Troubleshooting Printers

In this presentation, we'll take a look at some general troubleshooting methods for printers beginning with power and availability. And of course you do need to ensure that the device is receiving power, but consider that it may be the cable. In other words, the power adapter itself could be the problem. Maybe it just came loose, but if the device clearly is not getting any power, then you need to run that down first.

 

And then, with respect to availability, if it does have power, of course, check the cables. So if it's a local installation using a USB connection, again, remember that it, of course, connects at both ends. One at the computer end and one at the device end, so check both. And if it's accessed over the network, then of course check the network connection physically.

 

Again, the ethernet cable, and maybe check its IP address, and possibly check the driver. And in some cases, you might resolve a problem by updating the driver or maybe even uninstalling the printer entirely and then reinstalling it. That often works in terms of accessing the printer.

 

[Video description begins] Troubleshoot Paper and Mechanical Issues. [Video description ends]

 

And of course, there can be paper and mechanical issues. So check for paper jam and that's not always obvious, many devices of course have a tray that closes right up. So you don't even see the paper being fed into the printer. So again it's just not obvious that there is a piece of paper stuck in there somewhere. But most devices do have reporting whereby something will pop up on your screen.

 

Or maybe there's a screen on the device itself that indicates that a paper jam has occurred. Maybe it's an issue of paper mismatch, whereby you have the wrong-size paper in the wrong-size tray. So you're just getting the incorrect size paper. And maybe the tray itself is having mechanical problems, they usually slide in and out. So maybe something has become broken within the tray and it's not sliding in correctly or it's misaligned perhaps. And also confirm that the right ink is being used. It is possible in some models that you can get the wrong color into the wrong place.

 

So you might be trying to print in black and white for example and it's coming out in color or vice versa. And clearly, if the ink is getting low, you need to replace those cartridges, you won't get very good quality. And if it's a laser printer that uses toner, you can sometimes get a little more life out of that cartridge by quite literally just pulling out and shaking it. And if the print job itself just doesn't seem to be coming up very clearly or with low quality, then this could indicate that you need to clean the print head nozzles.

 

Now, this is usually, again, a process that you can do within the printer itself with respect to its software configuration. You can just invoke this and it's done automatically, if you will. And you may also need to calibrate the printer which usually involves aligning the print heads. So that you are getting straight lines when you expect them and they're not jagged at all or misaligned. So again, those are essentially the quick things to check when it comes to printer issues. Clearly, there could be something more significant wrong with the device, but those can help you to eliminate the most probable causes. And in many cases those would be fairly easy fixes.

 

In this presentation, we'll talk about printer issues that are essentially centered around the paper. And of course, the most common of these is the paper jam. And jams typically tend to occur in the feeder or afterward, in other words, you won't encounter a jam before the paper is actually fed through. And in most cases, this is just a matter of opening the casing to remove the jam. But depending on the make and the model and the type of printer, you may find that there is some kind of maintenance or paper feed button.

 

And what that essentially does is move any ink cartridges out of the way, or anything else that might be in the way, so that you can access wherever the paper is jammed. And it can jam in a number of places, so again, it really does depend on where that happens. But again, depending on the make and model, you might find some of those buttons that can just feed the paper through by just spinning the roller and not producing any kind of printed paper, of course. Now, there could also be issues with the paper size.

 

[Video description begins] Paper Size. [Video description ends]

 

And these tend to result in problems such as the paper not fully ejecting, or maybe it's coming out wrinkled as it's going through the printer. It's quite simply too large, so it has to be folded a little bit. So clearly just check the paper size. Make sure that you are using the correct size. And if it does cause a jam, then of course clear that if necessary, and it could just be a piece of paper that was torn off. So maybe when you cleared a jam previously, a little bit got torn off and left behind. So check for just little bits as well. And of course, ensure that you do have the correct paper size and try to print again.

 

[Video description begins] Multiple Pages Feeding. [Video description ends]

 

Now, sometimes you get multiple pages feeding through at once. So you're just trying to print a single page, for example, but two or three are coming out. Now, only one will have any kind of printing on it. But you still get these multiple pages out. And this can happen if the paper is very thin, thinner than you would normally use. Or if the paper is maybe a little bit damp, because, of course, this will just cause it to be a little bit sticky. So you can maybe just try to take all of the paper out and fan the edges a little bit and reload the printer. But in some cases, this could be indicative of a problem with the pickups or the pick-up rollers in some cases, again, depending on the type of printer.

 

[Video description begins] Paper Is Not Feeding. [Video description ends]

 

And in some cases, you kind of get the opposite, whereby the paper does not feed at all. So just nothing is getting picked up. So again, try to reload the paper, and in most cases, just check the positioning of the paper in the feeder. It might not be all the way back where the rollers make contact. So maybe just tap the paper toward the front a little bit, and that will get it to the point of the pick-up roller. And that should hopefully start feeding it through. But in most cases, when it is an issue with paper, these are usually fairly easy fixes. Again, it could be the rollers, in some cases, which could involve replacement of those components. But most of the time you'll find that paper issues are easily corrected.

 

In this presentation, we'll take a look at some specific issues with printing that generally involve the ink cartridges or the print heads themselves. And we'll begin with what's known as banding. And this is essentially when you print your page, you get the printed content that you expected, but you also get these bands of light or dark lines across the page.

 

Now, this could be either horizontally or vertically, depending on the orientation that you've chosen for that print job. But clearly, you can see that this is not a very desirable result if it's too severe. So generally, you would want to clean the print head nozzles. And surprisingly, this can also happen if your ink cartridges are running too low. And you may also want to align the print heads to see if this will correct the issue.

 

[Video description begins] Blurs and Smears. [Video description ends]

 

And you may also encounter blurs and smears, and quite simply, the image itself is blurry or even smeared. And this can happen sometimes if you are using the incorrect media. Now, what I mean by that is that you might be trying to print photograph, for example. So you might have gone and purchased some expensive photographic paper, but most photographic paper is only treated on one side.

 

So for starters, make sure that you did load the photographic paper into the printer as opposed to just normal paper. Or vice versa, maybe you're printing on photographic paper when you didn't mean to. And again, because it is only treated on one side, then make sure you have it with the correct side up. And again, you may just want to align the print heads and/or replace the cartridges if you continually find that you get blurry images now, if it's an issue with the colors and/or blocked nozzles, then you, of course, may just see the wrong colors or missing colors.

 

[Video description begins] Color Issues and Blocked Nozzles. [Video description ends]

 

Now, if it's missing, this likely is indicative of a specific color just being out of ink. But again, you might want to clean the print head nozzles and replace whichever ones are running low. And most printers will tell you which ones are low either through a software notification on your computer or a screen on the device itself. So if it's a clogged nozzle, then you may actually want to consider using a lower capacity ink cartridge. Now, clearly, they don´t last as long. But the downside of the higher capacity ink nozzles is that you do get a little bit of buildup over time because they can produce more print jobs, in other words, they have higher capacity. Then you are a little more likely to get more buildup as you start to get toward the end of that cartridge. And as always, it never hurts to clean the print head nozzles to see if that will correct the issue.

 

[Video description begins] Poor Quality Images. [Video description ends]

 

And if it's simply a poor quality image, such as photos or graphics, then again, ensure that the correct paper is being used. If you're really trying to get a high quality photo to be printed, then just doing it on plain paper is not really going to yield the best results. But it could still also be settings for the device itself, so check the driver settings. Maybe it's not giving you the option to print at the highest quality. And as always, check the ink levels or the toner cartridge if it's a laser printer. But like anything, you want to stay on top of those and make sure that the ink levels are always at a satisfactory level.

 

Particularly when you are trying to print a lot of photos or advanced graphics, they can you know drain your cartridges quite quickly. Now, one other thing to bear in mind is that if you are encountering these issues continually, and you've tried the cleaning, and you've tried the alignment and you just aren't really getting any kind of success out of that. You may still want to consider replacing the entire printer, particularly if it's an inkjet. You know they aren't very expensive these days. So in many cases, you would end up spending more on repair or just replacing cartridges with no success than you would to simply replace the entire device. You know always consider the cost and the time involved when it comes to printer issues.

 

Now in this presentation, we'll talk about driver compatibility for your printers. And these days really the best option is to obtain the drivers from the manufacturer. Now, of course, if you just go to the store and you buy a new printer in virtually every case, it would have a disk included with the driver and any additional software on that disk. But even then that may not be the latest driver because, of course, that disk could have been sitting in the box for months. So, I still recommend that you go to the web site and download it from there because this will ensure that you always have the latest driver.

 

And if any kind of problem was identified with an earlier version, of course, they would have updated that. And you always need to be mindful of the operating system version and of course the printer model when it comes to compatibility. So, if you are downloading from the manufacturer's web site, or really for that matter even installing from the disk. Do be sure that you choose the correct operating system, and not only the version but the platform. Recall that if you have a 64-bit operating system, you must install a 64-bit driver as well. So be mindful of that and in almost every case, I don't want to say 100% of the time. But at least in my experience in every case when installing a new printer, install the drivers onto your computer first before you plug in the printer.

 

This ensures that the correct driver is there. And if you plug the printer in before this, then your operating system may automatically install a non-compatible driver. Now that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, but it may not give you all of the features of that device. Because many operating systems do have pre-loaded drivers, but again, they might be a little bit out of date. And they might simply not have all of the features. So, installing the driver first makes the computer aware, if you will, of that device as soon as it is plugged in. And it just does a little bit of automatic configuration and usually you're good to go. And if you have ever installed the software for a printer before you may have seen this during the process. It tells you not to plug the printer in until you're prompted.

 

[Video description begins] Key Considerations When Troubleshooting Printers [Video description ends]

 

Some other key considerations when troubleshooting your printers it, of course, may not be working even though it appears to be online. So if this is the case, then you might want to try uninstalling the drivers and really just re-install it. And again, make sure that it is a compatible driver and the most up to date one that you can obtain. Then essentially, you just go through that whole process again, so reinstall the new drivers, or the more updated one. Whatever you just obtained and then plug in the printer, again, this usually restores the printer operation. So, if it didn't generate any errors, during the process, but yet still does not work, then this is a good thing to try, effectively just uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

 

Now, depending on the make and model of your printer, you may be able to ascertain what's wrong with it by checking with error codes. Now, these may be produced in log files, or may be even on the screen of the device itself. And I do also want to mention that this is just one example of error codes that would likely be fairly consistent for a particular manufacturer. In other words, you will likely see different error codes from different manufactures. So this is just one example, so don't get too hung up on the make and/or the model here. But in this particular case, we'll use an HP LaserJet and some of its variations as the model.

 

[Video description begins] The different models are LaserJet, Plus, 500 Plus, and II. [Video description ends]

 

And the error code 11 is quite simply, paper out. Now, obviously, the first thing to check is if the tray is empty, and that's clearly an easy fix. But it could be that the tray is just not all the way in. So may be it's full of paper, you just filled it up again, but you didn't push the tray all the way in, in which case you would likely see the same error because it's unable to access the paper.

 

[Video description begins] 12 - Printer Open. [Video description ends]

 

Now, you may also receive an error 12, which is the printer being open. And again, don't get too hung up on the models here. But, of course, in many cases, if you have just reloaded the tray, for example, you probably had to open some kind of a door.

 

[Video description begins] The different models are IIP, IIP Plus, IIIP, 4P, and 4MP. [Video description ends]

 

So the printer is just not closed properly. There is something that needs to be closed up completely before it can operate. So this could include paper issues, of course, but also issues with the toner cartridge. May be it's entirely missing, or it's just not seated correctly into its slot. And with some models, you may also receive an error 12 if the cooling fan is not working or if there are any issues with the voltage or the power. So again, it's going to depend on the make and model. And really, you should check with the documentation. Now, error code 13, with some of these models, tends to indicate a paper jam.

 

[Video description begins] 13 - Paper Jam. [Video description ends]

 

And again, the paper can be jammed really anywhere in the printer.

 

[Video description begins] The different models are II, IIP, IIIP, IID, IIP Plus, and IIID. [Video description ends]

 

So in some cases, you may have to open up several compartments to get at the paper. In many cases, the top door will have to be opened and then closed before it will work again once you have cleared the jam. Now, it could be a front door. It could be a left side door. Again, it's going to vary depending on the make and model. And in some cases, there may be a duplexing paper path, which allows it to print on both sides.

 

[Video description begins] For the printer models IIP, IIP Plus, and IIIP, the front door is opened to clear the paper jam. For the printer models IID and IIID, the left side door is opened to clear the paper jam. [Video description ends]

 

And also be mindful of the media being used with respect to the correct tray having the correct paper size in that tray. But, again, 13 typically indicates paper jam. But you might also see 13X, whereby the X indicates the location of the paper in terms of the path.

 

[Video description begins] 13.X - Paper Jam. The models are IIISi, 4Si, 4Si MX, 5Si, and 5Si MX. [Video description ends]

 

So 13.1 would be internal, 13.2 would be input, 3 would be duplex, and 4 would be output. So that gives you a better idea as to where the jam has occurred because these models have a paper jam sensor. But in some cases, the sensor may be the issue as well. So may be there is no jam but the sensor isn't working, in which case you might still receive an error. So also again be mindful with printers that do have the duplexers installed and ensure that the paper path is just simply not blocked.

 

Sometimes, of course, when you have to quite literally flip the paper over, that can cause issues. So like anything, you just need to be mindful of what these error codes are and this can just help you to more quickly resolve problems. But as mentioned, you really need to check with the documentation to ensure that you are translating these error codes correctly.

 

Again, depending on the make and model of your printer, you may have the option to upgrade its firmware. So in this presentation, we'll take a look at what that involves. Now, for starters, every printer will have drivers. This is how your operating system is able to recognize the device and submit requests to it. But firmware is not unlike the BIOS of your computer, it's lower-level software.

 

And it would be something that is written directly into the printer itself. So you wouldn't install the firmware for the printer on your computer. This would be something that you would certainly use your computer for. But you would be interacting directly with the device itself to, in most cases, update that firmware, usually to improve its functionality. And honestly, there are a number of other scenarios where a firmware upgrade may produce new or better results.

 

[Video description begins] Firmware Upgrades. [Video description ends]

 

But ultimately the firmware, as mentioned, is something that is built right into the device itself. So you would still download some kind of software to your computer. But then you would initiate a direct connection to the device, usually over a USB cable or maybe a network or even Wi-Fi. But you directly install this new feature into the printer. So again, it's nothing that your operating system is upgrading or introducing with respect to new features, it's the device itself. So, again, this is really dependent on the make and model. You probably wouldn't find this kind of thing on a standard home level inkjet printer. But certainly with, let's say, a higher-level laser jet in an office environment, you could very likely upgrade the firmware to again improve its performance and/or enhance its compatibility, and even its feature set.

 

In this presentation, we'll talk about your screen display and your printer output with respect to how they relate to one another. In other words, you might be working on something. And as far as you are concerned, it's displaying correctly on the screen. But then when you go out to print it the output from the printer is quite inconsistent with what you are seeing on the screen. Now for starters, this typically is not an issue if you're just talking about text or just a document. Particularly if it's just black and white. But anything that's a little more graphic in nature certainly can suffer from this problem.

 

So photographs or any kind of graphic design may look great on the screen. But then simply doesn't really come out of the printer with the matching color set. And this really is due to the nature of each device. Monitor uses what's known as additive RGB. An RGB is red, green, and blue and those are the primary colors. And the additive means that it just adds a little bit of one color to another color to produce yet another color. But printers use CMYK, which stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

 

Now, they use K just so that if they were to put the letter B in there, you wouldn't confuse it as to whether it was blue or black. So, you know, we have a different color palette here with these two different devices. So you can end up with layering and overlapping issues between one or the other with respect to how they are rendering the image. And, again, it really can just be not particularly consistent when you finally print it out. It just doesn't look the same as to what you are seeing on the screen.

 

[Video description begins] Printer Output vs. Screen Display. [Video description ends]

 

Now, there are adjustments that you can make. The printer output and/or the screen display can be adjusted with respect to the color range that it supports. As well as, maybe, the saturation or sometimes that's known as hue. That's really the intensity of any given color. And the contrast, which is the difference between light and dark. So, maybe, by making adjustments to one, or the other, or both you might be able to get them to agree, for lack of a better word, on what is going to be considered consistent between the two.

 

But again, they are ultimately two different methods of producing an image. So you may never get them to match satisfactorily. And, again, this really does depend on the level of detail that you're dealing with. You know as mentioned, a document is just not going to be an issue, but maybe a photograph is. So, clearly, the application that you want to use is going to matter. But ideally, maybe, with some adjustments, maybe with some calibration you can get the two agree a little bit better.

 

In our previous presentation, we talked about discrepancies that may appear between what you see on the screen versus what actually comes out of a printer. So in this presentation, we'll talk about how you can address that. And essentially, it is through calibration of both the monitor and the printer. So with respect to the monitor, of course, the problem is quite simply that any given color that you are looking at does not match the digital information.

 

[Video description begins] Monitor Calibration. [Video description ends]

 

In other words, it might look all right to you, but with respect to the actual values digitally, they may be different than what you are expecting. Hence the reason that you see a different color when it's printed. Now the monitors will typically come calibrated from the manufacturer. But this may not be ideal for the particular task that you're trying to do, because quite simply, the colors aren't rendering properly.

 

Again, it's really a matter of what your eye is seeing. And the type of monitor that you're dealing with can have an effect as well. For example, if it's a glossy screen versus more of a flat screen, you might see a bit of a difference there. But what it comes down to is that the monitor may need to be calibrated manually. Now there are settings, of course, that you can adjust on the monitor, with respect to the brightness and the intensity or the saturation, and of course, the contrast and even some color settings.

 

But in more advanced scenarios, you can actually get light monitors that are picking out what is literally being displayed on screen, in terms of the wavelength of the light. So that maybe is something that you can do when you really need to make fine adjustments. But again, that's usually for fairly specific circumstances.

 

[Video description begins] Printer Calibration. [Video description ends]

 

But again, the other side of this is the printer output. So in many cases, the printer can be calibrated as well. And in fact, this is something that's almost always done when you initially purchase the printer and install the cartridges for the first time. But again, it can be something that, really, you could do any time. So this is something that's built into the hardware itself, and generally what happens is it will print out a page with this color palette. And you can then maybe scan it, or you can choose from a menu on the screen which one appears to be correct, or at least which one displays as closely as possible.

 

So there is a certain amount of visual calibration here, which of course is dependent on your own eye as well. But ultimately, this allows you to compare what is being printed versus what you are seeing on the screen. So you can maybe even hold the paper up next to the color on the screen to try to choose the one that you feel is the best match for what is on the screen. At the end of the day, both devices can be calibrated. Both devices can be adjusted so that hopefully, you come up with some kind of agreement between the two in terms of what you're seeing versus what is bring printed.

 

Now in this presentation we'll talk about printing a test page. Which is a very common task after you have installed the printer for the first time. Or maybe even just reinstalled it. But this helps to validate the correct printer installation, because the test page itself contains information related to how the operating system is communicating with the printer. It will typically include information such as the driver that is being used, the printer model and possibly some of the printing styles that are available. But this is all written out for you on the test page so that you can, in fact, verify that the model that's being listed matches your device.

 

And that the operating system version seems to match and that everything simply checks out. Now in most cases you can print the test page from either your operating system, or maybe through the software of the device. Or perhaps even from screen, or panel right on the device itself or maybe all three of those. But in either case it is really just verifying that your operating system is seeing the device and that it's able to communicate. And that the correct driver is there and that everything is configured properly. So essentially, as soon as you complete an installation, it's a good idea to print out a test page and just verify everything. And, in my experience, it has been the case that in almost every installation wizard the last step will ask you if you want to print a test page to, of course, verify all this. So again, it's certainly something that is a good idea just to make sure that the communication is there and that everything is set up correctly.

 

In this presentation, we'll talk about troubleshooting some specific print quality issues, beginning with faded prints which can certainly happen regardless of the type of printer. But among the more common the inkjet and the laser printers, certainly check the cartridge level with respect to the ink or, of course, the toner level if it's a laser. But it's not always a matter of the levels, sometimes you just need to clean the cartridge. And in fact, I encountered this very issue myself only days ago. The print job of an inkjet was coming up very faded, but I was certain that the cartridges were full.

 

Now, you can check the level, by the way in almost every case, either through your operating system or maybe through front panel on the device itself. But I did that, and as mentioned, I was certain they were full and they were. So in fact, it was an issue of cleaning the cartridge and or the print heads, and as soon as I ran that process the next job came out just fine. So, certainly check the levels first but in some cases it can just require a cleaning. Now a ghost image is probably not something you'll encounter with an inkjet. It's a little more common with the laser printer because what's happening is the photosensitive drum is retaining an old image. It may have literally gotten burned into it, if you will.

 

And if that's the case, then you kind of always see this goes to the image of whatever that was. So that could require replacement of the drum itself. And another reason why you might encounter a faded print job with a laser printer is because the toner is not fusing to the paper. Recall that this requires a fair amount of heat to quite literally melt the toner onto the paper. So if you aren't getting that heat from the fusing roller, then essentially the toner is not going to stick to the paper. So you might want to check that. And if you're seeing garbled characters being printed out then this can be indicative of a hardware malfunction. But perhaps more or likely just a driver issue, but you certainly would need to check both. With respect to the driver, make sure that it is the correct model and maybe the latest version. So, again, go to the manufacturer's website and see if there is an updated driver.

 

And if you encounter vertical lines on a page with an inkjet printer, in most cases the print heads may be dirty, so you can clean the print heads to hopefully clear that issue up. And if you're encountering the wrong color being printed out with an inkjet then, of course, one of your colors may have run out. You know maybe you got plenty of black for example, but the tricolor is empty. But even within the tricolor, there still could be let's say, two of the three colors that are still there but one of them is missing. So it's still trying to print but you're just getting the wrong color. Other inkjets have fully separate cartridges for cayenne, magenta, yellow, and black. So obviously check the levels on those and you can replace just the single cartridge that is empty.

 

And if it's a laser printer then it's the same sort of scenario, but it would be a color toner that may have run out. But it might also be an alignment issue, so that is still something to check. So that if you see that the levels of the toner and or the ink are fine, then it still doesn't hurt to run the maintenance routines to ensure that it's not something else. And if you get blank pages coming out, then ensure the correct toner or the inkjet cartridge is being used. There might be cartridges that would physically fit into the printer but they still aren't compatible, so nothing is being printed and it's just spitting out blank pages. So certainly verify that you are using the correct ink and or toner cartridges.

 

In this presentation, we'll take a look at clearing a paper jam, which is certainly one of the more common issues that can arise with your printer, but can be rather frustrating as well. Now, before you attempt to clear a paper jam, at least one that is perhaps a little more significant. You do want to always bear in mind that there are a number of mechanical elements in just about any type of printer. So you really should ensure that you cut the power first. So turn the switch off, and really, to be safe, unplug the unit as well, because sometimes a little bit of a charge can be retained by certain components. So unplug everything and essentially just bear in mind that there are a number of mechanical components that are responsible for moving the paper through the printer.

 

So it's not always obvious as to where the paper has jammed. Sometimes you have to fully open the unit and inspect it quite thoroughly to find out where that paper is actually stuck. Now this is perhaps a little more common with the larger units, but it's not always that easy to find the paper in those larger printers. If it's just a desktop-level printer, then it's usually pretty evident as to where it is. But look for any kind of paper jam or maybe just a torn piece of ripped paper that was left behind from a previous jam. Sometimes you might think that you got the jam taken care of, but part of the paper ripped and was left behind, and maybe that's clogging or obstructing the path.

 

So look for anything that is obstructing the feeding path. You know maybe there's nothing wrong with the paper or the pickup rollers, there's literally just something in the way. So clear everything out as best as you can, and of course, close everything up and ensure that you insert good paper back into the feeding tray. You know you don't want to put wrinkled page back in because that will likely just jam again. So get some fresh paper in there. Make sure that everything does seem to be feeding through correctly. And hopefully that will clear up any jams for future print jobs.

 

In this presentation, we'll talk about some issues you may encounter with establishing connectivity. Now, this is not so much referring to not being able to connect to your own local printer from your own local computer. But rather the inability to connect to a shared printer. Almost every operating system gives you the ability to share locally installed printer with other users. Now this will depend on the type of network configuration you're in but you can just verify the sharing properties and most notably verify the user permissions. In order for any other user to connect to, let's say your printer, then they need to have the permission to do so.

 

And if they don't have that permission, then they will not be able to install the printer. Now, if it's perhaps a small office or a home office environment, whereby everyone is sharing a wireless printer, then of course just check the wireless connection itself. And you can usually go to the diagnostics panel on the device itself, or again maybe through software on your computer, but you do need to ensure that it has a correct and valid IP address. If, for example, you have a DHCP server, then this might be allocating IP addresses to all of your systems, including the printer. So it's possible that the printer did not get a valid address. In which case you might be able to correct this by just turning it off and back on again.

 

This usually forces it to re-request an IP address from the DHCP server and that might correct the problem. But if it was set manually, then just verify that it does have a correct address. All of the systems in that network need to have the same type of network configuration when it comes to the IP address. So if somebody just made a simple typo when entering the address, it's possible that no one can connect to it. And you might also want to try to disable sharing and then reshare with that user again, it just could be an issue whereby it didn't get their account correct for some reason. Or maybe you just have the wrong account.

 

And you might also want to consider uninstalling it and re-installing it. Now this is more so for the user who is trying to connect. So again, let's say I have a local printer installed and that's working fine and I have shared it. So then that other user may have tried to install it as a network printer and maybe it installed, but they still can't print. So, in that case, go to their computer and just uninstall it entirely, reinstall it and again verify of course the IP address and the sharing properties. But that can often correct issues with establishing connectivity. So again, always try the most obvious issues first when troubleshooting printer connectivity. But if necessary, go down through that list right to the point of uninstalling and reinstalling and hopefully that will clear up your issues.

 

So now we'll finish up with a look at resolving some other general printer issues. And again, very commonly, you might find that the printer simply will not print. And this can be due to a number of problems, of course, but one thing is to just check the print queue. Maybe it is just backed up, maybe a lot of print jobs have been submitted and yours is just still waiting. But if everything seems to be waiting in the print queue, then in many cases, you may need to just resubmit everything. Just cancel all of the jobs and submit them again.

 

Quite simply just something froze, if you will. And you can clear the queue using a couple of methods. Sometimes you can just go to the services of a Windows computer and stop and restart the spooler service. Or you maybe even can just turn the device off entirely and back on again, that might kickstart it. Or you can usually just double-click on the printer to pull up the queue, and there's usually menu options to delete everything in there, or cancel them, or maybe just try to re-sequence them in some cases. But if you really just want to clear everything out, then again, starting and stopping that service is a good option, as well as just completely clearing out the queue.

 

And it could be a low memory error. Most laser printers in fact have memory right in them, and like any kind of RAM, if you turn it off and back on again, that clears everything out so that you can start over again. And again, the spooler fault is essentially the same as the queue being locked. The print spooler is essentially how each job gets submitted, and that, as mentioned, is a service on Windows computers that can be restarted. And if you do so, this will cancel all print jobs. So as mentioned, there's a couple of different ways to handle a backed up queue. But if it does seem to be a little more difficult to run down, maybe because it's a hardware issue, then do check for the error codes.

 

And you might find those in log files on the host computer, or maybe in log files right on the device itself if there's any kind of troubleshooting menu. But again, the error codes generally need to be compared with what's in the documentation so that you are translating those codes correctly. There will be some variation with respect to which codes mean which problems. But look those up, and hopefully it will tell you exactly what the problem is and it can be addressed accordingly. But again, in many cases, you really should try to just do the quick fixes first. And if they fail, then you look for the more problematic errors, and hopefully you can get everything resolved.