There are definitely interesting aspects of using a flowchart - as well as guiding less experienced repairers, using a flowchart may enable collecting rather more precise diagnostic info. My vision of our next repair event is we have some prepared diagnostic flowcharts and the appropriate one gets stapled to the visitorâs registration sheet, and filled in by the repairer - the odd checkbox, or text area, for recording details.
Looking at some examples found by goggling for âlaser printer repair flowchartâ, maybe I wouldnât use a graphical flowchart because it just takes too much space; text can be a lot more compact:
- https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000248.htm
- https://hp-laserjet-5100-printer-series.printerdoc.net/en/problem-solving/determining-printer-problems/troubleshooting-flowchart/
So below is my stab at a âflowtextâ for inkjet printer diagnosis - it wouldnât paste into here nicely as text, so hereâs a link to google drive - you can comment using this link - if you want to contribute/edit I can add your email address with edit - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IljbKOGDhf_fFoQgZ0unWTxi8rNuvXOLWoUy_uA4Iu4/edit?usp=sharing
The working of the flowtext is that each question only has one answer Yes or No - if that isnât what you get then proceed to the next line below, so currently the final entry #19 says âThe printer worksâ - does that make sense?
If you used something like this to try diagnose a printer, you could record where you ended up, e.g. 5a (probably need a better numbering scheme) is that the printer isnât getting any power. If you can fix this, then you can maybe start all over (e.g. if new safety check needed) or continue with the steps below, and perhaps the result is the printer working, or a later step where you couldnât continue. Or if you couldnât repair the power source then the result is 5a.
(updated - now with places to record manufacturer/model/serial/error message)
(updated - added initial physical inspection and expanded electrical safety step)
(updated - added possible PrintCat cause for each failure. I found I needed a Drivers category - as I thought Software issue/update might be better used to mean printer firmware issue/update)
