When your printer stops working, it is easy to get discouraged if it is not a simple paper jam, but troubleshooting a printer is often not difficult. All printer problems are either hardware or software related, there is nothing magical about it, so with some basic troubleshooting, you should have no issues fixing your printer.
What’s it Doing?
Are you getting any error messages on your computer or the printer? One of the most common issues is after changing printer cartridges they may not be inserted all the way. This will usually give you an error telling you to check it. If there is not error message on the printer, then chances are it is an issue with the computer, not the printer.
Before you start troubleshooting your PC, you will want to power cycle the printer. To do this, simply unplug the power from the printer for 30 seconds before plugging it back in. Wait for the printer to come back up and try again. If it is still not printing move on to your PC.
Computer Problems?
If you are not getting an error on the printer and power cycling the printer did not work then, you will need to troubleshoot your computer. The first thing to do is open an Administrative Command Prompt. To do this click the start button and in the “Search Programs of Features” box type CMD and press enter. In this box type “net stop spooler” without the quotes, then press enter. Next, type “net start spooler” and press enter. This will clear any stuck jobs in the print spooler. Once you have done this, try to print again.
If your printer is not printing, try these steps. Barring hardware failure this will resolve most printing issues for Windows based computers. There are certainly issues that this will not resolve, but these fixes are often more involved.
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