I have a love/hate relationship with technology.
I love the next coolest gadget, but I find that sometimes these things have minds of their own.
Here are a few troubleshooting steps to resolve printer issues.
1. Check your printer error lights; Most manufactures nowadays have lights on the front panel that indicate what the issue is. You may have to refer to the manual to determine what lights mean what. If you no longer have the manual you may have to go online and search the manufactures website to download the PDF version.
2. Clear the printer queue; Often the holdup in being unable to print is previous documents in the printer queue which failed to print. Documents are printed in the order the Queue receives them. It's much like a traffic jam. If the front car doesn't move, no other cars go forward either.
a. Click the Start Menu, and in the Search Bar type "Printers & Scanners'
b. Select and click on your printer, and click 'Open Print Queue' - if there are documents listed, click the menu 'Printer' and click 'Cancel All Documents'
These three steps alone should get your printer back up and running. But is that's not the case you may need to reinstall the printer software and drivers.
Take printers for example. A printer can be a dependable machine making copies, scanning to your PC and printing one day, and the next day you end up getting an error. And you didn't even touch it!
What exactly does 'Error 11' mean on that HP printer mean? And if the paper is out, why doesn't it just tell me that!?? (This is the hate portion of the relationship)
Figuring out the issue is half the battle, the other is trying to figure out a solution to get it working properly.
Figuring out the issue is half the battle, the other is trying to figure out a solution to get it working properly.
Here are a few troubleshooting steps to resolve printer issues.
1. Check your printer error lights; Most manufactures nowadays have lights on the front panel that indicate what the issue is. You may have to refer to the manual to determine what lights mean what. If you no longer have the manual you may have to go online and search the manufactures website to download the PDF version.
2. Clear the printer queue; Often the holdup in being unable to print is previous documents in the printer queue which failed to print. Documents are printed in the order the Queue receives them. It's much like a traffic jam. If the front car doesn't move, no other cars go forward either.
a. Click the Start Menu, and in the Search Bar type "Printers & Scanners'
b. Select and click on your printer, and click 'Open Print Queue' - if there are documents listed, click the menu 'Printer' and click 'Cancel All Documents'
3. Run the troubleshooter; Windows provides excellent troubleshooter programs for situations like this.
a. Under Settings, 'Printers & Scanners', click on your printer.
b. Click 'Run the Troubleshooter'.
This is an automated process which goes thru certain steps. It checks the connection to the printer (wireless or USB), that Windows is communicating to the printer, stops and restarts the printer spooler (a small application that manages documents being printed), checks the network and others steps involved.
a. Under Settings, 'Printers & Scanners', click on your printer.
b. Click 'Run the Troubleshooter'.
This is an automated process which goes thru certain steps. It checks the connection to the printer (wireless or USB), that Windows is communicating to the printer, stops and restarts the printer spooler (a small application that manages documents being printed), checks the network and others steps involved.
These three steps alone should get your printer back up and running. But is that's not the case you may need to reinstall the printer software and drivers.
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