If your printer just won’t print on paper, well then, you are definitely not alone. This is probably one of the most common problems that the majority of people will encounter either at home or within their office. Even though this does sound like a pretty intimidating problem, you’ll be relieved to know that it can be easily resolved by doing some basic troubleshooting steps.
In the remainder of this blog post, we walk you through the most common reasons why your printer stops printing on paper and give you a step-by-step walkthrough of how to fix that problem.
1. Paper Tray
Your printer paper tray should hold papers. Self-explanatory, although sometimes the papers inside get dislodged and thus may block the paper path. Further, check if there is any paper jammed or stuck within the paper tray. In case the paper does not look straight or seems jammed, try straightening it until the printing goes fine.
2. Print Head Check ink or toner levels
The ink or toner has been consumed. Although your printer might not seem to indicate its cartridges are depleted, it might just be possible that the ink is running low. Check through the control panel of your printer or the computer software to ascertain your ink or toner level. If low, replace them and print.
3. Printer On Turn it on
Apparently, this is the first step, but the problem may be that it’s too obvious. Your printer just may not have been turned on. So, check the power light is on; if it isn’t, check that your printer is plugged in and turned on.
4. Check the printer connection
Ensure that your wireless printer is well connected to your network. If your connection is through a wire, then connect your computer and the printer through USB or Ethernet. It would be difficult for any printer to acquire a print job queue from the computer if the connection of this printer with the computer is loose on either part.
5. Restart Your Printer and Computer
Your computer and printer should now be off. Sometimes, doing a full shutdown of everything helps resolve issues of prints not wanting to print properly. Find the On/Off switch on your printer. Pull the plug for your printer. Let it idle for a couple of seconds. Plug it in and turn the printer back on. Turn your computer off and let it idle for a couple of seconds. Turn it back on. Now, print.
6. Check Print Jobs in the Queue
Maybe the print job was queued elsewhere. Check your printer’s queue for hung or waiting print jobs and delete those, then print another document. Usually, this resolves the “printer won’t print on paper” error.
7. Update Printer Drivers
Old or corrupt printer drivers can cause problems while printing. For this, go to the website of the manufacturer of the printer and download the latest driver for your printer. After installing the updated driver, restart the computer and printer so that new drivers get installed correctly.
8. Clean the Print Head
If it prints a series of blank pages, most likely this will be due to blockage within the print head. This may be the single most frequent problem that develops in an inkjet printer. Check your specialty manual for instructions regarding how you need to go about cleaning up your printhead. Most printer manufacturers today place the ability to clean the print head as part of the printer design and is accessed through the control panel.
9. Paper size and type settings
If you are printing a document and your printer does not print on paper, then there must be a problem somewhere with the paper size or type settings of your printer. Ensure that the paper size set in the printer settings matches the paper you’re using. You can change these settings from the properties menu of your printer on the computer.
10. Printer Hardware Problems
If the above steps do not solve the problem, it might be a serious hardware failure in your printer. It may be rectified by some professional repair or replacement. In that case, a customer support representative or technician should be contacted for further assistance.
Final Words
Sometimes, not printing on paper is a frustrating thing. Besides, that should not take long once the problem is solved in such simple steps. Be it paper jams and low ink levels or the problem concerning printer settings, some of the following hints for troubleshooting your printers may allow the device to work soon enough. However, in case the above issues do not solve the problem, then perhaps the hardware will have to be checked or changed.
Printer Not Working can be referred for more diagnostic and remedy solutions.