Two-Sided Printing No
• Printer Type Laser Printer
• Output Type Black and White
• Networking No
• Paper Capacity Up to 250 pages
• Print Speed Black Up to 24 ppm
• Weight 16.09 lbs
• Maximum Paper Size 8.5″ x 14″
• Dimensions (W x D x H) 14.2″ x 15.3″ x 7.8″
• Maximum Resolution Up to 1200 x 600 dpi
• Monthly Duty Cycle 12,000 pages
• Connectivity High Speed USB 2.0
• Memory 8 MB

I use a Samsung ML-2010 at home and have nothing but good to say about the brand and printer. It’s a solid performer that is always ready to print when I need it to.

If you’re in the market for a basic laser printer for your home or office, the ML-2525 may meet your needs. If you’d prefer to get one that uses cartridges we can remanufacture, check out the following Samsung models:

• ML-1610 CW cartridge price $49.99
• ML-1710 CW cartridge price  $54.99
• ML-2010 CW cartridge price $54.99
• ML-2250 CW cartridge price $69.99

These models may be hard to find at retail outlets; you may have to check Craigslist or eBay.

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Laying cities and lives to e-waste

Posted in: blog, store by Jack on 4 August 2009

True, the economy is perhaps the greatest challenge facing our country. But there’s one aspect of our economy that is seldom addressed. Trash.

We are constantly encouraged to buy stuff. Buying stuff is supposed to make us happy, make us appear successful, justify our jobs. Ever hour on TV and in nearly every magazine we are deluged with advertising, exorting us to spend, spend, spend. Yet you can’t simply keep buying stuff without eventually having to throw some stuff away, even if it’s only the packaging your stuff came in.

I want to focus on electronic stuff. In many cases your new stuff is an upgrade to stuff you already have; a newer TV, a faster computer, a bigger monitor. You’ve finally given in to all the hype and bought yourself an iPhone. Now what do you do with your ancient cell phone (you know it’s ancient-all it can do is make phone calls)? No one on Craigslist wants it. You couldn’t get a single bid for it on eBay. Ah, what the heck, just toss it in the trash. The same scenario often plays out with monitors. You just got a sleek new 22″ widescreen LCD monitor, and now you have to find a new home for that 20th century monster CRT you’ve been using since AOL was a startup. All your friends are much cooler than you, they’ve been using LCDs for ages. None of them has any use for a 75 pound piece of dead technology. Once again Craigslist and eBay disappoint. Well, you know anything left out in the alley overnight disappears, so just park your old friend in the alley, or if your neighborhood is upscale, down the alley behind your neighbor’s house, and with any luck it will be gone before you leave for work the next morning.

OK, I’m using a touch of humor to make my point, but e-waste is deadly serious. Electronic trash is a world-wide concern. It is a problem that some nations attempt to solve by burdening other nations with their dangerous discards.

On the outskirts of Ghana’s biggest city sits a smoldering wasteland, a slum carved into the banks of the Korle Lagoon, one of the most polluted bodies of water on earth. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah.

Agbogbloshie has become one of the world’s digital dumping grounds, where the West’s electronic waste, or e-waste, piles up — hundreds of millions of tons of it each year.

When containers of old computers first began arriving in West Africa a few years ago, Ghanaians welcomed what they thought were donations to help bridge the digital divide. But soon exporters learned to exploit the loopholes by labeling junk computers “donations”…

“Some are from Germany and the U.K., and also from America,” he says, when asked where the equipment has come from. He sorts through them looking for working electronics that can be sold. He says that maybe 50 percent of the shipment is junk and the rest he will be able to salvage in some way.

E-waste generators are seldom malicious. We don’t carelessly abandon our discarded electronics with the intent to destroy another country or harm its kids. We just don’t think about it. We ignore the implications of our actions. We aren’t aware of what happens to our electronic trash nor do we want to know. We prefer ignorance. It’s such a massive problem and we feel so helpless to make any significant impact on it. Beside, our contribution to the problem is so small it hardly counts. I mean, it was only a hard drive we tossed in the trash.

As part of the investigation, one of the students buys a number of hard drives to see what is on them, secretly filming the transaction to avoid the seller’s suspicions.

The drives are purchased for the equivalent of US$35.

The students take the hard drives to Regent University in the Ghanaian capital and ask computer scientist Enoch Kwesi Messiah to help read what is on them.

Within minutes, he is scrolling through intimate details of people’s lives, files left behind by the hard drives’ original owners.

There is private financial data, too: credit card numbers, account information, records of online transactions the original owners may not have realized were even there.

“ I can get your bank numbers and I retrieve all your money from your accounts,” Messiah says. “If ever somebody gets your hard drive, he can get every information about you from the drive, no matter where it is hidden.”

That’s particularly a problem in a place like Ghana, which is listed by the U.S. State Department as one of the top sources of cyber crime in the world. And it’s not just individuals who are exposed. One of the drives the team has purchased contains a $22 million government contract.

It turns out the drive came from Northrop Grumman, one of America’s largest military contractors. And it contains details about sensitive, multi-million dollar U.S. government contracts. They also find contracts with the defense intelligence agency, NASA, even Homeland Security.

(Quotes courtesy of PBS’s Frontline)

If this issue does concern you or you’d like to know why it should, follow the above link to read the full story and view the episode of Frontline. Then do the planet a favor and learn more about responsible e-waste disposal in your area.

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Portable inkjet printers reviewed

Posted in: Printers, Reviews, blog by Jack on 21 May 2009

One of our customers inquired today about portable inkjet printers, and while there isn’t a source of reviews comparable to the ones for laser printers that I could find, I did run across the following that I hope will be of some help.

Portable inkjet printers are a compact and lightweight option for use with laptops. They can run on battery or electrical power; some even have an optional adapter to run off a car’s cigarette lighter. Reviews say that portable printers can’t match the speed of desktop printers and cost much more both to buy and to run. They are made for low-volume use. Many portable printers are Bluetooth compatible, which means that they will work with a wireless adapter and can receive input from a PDA or mobile phone.

The Canon Pixma iP100 (*Est. $235) receives great comments from CNet.com’s Justin Yu, who says that its speed and resolution are top notch for a portable printer. Print quality is also praised and text is said to be clean, with Simon Williams of TrustedReviews.com stating that the iP100 is on par with full-sized, desktop inkjet printers.

The iP100 is an update of the Canon Pixma ip90v portable printer, and there are several notable improvements. These include a larger number of printheads, higher color resolution, 50-sheet input capacity (an increase of 20 sheets), faster printing and, according to the CNet.com review, a slight improvement in print quality. Connectivity options include PictBridge, USB and infrared for connection to cell phones. There are no memory card slots and the iP100 printer does not offer Wi-Fi connectivity.

HP’s Officejet H470 portable printer (*Est. $220) does not fare as well at CNet.com, where Justin Yu says problems include “fuzzy” and “blurred” text. Photos print out smooth, Yu says, but colors are flat and lack saturation. PC Magazine’s M. David Stone largely agrees, saying the H470′s text quality is “subpar,” and notes banding when printing in certain modes. U.K.-based PC Advisor sees similar issues, but the reviewer writes that swapping the default black ink cartridge for an optional six-ink photo cartridge resulted in “superb” output on photo paper. Simon Williams of TrustedReviews.com, on the other hand, feels that the H470 performs well for a portable printer, and that its print speeds actually exceed HP’s specifications. He also disagrees with negative assessments of the H470′s text printing, saying that even when reproducing small fonts there is only “slight fuzziness” around the edges.

Reviews that contrast the HP Officejet H470 with the Canon Pixma iP100 are inconclusive as to which is the superior product. M. David Stone at PC Magazine notes that while the iP100 is superior in speed and some aspects of print quality, the H470 wins out in such areas as ink cartridge yields. Both printers have some similar costly, optional add-ons, such as Bluetooth adapters and lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

If you are searching for a portable printer, there are some key differences in features between the Canon Pixma iP100 and HP Officejet H470 that may help you choose the best model. Most notably, HP’s H470 offers Wi-Fi connectivity and memory card slots. It also costs less to equip and operate; for instance, the H470′s optional battery costs around $50, while the iP100′s is twice as expensive. HP even offers a soft carrying case — a frill missing with the Pixma iP100. If you do not need these options and value print quality above all else, however, reviews indicate that Canon’s Pixma iP100 is the better performing portable printer. (Source – Consumer Search)

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Color laser printers reviewed

Posted in: blog, laser by Jack on

In January, PC World Magazine reviewed some of the newer color laser printers on the market and gave their top marks to the Dell 3130CN.

B&W Pages per Min.: B&W PPM:31, Color Pages per Min.: Color PPM:26, Max. B&W dpi: 600-by-600, Max. Color dpi: 600-by-600, Tray Capacity, pages: 400
Bottom Line: Spoil your small workgroup with this printer’s speed, great output quality, and cheap toner.

The printers they have reviewed are intended for use in small to medium businesses. They are still a bit too expensive for the average home user. For example, the Dell 3130CN retails for around $520 0nline while at Staples the cartridges are priced at $142 for black, $253 each for the colors. That’s $901 for a full round of cartridges. Unfortunately at present we are unable to remanufacture these cartridges.

PC World’s second favorite color laser printer is the Brother HL-4040CN. These printers cost around $350, though refurbished models are available for $100 less. 

B&W Pages per Min.: B&W PPM:21, Color Pages per Min.: Color PPM:21, Max. B&W dpi: 2400-by-600, Max. Color dpi: 2400-by-600, Tray Capacity, pages: 300
Bottom Line: This competent printer balances good pricing, speed, and print quality with a sometimes-awkward design.

Consumables for this printer at retail will run you $91 for the black cartridge and $128 for each color cartridge (price reflects the high yield TN-115), a total of $475 for each full cartridge change. We charge $49 for the black and $69 for each color cartridge, bring the cost of a full set down to $256. 

The third highest overall score was earned by another Dell, the 2130cn.

B&W Pages per Min.: B&W PPM:20, Color Pages per Min.: Color PPM:16, Max. B&W dpi: 600-by-600, Max. Color dpi: 600-by-600, Tray Capacity, pages: 250,
Bottom Line: Your small workgroup will enjoy this capable color laser until it’s time to buy more toner (especially since we cannot yet remanufacture these cartridges).

If your needs are best met with a monochrome laser, here are PC World’s top picks in that category:

Dell 1720dn - Bottom Line:This fast, well-equipped laser can handle both SOHO and workgroup needs, and it has room to grow.

HP Laserjet P1505 - Bottom Line: Cheaply priced but also cheaply designed, this printer’s saving grace is its speed.

Samsung ML-1630 - Sleek and shiny-black, the ML-1630 has miles of style and adequate performance for personal use.

Oki Printing Solutions B4400n - Bottom Line: This sturdily built, solid performer is overshadowed by lower-cost competitors with similar specs.

Lexmark E352dn - Bottom Line: The price may be high, but this printer offers speed and features galore, plus expandability.

These reviews and more information on printers and cartridges can be found on the PC World website.
 

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A green printer for coffee drinkers

Posted in: Conservation, Printers, blog by Jack on 5 February 2009

The RITI printer is an eco-friendly printer based on the concept of a
new ink system. We focused on the ink cartridge since it is one of the
problems when using a printer: it’s often difficult to replace, costly
to refill, and can stain your hands if mishandled.

The RITI printer uses coffee or tea dregs. The user places the coffee
or tea dregs into the ink case located on the top of the printer, then
insert a piece of paper in the middle. Moving the ink case left and
right will print your image, and as you draw on the paper, dregs
inscript on the paper just like ink.

Using coffee or tea dregs as ink saves the cost buying ink, the burden
of wasted things, and users’ work. Furthermore, since the user moves
the ink case in order to make a print, the device doesn’t need
electricity. Of course, you can smell a whisper of coffee or tea
incense from the paper printed by RITI.

Use:

1. Insert a paper in the middle of the printer
2. Put the coffee or tea dregs into the ink case on the top of the printer
3. Move the ink case left and right as you draw on a paper
4. When the print finishes, pull out the paper from the printer and wash the ink case

(Source-Greener Gadgets Design Competition)