No. 1: Printer not printing – Wrong printer selected?
Before you roll up your sleeves and start tinkering with the printer, first check the most obvious problem. If your device is not printing, you may have simply selected the wrong printer for the print job.
- Check your computer to see which printer you sent your document to for printing.
- If you specified the wrong device for the print job, cancel the job.
- Then simply send your document again – this time to the correct printer.
No. 2: Paused print job in the queue
If you have sent a document to the printer but then paused the print job, your device will not be able to print subsequent jobs.
- When your printer receives multiple print jobs, they are collected in a queue. The documents are then printed one after the other.
- If a print job is paused, the device stops printing and the subsequent jobs remain stuck in the queue.
- View the remaining print jobs on your PC. To do this, open the Control Panel and select “Printers and Devices”. Then right-click on the relevant printer and select “View Print Jobs”.
- If a document has the status “Paused,” right-click on it. Select whether you want to cancel or resume printing the paused document. This will clear the jam and allow the device to continue printing the remaining jobs.
No. 3: Check the ink or toner level
Your printer may only be malfunctioning because it does not have enough ink or toner. You can quickly check and, if necessary, resolve this issue.
- If your printer is running low on toner or ink, the device will usually display a corresponding message on the display. Alternatively, you can check the ink or toner levels using the printer wizard on your computer.
- If necessary, replace empty ink cartridges or toner. (Please also read about how to properly dispose of empty printer cartridges.)
- If your device does not resume printing on its own after replacing the cartridge, simply resend the print job.
No. 4: Check the paper
Without paper, printing is impossible – that’s obvious. So check the printer display or your computer to see if the device is showing a paper problem.
- If the paper tray is empty, simply add a stack of printer paper.
- Check that the paper is positioned correctly in the paper tray and that the tray is closed properly.
- If sheets of paper have become tangled due to a paper jam, the printer will usually stop printing automatically. If this is not the case, stop printing manually. You will usually find a button for this on your device.
- Then pull the affected sheets out of the front of the printer. Or open the paper tray and pull out the jammed pages. Proceed with caution so as not to make the problem worse.
- Once you have cleared the paper jam, continue printing your document.
No. 5: Printer prints stripes and streaks
If your device is printing but producing unsightly stripes or streaks on the paper, you should clean the printer nozzles.
- Over time, the printer nozzles may become clogged on your device. Especially if you only use your printer occasionally, dust and dried ink will accumulate in the nozzles. As a result, the device may no longer print properly.
- Open the “Maintenance” section in your device’s settings. Select “Cleaning” from the maintenance menu to clean the printer nozzles.
- Some printers allow you to start an e“intensive cleaning” process in addition to simple cleaning. If the problem persists after simple cleaning, perform the intensive cleaning process.
