Brother PocketJet3Plus w BT (PJ-563): Chapter 6 - Troubleshooting

Chapter 6 - Troubleshooting

Overview

If you have difculty getting your printer to work properly, rst check to make sure you

have done the following tasks correctly (See Chapter 1, “Setting Up the Printer”).

• Installing the battery or connecting the printer to an AC outlet

• Connecting the printer to your computer

Make sure you have installed and selected the proper printer driver as explained in

Chapter 2, “Using the Printer”.

Look through the troubleshooting tips in this chapter for help correcting the problem.

If none of these suggestions works:

- If you are in the U.S., call Brother Technical Support at 1-800-543-6144 (extension

1601) from 8 AM to 5:00 PM Mountain Time, Monday through Friday.

- If you are outside the U.S., contact your local reseller or any of the Authorized

Service Centers.

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Paper Problems

The paper is jammed in the printer

See page 43, “Clearing a Paper Jam”.

Paper moves through the printer, but nothing appears on the paper

Make sure you are using Brother Genuine Thermal paper and that you are loading it

properly with the print side away from you. See page 41, “Inserting Paper”. Also,

check the Print Density setting using the “Accessing Advanced Software Features”,

Chapter 2.

Paper does not move through the printer even though the motor is

running

If the release cover has been left open, close it completely.

Use Brother Genuine Thermal paper only. Heavy paper may not feed through

the printer.

If the release cover is closed and you are using Brother Genuine Thermal paper, the

printer may have a damaged drive system. Call Technical Support at 1-800-543-6144,

ext. 1601.

Printed Image Problems

The printed image is out of alignment

Make sure you are using the Brother Genuine Thermal paper.

Make sure you are inserting the paper correctly. See page 41, “Inserting Paper”.

Check to see whether the platen roller is dirty. If it is, clean it. Follow the instructions

for “Cleaning the Platen Roller”, page 47.

The print quality is poor, and the image is too light or dark

Raise or lower the density setting using the printer driver. See page 16, “Making Prints

Lighter or Darker”.

Make sure you are using recommended Brother Genuine Thermal paper.

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The image is compressed and stretched in many places

Make sure the release cover was not left open during printing. If it is open,

close it completely.

Make sure the paper is not slipping in the printer. If it is, make sure the print head and

platen roller are clean. See Chapter 4, “Maintaining the Printer”.

Make sure the paper is not wrinkled prior to inserting it. Also, make sure you are using

Brother Genuine Thermal paper.

The image has light or white vertical lines

Make sure the release cover was not left open during printing. If it is open, close it

completely.

Clean the print head. Follow the instructions in “Cleaning the Print Head”, page 45.

If cleaning the print head does not correct the problem, the print head may need

maintenance. Call technical support.

All pages have a white vertical line

Clean the print head. Follow the instructions in “Cleaning the Print Head”, page 45.

If the pages continue to have white vertical lines, the print head may need maintenance.

Call technical support.

All pages have a black vertical line

Clean the print head. Follow the instructions in “Cleaning the Print Head”, page 45.”

If the pages continue to have black vertical lines, the print head may need maintenance.

Call technical support.

Light patches of print appear on the image

The printer requires smooth paper to work properly. Make sure the paper does not have

any dents or wrinkles. It should lie at and it should not have a defective or uneven

surface coating. Use Brother Genuine Thermal paper and make sure it does not have

any obvious deformities.

Check the density setting using the printer driver. If the setting is too low, raise it. See

page 16, “Making Prints Lighter or Darker”.

Clean the print head. Follow the instructions in “Cleaning the Print Head”, page 45.

If using the DC power adapter, make sure the voltage from the vehicle is high enough.

Try starting the engine if necessary.

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The top margin is incorrect

Make sure the correct margins have been set in the conguration utility and your

software application. If not, set the margins for the top and bottom of the page

as needed.

Make sure you are not inserting the paper into the paper input slot with excessive force.

Always insert the paper gently.

The image for one page requires more or fewer sheets than you

expected

Make sure the software application, the printer, and printer driver have been set to print

the same size paper that you are loading into the printer. If the application or printer

driver has been set to print legal-size paper and you insert letter-size paper, the image

will require two sheets. Adjust the application or printer driver settings as needed or

reduce the print image within your application to t on the letter-size page.

The data light will remain lit green to indicate that data is still in the printer after the

page has completed printing.

The side margins are incorrect

Check to make sure the correct margins have been set in the conguration utility and

your software application. Adjust the left margin as needed.

Make sure the software application or the printer driver has been set to print the same

size paper that you are loading into the printer. If the application or printer driver

has been set to print a different width paper, the image will not print in the proper

horizontal position. Adjust the application or printer driver as needed.

The print does not contain the proper characters

Make sure you have dened the proper character set (font) in the software application.

If it is not correct, you must change it.

Trying another font may tell you if the original font was in error.

The print contains random dots

Check the printer driver to make sure it is set correctly. Check the interface cable to

make sure it is connected rmly and correctly. If possible, replace the interface cable

with another and permanently replace it if it is defective.

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Pages Don’t Print

The green DATA indicator remains lit but does not blink

The print buffer contains unprinted data from the software application.

- If you have already inserted paper in the printer, take the paper out and re-insert it to make

sure the printer knows paper is ready. If that doesn’t work, you may need to turn the printer

off, turn it back on, and restart the print job.

If paper has not already been inserted into the printer, insert a new sheet of paper and the

print job should proceed.

- An ASCII text application has not nished a text line with a CR/LF or form feed, and the

printer does not know the line is complete. Printing another page or manually form feeding

using the main switch may nish the page correctly.

The application should be sending data to the printer, but the green

DATA indicator is not lit

Make sure the interface cable is properly connected to both the printer and the host

computer, or that the infrared unit is properly connected and oriented toward the infrared

unit on the computer. See page 13, “Connecting to your Computer.”

Pages Are Partially Printed

The green DATA indicator light goes out while a page remains in the

printer

The software application may not have sent a full page of data. Restart the print job.

The application may have sent the wrong information about page size or you may have put

in the wrong paper size. Check the application and the print driver for the proper page size.

Check to be sure the application and the page you are inserting in the printer are the same.

Adjust one or the other if necessary.

Make sure the printer driver is not inadvertently set to “No Feed Mode.”

You may advance the paper position by pressing and holding the main switch while paper is

loaded.

The printer ejects a partially printed page, and the green DATA

indicator light remains lit or blinking

Make sure the Paper Size selection is correct using the application’s dialog box.

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