Author Archives: Andrew

Tips & Tricks

Windows Live Mail 2012 stops sending & receiving problem

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My clients Windows 7 PC with MS WLM 2012 suddenly stopped receiving email, her other devices checking mail were behaving normally. The unusual aspect to this being that clicking Send/Receive did not give the expected commentary items down in the application Status Bar (bottom right of the window), ‘Checking mail…’, ‘Authorizing…’, ‘No new mail messages’.

Suspecting a damaged installation and after doing a full message export for peace-of-mind I tried to repair the application from the control panel / Programs – the item is ‘Microsoft Essentials’ – select and then click repair. This made no difference. I had noticed that WLM had some other non-standard icon buttons in the interface which belong to BullGuard Anti-Virus. After further testing I found that disabling the BullGuard Spamfilter allowed the mail to start flowing – even after re-enabling the feature later. Application re-starting and/or PC re-booting might also be necessary after turning-off Spam protection.

Tips & Tricks

Windows 10 Printing Problem – Blocked, Jammed, Stuck, Lost Document File in Printer Queue

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Try running the windows built-in printing troubleshooter;

Click the Action Centre icon on the task bar (usually far right end),  click – All Settings then Devices, then Devices and Printers (under ‘Related Settings’) then identify the icon for your device – right-click it and finally select Troubleshoot from the menu.

Alternatively Click the start button and start typing ‘control panel’ select it then click Devices and Printers and then identify the icon for your device – right-click it and select Troubleshoot from the menu.

The following tip is no longer valid for the latest update Windows 10 but may still help with Windows 7 

Click the start button and start typing ‘printing problem’,

even before you finish typing ‘printing problem’ you should see the link below, under best match, in your windows search results – click it and follow the wizard.

 

Find and fix printing problems – control panel

Workshop Tales

Dell 1720dn Unable to connect to LAN network problem by changing fixed IP address setting

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My client’s Dell 1720dn Mono Laser Printer had been re-located and physically connected to a new router on a different IP segment. 192.168.1.x to 192.168.0.x which stopped communications with the local PCs which were updating their own IP addresses (DHCP) successfully. The printer’s fixed IP could be seen by printing the configuration reports but the old style ‘flashing lamps with two button menu’ system is difficult to use under pressure! The Solution to Fix this is a factory reset:

  1. Power off the printer
  2. Open the front cover (push the button on the left side)
  3. Press and HOLD both the ‘Cancel’ and ‘Continue’ buttons (Right-Triangle + Red Cross)
  4. Continue to hold the buttons and power the printer on.
  5. Continue to hold the buttons until all light cycling activity has stopped.
  6. After the lights have stopped cycling  and the “Error LED” light on the control panel is solid (could take up to 30 seconds), release the buttons.
  7. Close the front cover to complete the Factory Default reset process.

 

YouTube Video Demonstration

 

A possible alternative fix that I didn’t try:-

  1. There is a utility on the Install Disk to set a static IP address. Connect the network cable and power on the printer.
  2. Press and hold the Continue button for 2-3 seconds to print a network settings report.
  3. Obtain the MAC address of the printer from the network settings report. The MAC address is the value listed under the Standard Network Card section as UAA.
  4. Insert the Drivers and Utilities CD.
  5. When the Drivers and Utilities CD screen appears, click the Set IP Address link.
  6. When the Set IP Address Utility window appears, enter the MAC address in the box under Discover Print Servers, and then click Discover.
  7. Click to select your printer in the box under Configure Print Servers, and then click TCP/IP Settings.
  8. When the TCP/IP Settings appears, enter the TCP/IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway Address.
  9. Click Apply to save the settings, and then click Close to exit the utility.
Workshop Tales

Dell Inspiron 1545 lost Wireless connection to router problem fault – Function Keys Inactive not responding

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My client’s Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop running Windows 7 was failing to connect with its wireless router even after re-starting or re-booting both devices. Although not immediately obvious the Function Key functionality/operations were also disabled or non-responsive. Pressing the combination Fn + F2 did not activate or de-activate the Wifi ON/OFF hardware confirmation responses, or any other Function key combinations, like screen dimming. This problem is in essence the same as a notebook pc with a physical hardware toggle switch for the wireless system – but in this case you can’t just switch it back on! The solution to Fix was to go to the Windows Mobility Centre (laptop only Windows feature) – from the start button search type ‘MO..’ then click ‘Windows Mobility Centre’ set the  Function key mode to ‘Function Keys’ Not ‘Multimedia’, close the dialogue, then use Fn + F2 to re-activate the wireless.

Third Party Products & Services Tips & Tricks

LibreOffice – Alternative to Microsoft Office Document Word-processing and Spreadsheet Suite

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You need a comprehensive office suite installed on your PC and don’t want to go down the MS standard route (Word, Excel) – what about LibreOffice? It’s comprehensive, all the standard MS document formats can be created and edited and it’s open source – you make a donation/contribution if you wish.

Alternatively if you have a Gmail or MS Outlook (AKA Hotmail) account then you can use the browser based online office document suites that they include – obviously you need a live internet connection.

Otherwise go to the LibreOffice website and download the Still version if cautious – or the Fresh version for the latest bells & whistles.

Link to LibreOffice Website

 

Workshop Tales

Brother QL-700 Label Printer update to Windows 10 problem

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After updating from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10 on an HP Compaq DC7900 Small Form Factor PC the label printing functionality failed.

Although possible to edit labels with the on-board P-Touch Lite software, when trying to print, an error dialogue opens stating that the PC cannot communicate with the printer. The solution in my case was to update the editor software using the P-Touch Editor Lite Update tool from the Brother Support Site.

As a bonus the software seems to send the labels to the printer much more quickly than before.

Link to Brother Support Site

This video on YouTube covers the same issue-

https://youtu.be/2gTUAj2jbPI

 

Subsequently on moving to a different PC I discovered shutting down the Quick Editor would cause the computer to ‘hang’ and be unusable until it had been re-booted. The partial fix for this was to make sure I used the Windows ‘Eject’ feature from the explorer window or the same feature in the Task-Tray tool (Remove Hardware or Eject media) after exiting the Editor or BEFORE switching off the QL printer itself.

Later I discovered that a ‘proper’ printer icon wasn’t appearing in the Devices & Printers dialogue and choosing the option to add a printer resolved all the issues.