Maintain Equipment and Consumables



Maintain Equipment and Consumables

Sections 1: Identifying and scheduling maintenance and cleaning

Routine Maintenance

‘preventive maintenance’ – reduces the chance of something going wrong

equipment works more often and workers become more productive

Non-Routine Maintenance

fixing something after it is broken or not working properly

The more you carry out routine maintenance the less likely you will have to carry out non-routine

Maintenance in a IT environment

Printers

Print out is streaky/faded

Printer many need cleaning or a new cartridge

Monitors

Difficulty reading text on a monitor e.g. from fingerprints

Monitor needs cleaning

PCs

PC isn’t booting correctly

Perform some diagnostics and possibly reinstall operating system

Peripherals

If peripheral isn’t working properly e.g. printer is jammed

Might need to clear/clean it

Floppy Disk Drive

Clean/replace

Replacing Paper

Scheduled Maintenance

You may be required to schedule the maintenance of PCs and peripherals

Although its difficult to plan for this type of maintenance you still need to allocate time for it in work schedule

Routine Maintenance

Usually involves cleaning equipment but other tasks as well

|Clean… |Replace… |Run… |Back Up… |

|keyboards |ribbons/cartridges in a printer |a disk-defragmentation program |data |

|Monitor screens/outer casing |  |a program to check the integrity of a|tape drives |

| | |disk's surface | |

Scheduling routine maintenance

Maintenance tasks can be done periodically

Timing will depend on:

o Storage: clean/dirty environment

o Frequency of use

o Durability

o Guidelines in equipment documentation

Recording Dates

Can be recorded in a DB & printed out daily so can see what needs maintenance on that day

Dates can be recorded in a log kept next to each device

What gets priority

Clients

May need to squeeze routine in non-routine tasks

REFER TO BOOK FOR EXAMPLE OF MAINTANENCE PROCEDURE

Example

Replacing a ribbon/cartridge in a printer – print out faded

replace print density if allowed

replace ribbon/cartridge

may be temporarily prolong life if shake side to side to spread toner

procedure diff. for each printer – refer to manual – website if lost

laser printer toner is carcinogenic – follow recommended procedure – wear face mask/gloves

Backing Up Data – preventative maintenance

When?

E.g. hard drive copied periodically to other media e.g. floppy, network device

Keep CD ROM installed with operating system/applications

Section 2: Hardware maintenance and cleaning

Precautions

Guidelines you should follow to prevent damage to equipment or yourself

Switch-off and unplug electrical equipment before cleaning – prevent electric shock if short circuit occur

Allow e.g. printers to cool down – to lose capacitance e.g. monitors 30 minutes before cleaning outside/printer 30min before cleaning inside

Cleaning inside PC: use antistatic earthling strap – enough charge in body to damage components of PC e.g. circuit board – connected to outer casing of PC

Refer to manufacturers manual before – dangerous/invalidate warrantee

Read OH&S Guidelines in workplace

Some equip. e.g. Monitor contain large voltage – leave for professionals

Read Support Contract: contract between two companies where one company is paid to provide a service e.g. maintenance/repair - may invalidate/penalty

Cleaning in an IT Environment – Why Clean?

Removing Dust

Dust is an insulator which prevents air from circulating over/though components ( overheating

Dust can get into moving parts of a other devices ( conductive part can cause fire

Use house vacuum- attachment/ purpose built vacuum

Residue from hands

Remove with liquid cleaners available from computer stores

Precautions using cleaning fluids:

Cause dangerous fumes

Damage plastics used in computer hardware

Release ozone-damaging gases – Freon propellant

Not clean effectively

Leave chemical residue

Cleaning Kits

|Item |How is it used? |

|Small Brush |dusting electrical components |

|antistatic grounding srtap |earth' self |

|Lint Free foam cleaning swab |used with alcohol. Dab to clean e.g. edge connectors on cards. Don’t touch 'gold' edge connectors ( bad |

| |connection. Lint Free: no bits left after cleaning |

|cleaning wipes |lint free. For system unit casing, monitor |

|Contact Cleaning Solution |promote reliable connections. Cleans edge connector/electrical components |

|Compressed Air |Blasting dust from obscure corners, not reachable by vacuum. DON’T Blow by mouth - contains moisture ( |

| |Short circuit |

|Cleaning 3/1/2 disk |place special cleaning fluid on replaceable inner material. Use non abrasive type. TEST on good & bad |

| |disk first |

|CD cleaning |CD introduces dust into Drive - keep CD in case - periodically clean with kit |

|cleaning sheets for laser printer, photocopier, fax|feed paper through. Removes toner, dirt, dust --> improves print quality |

Cleaning peripherals

Monitors

Produces a lot of heat

Has vents to let cool/hot air pass

Dust block: operate at higher temp. ( life shortened

Use Vacuum cleaner NOT rag – pushes dust in

Printers

Refer to printer’s manual

Remove dust from paths of moving parts

Don’t use liquid cleaners unless recommended

Laser

Corona Wire: applies an even charge across the drum surface which causes it to repel toner

o If dirty/broken wont repel properly – whole page may come out black

Easily broken: modern lasers have charged rollers instead

Cleaning:

Switch off and unplug the printer. Wait 30min to cool & high voltage power to discharge

Wear disposable gloves

Clean outer casing with lint free cloth & detergent

Remove any lose bits of paper

Vacuum inside: using a static-safe vacuum. With rigid disposable cleaner-carcinogenic

Use lint free cloth dipped in alcohol to clean corona wire- don’t break it!

Check manual if has a ozone filter – check for periodic replacing

Keyboards

Accumulates dust, skin residue, hair, lint from clothing

Doesn’t affect function, but ‘looks’ clean – use vacuum

Mice

Accumulates dust & skin from surface it rolls on

Turn mouse upside down

Place two fingers on roller opening push down & turn until panel opens

Turn over & catch ball

Use a soft-dry lint free cloth to wipe ball – no fluid. Blow into mouse housing to remove dust

Clean steel rollers using cotton swab

Replace ball and retaining panel

Scanners & Photocopiers

Use lint free cloth & recommended liquid to clean glass top of flat bed scanner etc

Power Supplies

Vacuum dust from vent holes

Check cable aren’t broken/worn

Check power socket clear of dust/dirt

Tap Drives

Kept clean so ‘backup data’ is corrupted by contaminants

Frequency depends on manufacturer - manual

Use cleaning tape

Recording Maintenance Tasks (LOG)

Why? (in DB)

Can check source of problem e.g. improper cleaning

Might show regular problems which means product defect

Show regular but not unnecessary cleaning

What to include

Date repair / maintenance

Time carried out

Type of equipment worked on

Location & ID of Computer

Brief description of task carried out

List consumables/spare parts used

Name & signature person carrying out task

Section 3: Updating stock and inventory systems/ stock & inventory control systems

Stock: goods that an organization holds

Inventory: list & description of what they actually have

Why stock control?

Run business efficiently – if stock runs out customer may not receive good when they want it

The need for procedures

Inventory-control system : make sure you never run out of stock (stock control system), tells people how to obtain items from stores. To:

o Make sure theft of stock doesn’t occur

o Info. about stock taken from stores is entered correctly

Computerized Inventory Control Systems

Rely on correct information being entered into them

GIGI (garbage-in-garbage-out) – unreliable – important to enter correct info. on stock

Used to maintain a optimum level of stock

Stock Levels

Just-in-time: companies keeping minimal stock and order more just as it is needed

o Need reliable supplier

IT usually keeps stock levels low as e.g. disk drives become out of date

Automatic Reorder

Advantage of a computerized system

Such as ‘scanning’ in Super Market – reduces by ONE

Determining optimum reorder level:

Ask store manager what he/she thinks

Check marketing plans for product

Check usage of users

Accessing stock & Inventory systems and Recording Information

Computerized: enter stock number/name/amount/where etc – name/date etc filled out for you

Paper: you do it ( stock control form - e.g. when ‘withdrawing stock’

Stock Rotation and Disposal of Used Consumables

Stock Rotation

Oldest stock gets used first

E.g. photocopier paper. Needs to be kept away from humidity/stored flat or ( paper jams

Old paper - Paper Jam

Check how paper is stored

Check oldest used first

Implement stock rotation syst.

Disposing of Consumables

Read documentation with product

Some chemicals can be disposed regularly, others e.g. laser cartridges can be recycled

Business pay for rubbish disposal – limit / shredded – confidentiality

Section 4:Testing Hardware & Obtaining Quotes

Testing Hardware

Occurs after cleaning/maintenance

E.g. printer – self-test – network: check it prints on every terminal, scanner: scan line art drawing- check accuracy, tape drive: do backup/restore to diff. directory & check restored data is correct

Storing Unused peripherals

If ‘signed out’ will have to ‘sign in’

Storage requirements

|Item |Storage Requirements |

|Hard Disks and Floppy Disks |Shouldn’t be stored in damp conditions, in a dusty environment, or near magnetic fields e.g. telephone |

|Photocopying Paper |should be laid flat, and shouldn’t be stored in damp conditions |

|Computer cards & Hard Drives |should be stored in anti-static bags |

|Laser Cartridges |usually stored in an enclosed bag/box away from sunlight |

Replacing Consumables

Purchasing Items

Take into account:

Quality of products

Quality of service

Reliability of advice

Promptness of delivery

Reasonable return service when goods don’t work

Purchasing Guidelines

What employees are allowed to purchase

Who can approve the purchase

Declaration by purchaser of any dealings, connections/interests in chosen supplier ( fairness

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download