Microline 184 turbo printer

When character pitch is blinking and the alarm light is on it means there is a temperature fault in the print head. A new head should cure it.

need more info. is it hooked up usb or parallel? Are you printing from windows or like an AS400 or OS X. What error is the alarm light blinking or just stays on?.

Sir the printer is giving line because the cartiage or toner is not of good quality so it does not melt properly and produces line while the alarm comes and stop printing is due to the problem in charging cathode or gutter

This is a SNIP of a rather LONG FIX:

Found here:
http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread.php?7080-RESOLVED-Okidata-Microline-184-Turbo

"Just purchased this thing and am running it a machine to print checks with (Win95, p1-200, 48 Mb ram). The Oki dot matrix printers don't give you drivers, they tell you to use the drivers from Win95 disk. Sure... (just lazy if you ask me :-) OK using the Oki Microline 184 IBM Turbo driver the thing works fine, EXCEPT that it *always* prints in NLQ mode no matter what the settings in the control panel, it just switches to NLQ before each print job. So... we switch to a "generic text" driver and it works fine that way EXCEPT that it no longer recognises the custom paper length (8.5" wide X 7" long) Now here's the wierd part... IF I switch back to the win95 driver, re-accept the custom paper size, print a test page (in NLQ of course), switch back to the generic driver, re-accept the the custom paper size, switch the printer to normal (non NLQ), and print it works fine with the custom paper size and non-NLQ mode until the next time it needs to print. The printer remains ON 24/7, so its not reseting itself. It just seems that with the Win95 driver there is no way to set it to print in anything but NLQ AND the generic driver refuses to keep the custom paper sizes in memory. Anyone seen this before? Never came accross this myself. I may just end up sending this thing back and getting an Epson or someting else."

AND THERE IS THIS:
"This is like going back to the dark ages....most of those old impact printers had dip switches to set things like default print quality. Additionally, Oki's usually came in two 'flavors'--plain Oki and IBM Oki. It's important that you install the correct driver between the two options..."

Anthony

does the printhead assembly move at all? try taking off the ribbon and moving it by hand with the power disconnected. try moving it to the right hand side before turning it back on, if it does not go all the way back to the left again try to find what is jamming it.

is the alarm or any other lights on?

This can be several issues:
First make sure your printer is a working printer. A quick test it to turn on and hold the "FORM FEED" and "ON-LINE" button when turning on the power. It will print the matrix of the possible characters and fonts. This is a good sign. If nothing, then it is dead.
Second; The printers baud rate and stop bit must match the computer that is printing to it. This is found on the back of the printer and in the PC in the particular program AND in the control panel.
They need to match, EXACTLY.
Third; Maybe I don;t need to say it but make sure you have inked ribbon
Forth; The paper thickness needs to be set on the printer. It is a small lever under the paper shield and on the left or right side.
Fifth; The serial cable must be good and a straight through cable and not a cross-over type.

Good Luck

Check printhead possible missing pin or pin not firing. Replace as necessary.

First, make sure that paper feed switch is set accordingly to the paper path you are using (rear feed, bottom feed or friction). If you make a change, turn the unit off and on.

If it is set correctly, there might be an obstruction on the printer top cover that interferes with the cover sensors. This forces the printer to think that the lid is still open and will signal it as you have described.

The last option will be a damage to the sensors or to the mainboard. This is rare, but if the case, you need a repair center.


Be blessed.

Suonds as if your spacing motor is going out. The part number is 56513701. Here's a link to a free complete Okidata Service Manual for your 320Turbo. The manual will walk you through the testing process to verify the problem prior to ordering the part.

http://www.feedroller.com/Store/Service%20Manual/SER320T.PDF

If this helped you, please hit me a fixya!. I'm just a tech trying to help people in my spare time.

We swapped out the printer for another one we had in the office that was working. The new printer also got the alarm light. From that we concluded that it was a bad serial card. We swapped the serial card from another printer, and the original printer started working perfectly. Now we just need to find out where we can purchase another serial card, as we have no more 'spares' around here.