We sat down with the Card Printer gurus here at E-CARD and found that a high percentage of support request calls start off the same way:
1. "It won't print."
Don't get frustrated if our Client Care team asks you for more details. There's a lot of pieces in motion during the card printing process: software, cables, drivers, hardware, power, not to mention the complexity of the card printer itself. We will run through a number of basic questions with you to help us diagnose the problem.
2. "The card is stuck"
This will happen consistently with a dirty printer. When was the last time you ran a cleaning cycle? As the interior rollers become coated in dust, they cannot grip the card effectively, leading to an error. Also, if your printer is more than 5 years old, the rubber rollers may be so brittle they can no longer move the card easily.
3. "What are these white spots?"
Dust, dust, dust. It's the bane of a Card Printer's existence. Those white specs you are seeing may be embedded dust specks, or places where the printhead did not contact the card due to some debris. With card printing, cleanliness is paramount.
4. "There a line through my card."
This might be an expensive fix... The first thing we recommend is to clean the printhead with a special printhead pen. This alcohol soaked swab will remove any debris that might be preventing the ink transfer process. If the white line is still there after a cleaning, chances are the printhead needs replacing. Its possible that debris has shattered the ceramic printhead in that spot.
5. "It's not making the right noises."
Don't laugh - we can sometimes diagnose a Card Printer by listening to it over the phone. If you think the sound is not normal, it probably isn't. Trust your gut. The sounds indicate the sequence of the print process and helps us pin-point the exact location of the card when it fails. This information is critical to a correct diagnosis.