It seems as if every place just assumes and expects us to print things at home. I tried to order an e-class for my son, but they said I had to print the registration forms at home. I ordered some materials for all my children from a different common publisher that many of us use, and they said I had to print the forms off my computer. Problem is, my computer and printer are having communication problems. I asked them if they could just mail this stuff to me and they said no, I have to print them up myself. AND, if my oldest were to go to the public high school this fall, he would be required to maintain his own email account to receive his assignments in. He would be required to print all his assignments before coming to school the next day! I am not kidding. So, if we do not have a nice, reliable printer, we are out of luck. He would flunk the public high school. I do not get this. Now I am going to have to hunt around town to get printed what I need now and probably pay a bunch of money. My stress level is really going up over this. To top it off, I do not want to replace the printer until I can replace the computer. Often, free printers come with computer orders (at least from where I wanted to order from-HP) so I didn't want to buy one now and then waste my money when I could have gotten one free later.
go to yoru library thekids section should have a computer with a printer send it toyourself in email and print it up or jump it. it is quite reasonable to print a page there. II would get a newprinter, they are cheap now!
It is so hard to run places every single day like this to print stuff. We rarely go to the library over how hard it is to manage a bunch of children, driving to the library and having them hold still while you work through stuff. Everytime I go, I swear off going for another 6 months or a year. Last time, my 14 yr old kept wandering off, no idea why. My 4 yr old kept taking off to find him. By the time we left, I wondered if I should take up drinking. Not sure how families with more children even handle it. I have children needing to go to 4 or more different sections of the library. So even if we just go to print, I know they will see the books and want to look. Maybe I am getting unreasonable and all, but I have had so many requests to print things in the last week. My children keep printing things. My oldest, who is in public school, has gone through so many ink cartridges this year, and varieties of paper. One extra stupid project, he had to use card stock to print off shapes and glue them to another peice of card stock? This is 8th grade! Not kindergarten! He went through many many peices and left all the peices he did not use on the floor. Add to that the cost of the card stock and ink. In the end, he got an F. I am just so frustrated. Even if I go and buy a new printer, I have never installed one before. This one worked a week or two ago. I have no idea what it means when it says it won't communicate. What if the next does the same thing? I can't pay Geek Squad $200 every time this happens.
LOL. Well, I just let my older kids wonder off in the library. My 8 and 6 year old go off by themselves to look at books. I pick out a few with my 4 year old and she sits by herself and looks at books. Then I either have my 2 yr old in the stroller with my, or if she is having a good day I'll sit her w/ my 4 yr old. The books keep them entertained while I do whatever I need to. Maybe just show your kids where their level of book are located and leave them there. Printers are EASY to install. They come w/ instructions and aren't very complicated. Good luck!
"won't communicate" could simply imply you have something loose. Have you checked to make sure the USB cable is connected? Have you accidently deleted your drivers? Is your que backed up? When all else fails, I unplug everything, blow on it (dust), and restart everything. That normally works!! LOL
You know pregnancy brain? I needed to call dh yesterday...and forgot his number at work. LOL..my brain has left the building and I don't expect it back until Sept at the soonest.
A number of printers come with diagnostic software that you can use to identify printer problems. Check to see if your printer installed this program on your computer; or if you have Windows XP, there is a printer troubleshoot help available under the "Printers and Faxes" area of the Control Panel.
I'm all there with pregnancy brain. If you keep an eye out, you can generally pick up a laser printer for about $100. I know this because every time we run out of ink, about every 2 years, my dh gives me the "it's just as cheap to buy a new printer than a new cartridge" argument, LOL. I only buy that argument every 4-6 years. He makes me crazy. As for the library - our children's section is in a separate room and my four kids are all under the age of 8, so I just turn them loose in there. Luckily I borrow so many books that my librarians love me, especially since I live in another county so I am netting them even more money than an in-county patron would...
I am also getting frustrated about being expected to print everything off. My husband is taking a class at Ohio State, and he had to print off seven pages of "flash cards", plus they have to print the syllabus, study guides, etc. themselves. And the camp application, too. Yes, it gets irritating!!!
How can your son's school require students to have such an expensive item as a computer and printer? It seems to me that they would have to be prepared to supply them if it were a requirement. Are we talking about kids printing the worksheets that they are going to do the next day in class? Or is this their homework? Are they just trying to make parents pay for the paper? And on a daily basis? That kind of wipes out the option of going to the library; it would be reasonable to expect a kid without a computer to make a daily trip to the local library. It wouldn't be so outrageous if the schools operated frugally in every other repect, but to be wasteful with their funds and then stick it to the parents to help pay for the waste on top of high taxes is just too much.
I would look on craigslist for a printer. I sold a few (don't ask me why my husband collected laser printers - I even still have some around here!) workhorse laser printers for about $25 each. New toner was about $65 and would last for 1+ years depending on the printing. Cheap laser printer are the way to go! My son has a laserjet 4p which is ancient - but still works just fine. And I think we have a couple of HP Laserjet 5L's which are heavy - but do wonderful print jobs
I agree. They just approved $40 million for yet another football stadium to go with the other $40 million football stadiums, then claim they cannot afford paper. I look over the high drop out rates and wonder how many dropped out due to not being able to do the work over printing issues. We are in one of the wealthier schools so I suspect they just assume that everyone is ok with printing a bunch every day and don't care about those who do not have that kind of money or time. But I limit my children's time on the internet and they do not have their own internet accounts. I have seriously even wondered if it is legal for the schools to require so much. The school supplies to start the year cost up near $100 per child. Then the fund raisers and the other projects during the year. I heard on a recent 3rd grade project..the parents were comparing how much it cost them and they were in the hundreds of dollars. AND, from the way they described the projects, the children did not do the work. They were describing tools like circular saws they bought for the projects. I am rather disgusted.
Lots of schools do it. It was amazing the amount of stuff I was asked to "supply" my kid with..... I mean reams of paper etc!! High schoolers around here are almost always required to have some sort of laptop/computer....it's sad really.....
Outrageous! They'll spend that much on something that benefits such a small percentage of the student body, but not on something that would benefit 100% of the student body.
Printer communication issues(?), it does sound like there is something unplugged or the driver is outdated (but the driver issue would usually say something else, not a communication issue). Check the cables to/from the printer & computer. I believe in the barter system and love to use it when I can. I would suggest (if the cables are all connected and you cannot find anything else wrong with it) finding someone in your children's circle of friends who's parent(s) are computer geeks (like me) who may be willing to barter with you. You provide them with something (a nice home baked pie or bread is always good) they may want/need in exchange for them fixing your printer issues. Also, I am a firm believer in using "off brand" printer ink whenever I can because the quality is usually as good/better than the name brand and oh so much less expensive. I would look on Amazon for the type of ink your printer takes. I just purchased 3 full sets of ink for my Epson printer (it takes 6 ink cartridges and must have ink in all to even print black) for less than $50 total. If I was to buy the same ink from Epson it would cost me over $60 per color set with and additional $17 for the black (that would have been over $230)!! I guess I am the odd woman out here. I actually am so glad schools are going "high tech" because that means the children enrolled in the school will not miss out on learning/using computers which is necessary for almost any job now. I also love when they have all the assignments, quizzes, tests, etc. online and readily available to the parents. A study done in late 2008 found that 89% of the American "nuclear families" have computers, internet, cell phones & other "high tech" gadgets at home. That is a high percentage which is why schools are going towards relying on computer's & printers being available at home. I would like to note also, that a lot (of course not all) school systems have services for students who's families either can't afford the equipment & subscription fee's or who's religion/beliefs prevent them from having these items at home. If you or someone you know is in that type of a situation I would schedule/suggest scheduling a meeting with someone (principal or higher up) from the school/district to find out where, when, and how these programs are available and take full advantage of them. We are (rapidly) becoming a society requiring high tech devises to get ahead/stay afloat and schools are no different. We (general we) must be accommodating to these changes or our future (children) will suffer. Okay ... off my soapbox now and I hope I have not offended anyone. If you would like to see the study report please PM me as I cannot post links until I am a member for a little bit longer
Have you tried simply turning everything off then restarting? Ours sometimes behaves like yours is, and I have found if I shut down the computer and printer, wait a few minutes then restart everything, the problem goes away.
