3.6 - Printer types and maintenance
CompTIA A+ Core 1 objective 3.6 covers printer types and their maintenance. A laser printer uses toner, a drum and a fuser to bond the image to the paper. An inkjet producing streaky or faded output usually needs its nozzle clean or calibration cycle run. A thermal receipt printer that prints blank pages most likely has the wrong (non-thermal) paper or a worn print head. 3D printing builds physical objects layer by layer from a digital model, an additive manufacturing process. You should link each printer type to how it works and its typical maintenance. Expect scenario questions that describe a print defect or technology and ask which printer type is involved or what maintenance to perform. Linking a defect to the right print technology is the fastest route to the answer.
Toner + drum + fuser = laser. Streaky/faded = inkjet nozzle clean/calibrate. Blank thermal receipts = wrong paper or worn head. Layer-by-layer objects = 3D printing (additive).
Practice questions
1. Which technology builds physical objects layer by layer from a digital model?
- Laser printing technology
- 3D printing (additive manufacturing) (correct answer)
- Thermal printing technology
- Impact (dot-matrix) printing
3D printers add material layer by layer (FDM filament, resin). It's additive manufacturing.
2. Which printer type uses toner, a drum, and a fuser to bond the image to paper?
- Inkjet
- Thermal
- Laser (correct answer)
- Impact
Laser printers use toner; the fuser melts it onto the page. The 7-step laser process is a common A+ topic.
3. What maintenance is typically required for an inkjet printer producing streaky output?
- Replace the laser fuser unit
- Replace the laser imaging drum
- Run the nozzle clean/calibrate cycle (correct answer)
- Replace the paper pickup roller
Streaky inkjet output usually means clogged nozzles — run the head cleaning/calibration cycle; fuser/drum are laser parts.
4. A thermal receipt printer prints blank pages. What is the MOST likely cause?
- The toner cartridge is empty
- Wrong paper (not thermal) or worn head (correct answer)
- The imaging drum has failed here
- The printer's ink level is low
Thermal printers need heat-sensitive thermal paper and a working heating element — wrong paper or a worn head yields blanks.
5. How can many office users share one printer over the network most efficiently?
- Pass a shared USB cable around
- Email the files to one host PC
- Use a network/shared printer (correct answer)
- Use Bluetooth from every PC
A network printer (or a shared printer via a print server) lets many users print over the LAN with managed queues.
6. Which printer type uses a ribbon and pins to physically strike paper, useful for multipart forms?
- A monochrome laser printer
- An impact (dot-matrix) printer (correct answer)
- A color inkjet printer
- A receipt thermal printer
Impact (dot-matrix) printers strike a ribbon onto paper and can print carbon-copy multipart forms.