Printer Problem,

[cruiser2]

I have a xerox B205 Multifunction printer. It is about three years old.
It should print copy and scan. It only prints in black. I had an Epson colour printer but it was costing a fortune on replacement cartridges.
I am only on my second roller with this machine.

I can print. But I now cannot copy or scan. I have tried to install the drivers but the problem still exists.

I have two options.
Get a local repair company to come out and fix the problem. Minimum cost of £55.00
Or buy a new model at a cost of about £160.00.

What should I do?
Have already discussed it with four friends and they say have it repaired

[Workingman]

Cruiser, before spending money please try this. It is probably a software / driver problem.

Download the latest drivers from here: https://www.support.xerox.com/en-gb/pro ... ent/156400 Make a note of where they are downloaded to.

Uninstall the old drivers with the printer turned OFF. To do this go to the Window flag icon at bottom left on the taskbar and left click. Then go to All Apps> at top right in the new window and left click again. Now scroll down to the Xerox folder and left click to open it then right click and choose 'Uninstall' for everything Xerox printer related.

Once that is finished turn ON the Xerox printer.

Now, go to the folder where the new drivers are located open it and run setup.exe to install everything - drivers, utilities etc. Also install the Easy Printer Manager software and drivers, and print a test page.

That should do it.

[Suff]

In my experience every time I lose copy or scan it is either network or drivers. If it can print it can be seen.

The only thing I can add is a question, is it a wireless printer?

The reason I ask is that if you connect multiple wireless devices to your network and do not have your printer fixed to a specific IP address, the printer can lose it's address which makes certain things more difficult. Printing may work, scanning an copying from the PC may not.

Certainly WM's actions will fix an IP address issue. But it will happen again if that is the problem.

Just a thought.

[Workingman]

Suff, I was assuming that for a single home user then Ethernet or USB would be the connection. No need for Wi-Fi unless multiple connections are needed.

Unless, until, Cruiser comes back we will never know.

[cruiser2]

I have followed the advice from WM . But I still get a message to say that the installation has failed.

I cannot find the disc which was sent with the printer.
I connect the printer using a USB cable. It is on top of a set of drawers next to the computer. So only a short lead.
So I am going to take the computer and printer to a local computer repair shop to see if they can fix the problem.

Will let you know what happens.

[Workingman]

Cruiser, thanks for the feedback, but I still think that it is a software problem not a "repair" job. Maybe have a good read of the printer user guide just to make sure it is setup correctly at its (the printer's) end. My Brother DCP laser has menu after menu to go through to make it work properly. Fortunately it comes with software so that I can do it from the PC rather than using its small screen and all of those buttons!

[Suff]

If it is USB connected and prints it's certainly a software issue.

The usual process is to strip the printer out completely but that also means stripping out all the drivers and the uninstall does not always do that.

If you are not comfortable diving into the device manager, identifying drivers and removing them, the local PC store may be an alternative.

[Workingman]

Re the Device Manager: Don't even think about it In Win 11, the Device Manger uninstall facility only does the same as from the AllApps> system I mentioned earlier. It allows to update the driver or search for a newer one. But those have been downloads.

To really get to the printer you need to go to Settings> Bluetooth and Devices> Printers and Scanners> THE Printer> Printer Settings... and in there you get seven options from Open the print queue all the way to Hardware properties. Mind you, it does have a Troubleshooter that might be worth a go.

For me the Brother Utilities download does so much more.

[Suff]

For me the Brother Utilities download does so much more.

Yeah I use HP, which I'm very familiar with. The worst I had to do was downgrade the printer firmware and lock out firmware upgrades. Mind you that required tftp and a network connect and is not for the faint hearted techies either. It is a total no go zone for non technical.

I had to do that to keep on using refilled HP toner cartridges from another company at half the price for twice the toner.

For me Xerox inhabits the business world and is correspondingly difficult to deal with and their scanner software on a corporate network sucked big time.

[Workingman]

<facepalm> I should also have said that once the drivers were downloaded to the PC to disconnect from the Internet and turn off any firewall and anti-virus, as well as Windows Defender. It's amazing how these thing disrupt new installations.

Too late now.