Greetings to one and all! When last we met, we were discussing batteries for older Macs. In this article, I want to tackle another common problem that I often see with LaserWriter II’s. Man, I love these faithful, old workhorses. If you just need a simple laser printer, you know like I do that they just can’t be beat but, as with everything else in our world, they have their occasional maintenance problems. Let me explain…
Has your printer(I’m referring to LW II’s, any flavor, nt, ntx, sc, f or g) ever displayed the two red lights flashing simultaneously at startup? You know that this means trouble. If you have access to the handy-dandy manual for it, you’ll see that this indicates a faulty fuser assembly. Honey, these ain’t cheap. So, you take it to your local Apple service guy (Yes, I still believe in Apple service guys. Why? Because I am one!) and he changes the fuser and ends up frustrated because the lights still flash and the fuser is ice cold (it’s supposed to be HOT!). So he puts it aside so he can do that easy battery replacement and forgets about it…for now…until you call wondering why it’s taking so long to get fixed. Trust me, he’s frustrated and would love to get that thing out of the store.
Okay, let me offer some advice. Ask him nicely if he has exchanged out the Power Supply Block (Apple’s Part Number is 661-0427). Tell him that you read an article in My Mac Magazine suggesting that he give this a try. The Power Supply Block is the “thing” that has the power switch on it and you plug your power cable into.(I love power!) The Power Supply Block feeds electricity to the Fuser Assembly. If the Fuser isn’t getting the right amount of voltage or wattage or whatever, then it sends a “Failure” signal to the DC Controller and then it sends out the message by way of the two flashing red lights telling you that “You’re a loser and your mother hates you!” I read that in the Tech Info Library from Apple. Just kidding! :^D So, if the Power Supply Block gets exchanged out, the right amount of juice goes to the Fuser, it sends a
signal to the DC Controller saying, “I’m happy”, and you can then print to your heart’s content. Elementary, my dear Watson! I don’t want to make it sound too technical ‘cuz then I’d sound like one of those guys with the pocket protectors and gauze tape on his glasses. Did somebody say “PC tech”?
Onto the lighter side. When I submitted my first article in January to be included with the February issue(please tell me that you read it!) I didn’t include a mini-biography. Well, here goes. My name is Edmund Tobey. People who know me and love me call me Eddie. I live in Harrisonburg, Virginia (right in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley)
with my wife and two kids. I am a licensed Apple Technician with over 6 years of experience and I work for a company that handles the sales and service of both platforms. I’m the only Apple tech in the place and it makes me feel like a ham sandwich at a bar mitzvah. One of the joys I get is watching my PC counterparts sweat when they have to configure networks and the like. I love it! Anyway, I make no bones about the fact that I am a Born-again Christian, Pentecostal, Old-time holy roller (you
get the point), and I love Macs. I like everything about them, so writing about them is a joy for me. Like I said in my first article, I want to help you if you have a Mac. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail any of us on the My Mac staff. That’s why we’re here!
One last thought: It seems that Apple has been getting a lot of bad press lately (which really fries my eggs) and they say that Apple’s on its last legs, blah, blah, blah. Well, let me go on the record as saying that I truly believe that the Macintosh system is the BEST, the EASIEST and the FRIENDLIEST computer system that has ever been on the market, bar none! I was able to get a copy of Apple’s 1997 MacAdvocate CD (you can
get it free from Apple at http://www.apple.com/whymac or call 1-800-373-0877)
and I looked through all the commercials (you really have to see the dinosaur commercial). Mr. Bill himself even gives Macintosh a hearty thumbs-up. I loved it. We’re not going down, we’re not going under…we’re going through! Have a Happy Easter! Talk to you in April!
Ed Tobey (edtobey@earthlink.net)
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