Power On – Electrical Issues and Your Printer

The Xerox Printer and Multifunction Printer have not gone wireless in regards to electricity, and they can’t be run solely on batteries. They need consistent reliable power to work normally. We continue to get questions about odd behavior at power up, lockup or power cycling and some of these issues are caused by insufficient power (voltage) to the machine.

Some of the symptoms that may be related to electrical / power issues are the machine will not power on, the machine hangs during start-up, the control panel is locked up or not responding or the machine continues to turn itself off and back on.  These are just a few of the symptoms that might be caused by electrical / power issues.

Let’s look at a few of the recommended steps to try to decide if power or a lack there of is causing the symptoms you are seeing.  We will start from the easiest and work our way up.

Make sure the power switch or switches are in the on position.  Some of our machines have two power switches and both switches should be checked.

Often when you have an issue with your machine a simple power off power on or POPO (pronounced Poe Poe like the poet Edgar Allen Poe), is all you need to clear an error. Power the machine off for 60 seconds and then turn the machine back on.  Reboot could take up to 10 minutes depending on the machine.

Isolate the machine

To verify that the problem you are seeing is not being caused by the printer, each cable should be tested.  To test follow these steps:

1. Power OFF the printer.
2. Disconnect all cables from the back of the printer, except for the power cord.
3. Power ON the printer.
4. If the printer does power ON properly, power OFF, plug-in one of the cables, and then power ON. If the printer does not power ON properly the problem is with the cable, network or peripheral.
5. Repeat this process of elimination with the other cables to determine the source of the printer not powering ON.
6. Replace faulty cable.

Check the power source / outlet the printer is plugged into

1. Plug the printer directly into another, known-to-be-good, wall outlet as a test. For testing purposes, do not plug the printer into a surge protector, power strip or uninterruptible power supply (UPS). If the power-up problem only occurs when the printer is plugged into the surge protector, power strip, UPS or one specific outlet, then the problem is with that device or outlet.
2. Make sure that both ends of the power cord are plugged in all the way. Examine the power cord to make sure there are no nicked or exposed area, if there are then try another power cord.
3. Disconnect devices that share the same power circuit (circuit breaker) as your printer, especially if the outlet you are using has heaters or motors that cycle on and off. For example, laser printers, copiers, coffee pots, or space heaters. When these types of devices are cycled up or on, they may cause a brief power brownout (voltage dip), which can cause the printer to fail its power-on test.
4. If possible monitor the line voltage. To see the voltage / electrical requirements for your machine navigate over to the support page for your machine and search on electrical.  You showed find an electrical specifications solution that will show the voltage the machine requires and all the electrical requirement.

If the problem continues to occur after following all these solutions/ suggestions then it is time to have someone look at the machine.  Contact your local support centre for further assistance. I hope this information will help you if or when you ever have a power issue.