Resources

Epson Printer Support for Different Countries

I went to the Epson.com Web site and performed a search for the EP5700.  I found a couple of different options, so you’ll need to choose carefully depending on where you are and the model printer that you have. For example, in the U.S.A., I found one selection for printers with “5700″ in the model name, the EPL5700i Laser Printer (if this is your printer, follow the link to go to the Epson support center). When I changed my location to the United Kingdom, the EPL5700 and EPL5700i both came up.

Finding the Epson Driver Update

Start by going to Epson.com and choosing your country. The Web sites are slightly different, so the exact text may vary from the descriptions I’m giving you based on the U.S. site, though they should be similar. Go to Drivers & Support and click on Printers. Click View All and find the exact model of Epson 5700 printer that you have. For example if EPL5700 and EPL5700i are both listed, choose the one that matches your model number as the differences may be significant.

Choosing the Correct Operating System

Next, click on Drivers & Downloads link and find your operating system. If your only choice is Windows or Mac, choose the appropriate one. However, if you have choices such as Windows 98, Windows XP, and Windows Vista, make sure that you pick the exact operating system as installed on your computer. For example, the Drivers and Downloads section for the EPL5700i currently lists two driver updates for Windows and three for Macintosh. You must pick the one that matches or your printer may not work properly.

Downloading the Update

Once you find the correct EP5700 update for your operating system, click or expand it and then click on the Download Now link. You may be prompted with an agreement before you can download the update. Accept the agreement and proceed. If your computer’s security settings are blocking the download, click the yellow bar found near the top of the screen and choose Download File.

Saving the File

You’ll be prompted to Run or Save the file. Save the file to a location on your computer where you will be able to find it later and make a note of the file name, for example, epl5kw2k.exe or similar (depending on the driver that you are downloading).

Running the File

Once downloaded, find the downloaded file and launch it. As an .exe file, it will be self-executing once you click it. Follow the prompts to update the driver. Once the process is complete, reboot your PC - even if the driver installation does not prompt you to do so. I’ve found that many updates do not automatically reboot your PC, nor do they prompt you to do so. However, the updates often don’t take hold until the computer has been rebooted. If you don’t reboot, your printer likely won’t work properly until you do so. By getting in the habit of rebooting whenever you update your hardware, you’ll avoid the frustration of trying to figure out why it’s not working.

Installing a Creative Laptop X-F1 Sound Card

Different Sound Card Models

There are a number of different Creative sound cards, and troubleshooting them might differ slightly between models, but there have been quite a few complaints about these cards and a number of users opting to return them to the retailer for exchange. Nonetheless, we can try to get your card detected and your system up and running.

Check the Power and the Ports

To begin, the regular power and port checks are important. Try removing the card from the port, then reinserting it. Also, try swapping the card into a different port to see if this makes any difference. Since the power light on the card isn’t lighting, the card itself might be defective and, if possible, you could try inserting it in a different computer just to see if it is getting power. Also, to troubleshoot your port, try inserting something else to make sure that the port has power and can support the card.

System Specifications and Requirements

Once you are sure that the card is getting power and is connected physically to the computer you can try to get the software loaded. The Creative sound card that you have requires some system specifications that your computer needs to meet to support the card. To use this card you need either Windows Vista or Windows XP but, if you run XP, then you need to download the Service Pack 2 updates to be compatible with the Creative card.

Load the Drivers

Insert the Creative software installation CD that came with your card to load the drivers. If you don’t have the installation CD, you can visit the Creative website and use the model name and number to find and download the drivers. If the CD will load, follow the prompts on the screen to properly install the card. If there are problems with the CD or if the card is still not recognized, you can try troubleshooting the device with Windows Device Manager.

Use Device Manager

To use this utility open the Start Menu and then select Control Panel, then Performance and Maintenance and then System. Choose the tab called Hardware and then Device Manager. Now you will see a tree graph of all your hardware devices. If there are any yellow exclamation marks beside the names of any devices, you can click on the listing details tab and then view in the codes that are listed there. Once you have a specific error code, you may find detailed troubleshooting advice for the code on the Creative Lab Web site or elsewhere on the Web.

CD Broke in the Drive and Now the Drive Won’t Close

Troubleshooting a CD/DVD Drive

Unfortunately, because there was a broken CD in the drive, it is possible that a small piece fell into the mechanism and is somehow jamming the drive. If this is the case, you will need to have the drive dismantled and cleaned, most likely by a technician. Most of the time the reason that CD and DVD drives won’t stay closed is related to the power supply and an improper shut down, so I’m not convinced that these troubleshooting options will do the trick for you, but they will help to narrow down the possibilities.

Try Adjusting the Drive

First of all, put a disk in the drive and leave the drive open. Click twice on the My Computer icon and then double click on the icon for the CD/DVD drive. Your computer will give you an error message asking you to put a disk in the tray. Now push the close button and see if the disk will load. A second option is to try holding the disk drive closed while you shut your computer down. It is possible that when you reboot the glitch will be resolved.

Check the Connections

Depending on how you went about cleaning the pieces of broken CD out of the drive, it is possible that the front cover of the tower is loose, or that the drive is no longer fitted properly into the tower. Check the tower and the drive and their connections. Make sure that the cover of the tower is fit on well and that the drive is sitting firmly in the tower. Also, make sure that the disk drive is closing all the way; you can gently encourage it in with your hand.

Get Personalized Remote Technical Support

From the way this sounds, you might be able to remove the drive yourself to check for any CD chips, or you might decide to take it to a technician. There are remote technical services that offer in-home computer tech support over the phone. With the assistance of a remote tech you might be able to get to the root of the problem with more personalized troubleshooting. Also, these days, disk drives sell for around $30 dollars, so if it comes down to it, you can replace the drive.

Sharing a Network CD Drive

This is a common problem and not limited to CD drives. In fact, most new computers lack a floppy A:\ drive which can pose a problem to people who need to access data on older floppies. The following tips apply not only to sharing and accessing a network CD drive but to other drives as well such as floppy drives, hard drives, tape drives, ZIP drives, and so on.

The first order of business is to go to the computer that is equipped with the drive that you want to access over the network. Make sure that you are signed on as the administrator, open My Computer, and find the desired CD-ROM drive (or other drive that you want to share). Right-click the drive and choose Share from the submenu. A dialog box opens. If the Share button is not grayed out, click it and follow the prompts. If it’s grayed out, click the Advanced Sharing button and follow the prompts. Typically, you’ll need to place a check mark in a tick box to enable sharing and enter a descriptive name for the shared network drive. The operating system will then generate a network path such as: \\ServerName\SharedDriveName.

Accessing the Network CD Drive

Once shared, you should be able to connect to the shared drive from your laptop over your home network. Go to the Start button and click on Network (or Network Neighborhood depending on your operating system). You should now see the shared CD-ROM drive listed under your network and the host computer.

Note: You may need to turn on “network discovery” on one or both computers if you cannot find the CD-ROM drive when browsing the network. In Windows Vista, go to the Control Panel and choose Network and Sharing Center. You’ll see an option for turning on Network Discovery. If you’re using a different operating system or need help discovering your shared CD drive, Microsoft’s Help Page has detailed information on this topic here.

Launching the Software from a Shared Network Drive

Once you can access the shared CD-ROM drive, you can use it just as if it were physically connected to your laptop. For example, if you need to install a new application, insert the CD, access the CD drive by browsing the network as described above, and find the application’s setup.exe or install.exe file. Click the file and install the application on your laptop.

Mapping the Network CD Drive

If you plan on using the shared CD-ROM drive regularly, you can map it to your laptop. This means that you can instruct your laptop to connect to the shared drive whenever connected to the network. Even better, when mapping the drive, you’ll assign a drive letter to it. When properly mapped, the shared CD drive will appear under My Computer along with all of your other local drives.

To map a network drive, go to the Start button and right click. Choose Explore. Now, go to the Tools menu and click Map Network Drive. (If you have Windows Vista and don’t see the Tools menu, press the Alt key which will toggle the menu bar on and off). Choose a drive letter and enter the network path (\\ServerName\SharedDriveName) if you know it or use the Browse button to find the drive. Make sure to place a check mark in the box that says, “Reconnect at logon.”

It sounds like somehow your sound card driver was disabled or deleted. Luckily, it is fairly easy to get a new one.

First, have you checked everything physical that might be killing your sound - mute buttons, cable connections and speaker cables? Sometimes a loose connection can cause this problem. If you have checked all of these things on your PC it’s time to go in search of your sound card driver.

Find the Sound Card

You can find the sound card on your PC and then manually download the drivers for it. If you don’t know the sound card manufacturer, you need to find it before you can go to the website and download the driver:

1. Click on My Computer and then on Properties.
2. Choose the Hardware tab.
3. Click on Device Manager and click on it to expand. You should be able to see the type of sound card you have from here.

Download the Driver

Now that you know what type of sound card you have, you need to go to the manufacturer’s website and find the driver. Most manufacturer’s websites are easy to navigate and because this is a common problem, the driver download buttons are usually easy to find. For most brands, just click on the download button and let it run. You can either download it to the correct file on your computer or just download it to your desktop to install later. You shouldn’t have to uninstall the old driver in order to install the new one, but if you do, just follow the steps above and when you’ve found the driver, right click to Uninstall it.

Driver Detective

If you don’t want to do it manually, you can use a downloadable driver program such as Driver Detective or Driver Genius. These products will manage the drivers for all of your devices so that you don’t have to.

Downloading a new sound card driver should solve your audio problems-happy listening.

Troubleshoot Lexmark z735

Detail your Error

OK - so, I take it that your printer isn’t working, but without knowing more about your specific errors it’s a little hard to diagnose. For example, it will make a difference whether or not you are receiving power to the printer, if you are receiving error messages or flashing lights, or if you are printing flawed copies. Without that information we can troubleshoot common issues with your printer model.

About Driver Updates

I think that whomever you spoke with last time was advising you to check with Lexmark for driver updates for your computer. If your computer isn’t able to communicate properly with your printer, it is often because there are language barriers between operating systems and printer programs.

Download Driver Updates

There is a driver download available for your printer and operating system from Lexmark. You will have to select your zone, and country from the drop down menus, and then enter z735 Color Jet Printer into the model search bar. Allow the page to reload, and then select your operating system, XP, from the operating system drop down menu. This will load another page that is set to offer you the driver and you can simply select Download Now. The driver will clear up any communication issues that you are having.

Install Driver Updates

1. To install the driver, you should first create a new folder on your desktop and name it Lexmark. You will later store the download here. Follow the steps above to locate and download the driver and then click on the icon that will appear on your desktop once the driver downloads.
2. Choose the option to Save This Program to Disk and then OK. Next, a Save As screen will open, and you can select the location for the driver, now you should choose the newly created Lexmark folder on the desktop, and choose Save.
3. Log off of the Internet and close all of your open programs. Click twice on the desktop file to open the WinZip screen. Accept the file suggested by the wizard and click Unzip.
4. After the files are unzipped, open the folder and find the file called setup.exe and click it twice to launch the installation
5. You will be prompted to click Yes to accept the program terms, then follow the wizard to complete the download.

If this driver installation fails to get your printer working, you can write again and specify that you have downloaded and installed the latest printer drivers as well as provide some additional details about the problems you are having.