A user reports that printed receipts have black smudges over the entire image. The text is still present but is very dark and sometimes illegible. Which of the following are the MOST likely cause…

Question

Options

• AThe ribbon is jammed and is rubbing on the paper. Clear the bad ribbon and feed it through
• BThe printhead is too hot. Adjust the temperature down and retry printing.
• CThe printer is loaded with the wrong type of paper. Replace the receipt paper with carbon paper.
• DThe blue ink cartridge was loaded with black ink. Put in the correct ink and clean the printhead.

• A
  14% (3)
• B
  77% (17)
• C
  5% (1)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

Receipt printers are thermal printers - they use a heated printhead to activate heat-sensitive (thermal) paper, producing text and images without ink or ribbons. When the printhead temperature is set too high, it over-activates the thermal coating across the entire paper surface, causing widespread dark smudges while still leaving text somewhat visible. The fix is to lower the temperature setting in the printer configuration. Option A is wrong because standard thermal receipt printers do not use ribbons. Option C is wrong because carbon paper is used with impact (dot matrix) printers, not thermal printers. Option D is wrong because thermal receipt printers have no ink cartridges.

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