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PC LOAD LETTER

Printer error message

PC LOAD LETTER

Printer error message

PC LOAD LETTER error on a [[HP LaserJet 4

PC LOAD LETTER is a printer error message that has entered popular culture as a technology meme referring to a confusing or inappropriate error message. The message is instructing the user to refill the paper tray (paper cassette) on a HP LaserJet with letter-sized paper. The error message's vagueness was mocked in the 1999 comedy film Office Space.

Message

The message is encountered when printing on older HP LaserJet printers such as the LaserJet II, III, and 4 series. It means that the printer is trying to print a document that needs "Letter size" (8½ × 11 in.) paper when no such paper is available.

Early LaserJet models used a two-character display for all status messages. This printer is showing "00", for normal status. Paper out in the upper cassette would be indicated by alternating "11" and "UC".

"PC" is an abbreviation for "paper cassette", the tray which holds blank paper for the printer to use. These two-character codes are a legacy feature carried over from the first LaserJet printers, which could only use a two-character display for all printer status and error messages. "LOAD" is an instruction to refill the paper tray. "LETTER" is the standard paper size used in the United States, Canada and some other nations. Thus, the message is instructing the user to refill the paper tray with letter-sized paper. Other messages that might be seen include "MP LOAD LEGAL", meaning the "MP" (multi-purpose) tray needs to be filled with legal size (8½ × 14 in.) paper.

Confusion

Users confuse "PC" with "personal computer", "LOAD" with some action someone might do to that computer, and "LETTER" with what is sent in the mail. In most countries, standard paper is A4 size and users may not even know "LETTER" is a paper size.

Mitigation

The error can be dismissed (other than by filling the paper tray) by emptying the print queue and printer buffer or pressing "Shift+Continue" and, in extreme cases, restarting the printer and repeating. The LaserJet 5 introduced a "GO" button to override the warning message.

The LaserJet 5, 4000, and later models added number labels on paper trays and displayed a new message, "TRAY [x] LOAD PLAIN [paper size]" where [x] is the tray number.

References

References

  1. (21 February 2019). "The 35 Best Quotes from Office Space".
  2. Rouse, Margaret. (23 August 2015). "PC Load Letter".
  3. (2016-09-07). "LaserJet Pro M402dn asks me to load Letter paper when I have A4". Hewlett Packard.
  4. "One of many official Hewlett-Packard technical documents defining PC as a short-form of Paper Cassette".
  5. (1996). "HP LaserJet 4 - 5 Service Manual". Hewlett-Packard Company.
  6. "Instructions for solving printer errors.".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

computer-errors computer-humour computer-printers hp-laserjet
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