Fax machines are being used for a long time now to transfer important documents in business. Problems with these machines can cause delay and incur losses. Read on to know the solutions to these problems.
Fax machines are electronic devices that have the ability to print, scan, and send a document to another machine, by using modems over the telephone line. The modern, portable ones are available in the form of GSM mobile phones that send or receive a fax, using mobile technology.
Problems with your fax unit can not only ruin your day, but also affect your personal or business relationships. You might have noticed that things start to go wrong, especially when you are expecting an important communication.
It may so happen that you are waiting for an important sales order from your client or are busy giving finishing touches to a quotation, before you send it over to your client, but you couldn’t do so because your fax unit is not working for some reason. How would you react to such a situation? The following sections will come up with a suitable solution.
Fax Machine Troubleshooting
For those who believe in documents as proofs, these equipment are a heaven-sent gift. However, you may expect them to malfunction occasionally. The problems that you are facing can be as simple as the following.
Incoming and Outgoing Fax
It might be that you are facing problems while sending and/or receiving faxes. You can start resolving these issues.
- First and foremost, check the telephone cord to which your machine is connected. Connect a standard telephone to the incoming telephone line, and check for the dial tone. If it is okay, then reattach the fax unit to the telephone line.
- Be sure to make the proper connections using the precise fax ports and give another try.
- Check whether the wall jack, that acts as a junction in the system, is functioning properly or not. Replace it if you find it faulty.
- You may find that you can transmit a fax but cannot receive one, or vice versa. You can try to master the problem by checking the telephone line as explained here.
- Test the lamp or the light of your fax machine. Replace it if it has burned out.
- After checking all of this, if the troubles are unresolved, then call in a technician or expert help. You may need to replace your fax machine.
Image Quality
Quality of the faxes printed at your end may not be up to the mark. It may be that the image quality of the printed pages are too dark or too light to read. You can try to resolve these issues by changing the density setting on your fax unit.
Check whether you have successfully solved the problem or not by doing a fax test. If it is okay, then the sender may be having problems with his own device.
If you are the sender, then clean all the surfaces, including the glass of the scanner component and rest of the moving parts thoroughly, by opening the document feed compartment of the fax machine.
Here, you may face different kinds of problems, such as:
- The printed pages are marred with streaks or spots of ink, which are making them unreadable.
- The leaking toner or ink of your fax unit may be the cause of dirty prints.
Solution: Open the printer door of your device, and make sure that the ink cartridge is working properly. Also, check if the toners are properly fitted and are not falling down. If the problem is with the cartridge, replace it.
One of the most common problems with fax units is that of paper getting stuck inside. It may be in the document feed compartment or in the printing compartment of the fax unit. One way of troubleshooting this problem is to pull the paper gently in the direction in which the paper moves, whilst the device is in operation.
In some cases, you may find that everything is fine-tuned, but you are receiving lots of messages informing you of communication errors. Inform your telephone company, which may check your telephone line for interference and can successfully solve the problem.
The emails and efax or Internet fax services have changed the way we used to communicate. These facilities are replacing fax machines very fast. But there are still individuals and businesses that rely on these units in their day-to-day affairs.
If you are one of them, then you could solve the commonly faced problems listed here on your own. The best way to avoid such problems is to service your machine regularly, and use quality spare parts produced by the manufacturer.