Jonathan Coleman - Cavendish Studios wrote : >"We have recently started to see tiny faint white flecks on the black >backgrounds in our portraits........ >We link our PCs to the printer via a network cables and I wonder whether >this effect could be caused by noise on the Cat 5 cables that we use? The >cables are over long and do mingle with other wires"
First, are the cables shielded? My understanding is that it takes a large amount of current to cause interference on the cables. Whether any interference actually has any detrimental effect on the data, I am not sure. Shielding merely raises the threshold at which interference happens. I used to work in a factory doing IT support. We would run CAT5 cables all over the place, including near (but no nearer than 10 yards) power cables that carried (I think 000's of volts). I cannot recall a problem. If there was something causing noise, why does it not appear on the reprint? I ask because I am assuming the only thing to have changed between the print and the reprint is the sheet of paper? Second, how long is 'over long'? As regards the length, you should be ok up to about 90 metres on CAT5. If cabling is suspect, try moving the printers and/or the PC and see if the problem continues. Try changing cables. Do the spots appear in the same place? Is it that there could be some dust on the paper? Sorry I can't be more help. Regards Paul =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
