Recently I came across a humorous sign stuck to my office printer which read like this, “This printer is now called Bob Marley…. because it’s always jammin’.” I guess that’s ‘introduction’ enough to what I’m about to discuss with you here. So let’s begin with some pretty common printer complaints I hear a lot of. My solutions have been bulleted to makes it easier for you to read through.
“My printer just won’t print”
If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where your printer does just not print (which I’m guessing is a lot), there are a few things you can do to fix it.
- Make sure your printer is plugged in, powered on and connected to your computer. People often forget to do this and rack their brains for hours wondering why their printer won’t print.
- If your computer isn’t detecting your printer, a quick reboot might set it right. You may also want to check for any loose connections if you’re using a wired printer.
- Make sure your printer is detected by your computer or mobile device. You may also want to check if your computer has updated drivers for your printer, if not go to your printer manufacturer’s’ website and download the update.
- If your printer is connected wirelessly via a print server or router, be sure to reboot these devices first before doing anything your printer.
- Have multiple printers at home? Another printer may have been set as the default printing device and might be preventing you from printing. To change this, do the following:
1. Open ‘Devices and Printers’ – If you use Windows 7/8/8.1/10 click the Start Menu and type “Devices and Printers” to find it.
2. Find the printer you want set as your default printer and right click on it to bring up a menu. Hit “Set as default” from the menu that pops up to set it as your default printer.
- If your printer gets stuck and just won’t print for whatever reason you can restart your print spooler to get it going again. If this is new to you or you are unsure of how to do this, follow the steps below.
1. Open the Local Service – If you use Windows 7/8/8.1/10 you can click on the Start Menu and type in “Service” to find it.
2. Next, scroll down and locate “Print Spooler”. Then right click and hit “Restart” on the menu that pops up. Once you spooler has restarted your printer should start printing again.
Once your printer is actually working, it doesn’t mean your problems are over. Sometimes your documents do not come out of that printer looking right. Tomorrow in Part 2 of this article, we’ll look at how to fix those issues.
~Aaron
Great tip but didn’t solve my problem. Maybe tomorrow. My scans always go to the wrong computer. I need to figure out how to send them to a certain one.
Hi Vicky,
You can change your scanned folder location by going to your scanner settings and changing the address in the default directory.
Aaron
Whenever I turn on my printer, my internet connection goes off. After printing, I have to turn off the printer, unplug the wi-fi and wait about 10 seconds to plug it in again and get the internet back on.
I’ve been having some trouble with my printer not printing and I need to fix it soon. The recommendations to go through the preferences and settings to check for software issues as well as to check the printer itself for issues haven’t been working for me. I think having a professional come out to check it would be good because it used to work just fine so something mechanical might’ve happened inside which caused it to stop.